The gift economy is one of those economies that are founded on the bases of giving. As known, “a gift economy is sometimes referred to as a “sharing economy”” (“Gift Economy”, 2007). The main purpose of posting information or goods online is to share them with others. Without sharing there would not be any learning. As stated, “you wouldn’t know anything was happening unless you were hooked in, unless you were participating, offering something yourself” (Phillips, 1997).
For most of its users, the Net is somewhere to work, play, love, learn and discuss with other people. (Barbrook, 2005) With the presence of online gift economies, there has been an increase in the number of forums. People who share similar interests gather at such forums to share information with each other. As mentioned, “when people pass on free advice or offer useful information, the recipient is often unknown to them and the giver may never encounter the recipient again” (Kollock, 1999). In other words, it means that not everyone would be obligated to follow the rule of reciprocity. There would be people who enjoy sharing their knowledge and also, people who just take in the knowledge. Of course there are exceptions; those that give and take.
It is only with giving then there is taking. Without these people who contribute advice or information, there would not be any information to take at all. There are a few possibilities that cause these people to provide valuable information to the groups or forums. One of which is the anticipated reciprocity. This means that when a person contributes certain valuable information to the group or forum, he or she would expect to receive additional information in return.
Another possible cause would be reputation. This reputation refers to the credibility of the user in the group or forum. It is only through contributing information that would increase the credibility of the user. For example, one of the forums that I belong to, values credibility of the users. In this forum that I belong to, there is a section whereby it allows users to join sprees. Mostly the sprees would be on apparels or cosmetics. However, there are certain requirements set by the moderator of the spree. And to be part of it, one must meet the requirements. One of the requirements is that the spree is only open to regular users who have a minimum of 100 posts.
In other words, one must first participate actively in the forum to be able to receive the benefits of joining activities such as the sprees. In a whole, these people who contribute towards the economy are often driven by some form of self interest or selflessness.
There are many examples of online gift economies. One of the more popular gift economies would be YouTube. This particular economy allows free video sharing. The users of this site are allowed to upload and share videos with others. Other than that, users are also allowed to rate, comment and subscribe to videos, join groups and even invite friends to join in as well. As some of the videos are set as private videos, one would need to add the user as a friend so as to enjoy the videos. Being an avid drama serial addict, I belong to this site as well. Though I do not have any videos to share with others, but I certainly do subscribe to several videos. As noted, “gifts economies are driven by social relation” (Kollock, 1999). Being friends with the other users allows me to receive information or news from them about the videos that I would like to keep track of. Other than that, it allows us to discuss about the shows and even leave comments on the profile page. Even non-users of the site are allowed to view the videos as long as they are made public.
Although there are many people out there who do not mind sharing their knowledge to the rest of the world, there are also quite a number of those who only enjoy taking without giving. If we want to continue having an economy like “free economy”, then we would have to start learning to participate in it. You have to participate for it to be real: a gift economy. ((Phillips, 1997)
References:
Barbrook, R. (2005). The Hi-Tech Gift Economy. First Monday. Retrieved February 9, 2007 from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue3_12/barbrook/
Kollock, Peter (1999). The Economies of Online Cooperation; Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace. Communities in Cybrespace. Retrieved February 9, 2007 from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm
Gift Economy (2007, February 4). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 9, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Creative_Commons&oldid=105069529
Pinchot, Gifford (1995). "The Gift Economy" Retrieved February 6, 2007 from http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC41/PinchotG.htm
Phillips, E. (1997, June 2) Gift Economy. Rewired. Retrieved February 9, 2007 from http://www.rewired.com/97/0602.html
1 comment:
Good examples from Cozycot and Youtube, though the assignment required you to pick one and go in-depth with it instead of just briefly. :)
Full grades though, just be more cautious with the assignment requirements in future :)
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