Symbolic consumption and representation of self: a study of interactions in a virtual community of Ubuntu-Br users

Abstract This study aims to explain how the symbolic consumption of the Ubuntu operating system is used for the representation of self in interactions in the Ubuntu virtual community from Brazil. We adopted the Goffmanian concept of self, the netnography of communication as the research method, and case study as a research strategy. The paralinguistic, the extralinguistic, and the definition of “I” are aspects used in virtual interactions. They have the linguistic function of corroborating and praising the statements of migration of Windows users to Ubuntu, emphasizing the distinctive features of the concept of Ubuntu, highlighting its expression of shared feelings of love and freedom, as ways of projecting the self of humanity to each other. In the case of the operating system, this characteristic is represented through the provision of support among users at the forum of the virtual community.

摘要 本研究旨在阐释巴西Ubuntu虚拟社区的互动场景中，用户如何通过对Ubuntu操作系统（Ubuntu operating system）的符号化消费，完成自我身份的表征。本研究采用戈夫曼的自我概念理论、传播网络民族志作为研究方法，并以个案研究作为研究策略。副语言特征、超语言特征与"自我"的界定，是虚拟互动中常用的分析维度。上述要素具备语言层面的功能，可佐证并赞许Windows用户迁移至Ubuntu的相关言论，凸显Ubuntu理念的独特特质，着重展现其传递共通的爱与自由情感的属性，以此作为人类群体间彼此投射自我身份的路径。就操作系统这一载体而言，该特质通过虚拟社区论坛内用户间的互助支持行为得以具象体现。