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The use of digital platforms in social movements has given the Internet a central role in analyzing activism over the last decade. However, social networks' potential for social change has to be analyzed critically and take complex economic and political contexts where actors remain unequally powerful into consideration. Through a combined methodology, this article explores the tensions of free culture communities in Spain when using proprietary digital platforms. These communities include 1651 platforms, of which 1162 are proprietary, and 489 are free. They describe a complex ecology in which they use proprietary platforms or free alternatives depending on their ultimate goals. The logic of technological corporations is notably imposed when communities aim to communicate with outsiders as commercial social networks attract a significantly greater number of users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimistic visions of its liberating potential have accompanied the Internet since its inception. However, technopolitical communities have defended free knowledge, but they risk adopting liberal notions when there is a group hierarchy depending on technological skills or the time people invest in the project (Coleman & Golub, 2008; Crabu et al., 2016). Using a combined methodology, we aim to understand the decision-making and training processes of technopolitical communities in Spain. Results show that these projects are collective, and their communities are aligned with the availability of public materials on the Internet for individual learning and mutual support values. However, they must consider developing better-established training and decision-making strategies to attract more people and more diverse profiles. Otherwise, there is a risk of generating an elite of experts who may enjoy free knowledge but cannot effectively collectivize it and disrupt the context of informational capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beyond the most visible mobilizations, social movements continue their activity during abeyance (Taylor, 1989) or latency periods (Melucci, 1996). This investigation reflects on the notion of everyday practices (Yates, 2015) along with the concept of knowledge practices (Casas-Cortés, Osterweil y Powell, 2008) to analyze the latter as an essential part of the free culture movements' routines. Addressing mixed methods with a sample of 290 communities in Spain, empirical data cast light on the central role of education for emancipation and knowledge diffusion. Communities also share ideas, learn together, and produce free software and digital cultural content. Human and material capital restrain communities' daily practice. Meanwhile, institutions determine the legal framework and prioritize some actions when funding them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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