Thursday, February 8, 2007

QotW4: Spreading the Cheer, Escaping the Jeers

What Drives The Gift Economy? ~ Sharing knowledge not shutting up

The ‘gift’ in gift economy pertaining to the exchange of information online such as providing answers to questions posted in forums, is a public good. This is so as “it is to some degree indivisible” and “non-excludable”, and is especially so in this digital day and age where the ease of copying and transmitting material enables “even a single individual's contribution of information or advice” to be transformed “into a public good” (Kollock, 1999). While these factors contribute to the willingness of many to provide expert advice, how-to tips, and advice, etc; it is social proof and the rule of reciprocity, as well as, the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations that we ourselves and others provide, repspectively, that makes this economy of giving as successful as it is.

Social Proof & Reciprocity in Online Forums ~ The cycle of love = give and take

The principle of social proof involves the viewing of a behavior as correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it (Cialdini, 2000). Therefore, the individual upon seeing the forum community’s unhesitant acts of ‘charity’ feels inclined to do the same in order to fit in. Of course, this could also be a cause of the rule of reciprocation, which states that “we should try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided us” (Cialdini, 2000). According to Tiger and Fox, this “web of indebtedness” as viewed by cultural anthropologists, is a unique human adaptive mechanism that creates interdependencies which bind individuals together into highly efficient units (as cited in Cialdini, 2000).

Thus, the individual forum user having received a gift in the form of advice or any other online material feels the need to return the favor by helping someone else within the group. It has to be said that within such online communities, each member is regarded as an inherent part of the whole as they are all connected to one another via a shared interest or otherwise; enabling a “system of generalized exchange” (Kollock, 1999) where reciprocity occurs within the group as a whole and immediate reciprocation is unnecessary.

Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivation ~ Don't let the cat get your tongue

The two motivations are not extensions of the gift economy but rather make up the fuel that drives it. This can be inferred upon the study of tribal societies like those in Polynesia, who “organized themselves around the potlatch – the circulation of gifts”. The resultant gift economy “bound people together into tribes and encouraged cooperation between different tribes” (Barbrook, 2005). In other words, the intrinsic motivation was to desire to belong to the larger community by contributing, and the extrinsic motivation was to cooperate to achieve the common goal of survival.

Relating this to the modern day concept of online communities, whereby technology has enabled the individual to easily create a ‘gift’ by simply moving his fingers across a keyboard is simple. For instance, the Apache computer program that is “continually developed by its techie users” is open to modification, amendments, and improvements by anyone with the appropriate programming skills for “its source code is not protected by copyright” (Barbrook, 2005). What makes it interesting, though, is the fact that it is shareware instead of being marketed by a commercial company. In short, the creation and evolution of Apache is powered solely by its creators’ intrinsic motivation of passion. While the lack of copyright means no monetary reward and thus points to an absent extrinsic motivation, Apache’s creators have looked past financial gain, choosing instead to revel in the recognition of other user-developers within the community.
My Gift “Economy”


A fan of fantasy novels with political intrigue and strong female characters, I am a member of numerous forums where fans of such stories are able to discuss and recommend books they have read. As a new member of the LiveJournal community Athanarel (http://www.livejournal.com/users/athanarel/), I recall tentatively asking questions about the novel, Crown Duel, the group was dedicated to. The responses I received were overwhelming, and it was an added bonus that the author herself was able to answer my queries while posting and ‘friend locking’ her unpublished works. This meant that I could read her unpublished stories so long as I signed up as a member of the community. As time went on and upon learning more about the world and characters of Crown Duel, I was more than happy to share my knowledge with new and old members alike. Furthermore, having read other novels similar to Crown Duel thanks in part to the recommendations of other readers, I am now equally well-equipped to point others in the right direction.

This cycle of give-and-take not only enables me to keep in touch with like-minded others, it also fosters a sense of community and belonging that far exceeds the costs of ‘giving’. Moreover, as such information would hardly benefit me more should I keep it to myself I have no qualms about making it a ‘public good’ by sharing it with others who would value it as much as I do.
References

Barbrook, R. (2005). The Hi-Tech Gift Economy. First Monday. Retrieved February 7, 2007 from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue3_12/barbrook/

Cialdini, R. B. (2000). Influence: Science and Practice Fourth Edition. Singapore: Allyn and Bacon.

Kollock, Peter (1999). The Economies of Online Cooperation; Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace. Communities in Cybrespace. Retrieved February 6, 2007 from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm



































1 comment:

Kevin said...

Good explanation of the nature of "public goods" and good example of your fan fiction community as a gift economy. Full grades and possibly award winning once I finish with remaining 60+ blog posts I still have to read. :)