QotW4: To give and to (indirectly) receive
In today’s day and age, where one tends to receive rather than give, it is hard to imagine that altruism exists. Yet it does in exist in the online community in the form of a gift economy. Such an economy benefits users of the online community and reciprocity is not a must, though it is highly encouraged.
What is a gift economy?
According to Rheingold (1993), he noted that a gift economy is one where help and information is offered without the expectation of any direct, immediate quid-pro-quo. This can occur where free help and information could be given out to complete strangers that one may never see.
There is a difference between transactions in gift transactions and commodity transactions. In a gift economy, gift exchanges do not involve explicit bargaining or demands that the gift be reciprocated, but a relationship in which there is only giving and no receiving is unlikely to last. In contrast, a commodity transaction is on where no obligation exists after the exchange is consummated (Kollock, 1999). Furthermore, the individuals who exchange gifts in a gift economy are part of an ongoing interdependent relationship. In a commodities transaction, the individuals are self-interested, independent actors (Carrier, 1991). Furthermore, it is also interesting to note that gift economies are driven by social relations while commodity economies are driven by price (Kollack, 1999). Thus, initiating and maintaining social relations is a key concept as to why gift economies exist. As noted by Bell (1991), gift economies increase the range and diversity of one's social network.
Gift Economies are Public Goods
Gift economies exist as users share similar interests and have nuggets of information to share with others. People who need help also head to avenues such as forums to seek information. In this sense, a forum could be considered a public good. Kollock (1999) noted that one person's consumption of the good does not reduce the amount available to another. Secondly, it is to some degree non-excludable in that it is difficult or impossible to exclude individuals from benefiting from the good. Therein lies the question as to who would produce such goods. Yet, there are certain motivations as to why people contribute to gift economies.
Why people contribute to gift economies
There are several reasons why people contribute to gift economies. The 3 main reasons as noted by Kollock (1999) are reciprocity, reputation and a sense of efficacy.
1. Anticipated reciprocity
One possibility is that a person is motivated to contribute valuable information to the group in the expectation that one will receive useful help and information in return (Kollock, 1999). Indeed, some observers (Wellman & Gulia 1997; Rheingold 1993) have reported that individuals who regularly offer advice and information seem to receive more help more quickly when they ask for something.
2. Reputation
The next possibility is concerning the effect of one’s reputation, which likely improves when one frequently and willingly contributes to the community. Kollock (1999) reported that if this is the concern of an individual, contributions would likely be increased to the degree that the contribution is visible to the community as a whole and to the extent there is some recognition of the person's contributions. Such recognition of the person’s contributions would lead to feel that he has a stake in that community that he shares with others, thus, it motivates him to share whenever possible.
3. Sense of efficacy
The third possibility is that the person’s valuable information has an impact on his virtual surroundings. If a sense of efficacy is what is motivating someone, then contributions are likely to be increased to the extent that people can observe changes in the community attributable to their actions. It may also be the case that as the size of the group increases; one will be more motivated to contribute because the increasing size provides a larger audience and a potentially greater impact for one's actions (Kollock 1999).
Forums as gift economies
Forums can be considered as an online gift economy. People with similar passions cluster around a community and share valuable information. In one forum that I have to come to know of (http://www.flowerpod.com.sg/), it is an example of a gift economy where many females head to and share information on new products that they have tried-and-tested, places to check out, salons to avoid, et cetra. Such information is a treasure trove for women who rely on the information of others to know the best places and bargains. Speaking of bargains, this forum also has weekly/monthly sprees that allow members to consolidate their overseas purchases and this saves them shipping costs as they buy in bulk.
Flowerpod is considered a gift economy as it not only provides higher rankings for regular members who share information (a form of recognition), but also increases the range and diversity of one's online social network.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a gift economy is an economic system where an exchange of good and services does not explicitly require reciprocity. This system may end have having free riders but different motivations to contribute implicitly result in more people wanting to contribute for the good of the public. Forums are an example of gift economies and other online communities are other forms of gift economies too, as the broad reach of the Internet allows information to be widely shared and can be easily maintained by the users.
References:
Bell, D. (1991). Modes of Exchange: Gift and Commodity. The Journal of Socio-Economics 20(2): 155-167.
Carrier, J. (1991). Gifts, Commodities, and Social Relations: A Maussian View of Exchange. Sociological Forum 6(1): 119-136.
Kollock, P. (1999). 'The Economies of Online Cooperation; Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace" Retrieved February 6, 2007 from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm
Rheingold, H. (1993). The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. New York: Addison-Wesley.
Wellman, B. & Gulia, M. (1997). Virtual Communities as Communities. Communities in Cyberspace: Perspectives on New Forms of Social Organization, edited by Peter Kollock and Marc Smith. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
1 comment:
Clear and concise, though you could have gone in-depth with the women's forum to show example where gift economy is enacted. Full grades :)
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