When considering gift economies there are many different examples that can be looked at. Gift economies exist not only in cyber space, but also in the physical world. According to wikipedia a gift economy is an economic system in which goods and services are given without any explicit agreement for immediate or future repayment. In the physical realm one gift economy that I participate in is religious tithing. Religious tithing can be considered a gift economy because you are in a sense giving money with no immediate expectation of a return. With this example you are hoping for a long term return of not going to hell, but it is not guaranteed. This concept of giving without expectation for return is why many places on the internet can be considered gift economies.
There are many gift economies on the net that could be discussed in this situation. One gift economy that I am familiar with is DC++. For anyone who does not know what this is it is a file sharing system where you can get music, movies, software and other downloads from other peoples computers. I consider DC++ an example of a gift economy because you do not have to repay anyone for the free downloads that are available to you. What you do have to do is make a certain amount of downloads available from your computer to other users on DC++. The way that this system is set up you receive the gifts of free downloads from people you probably do not know and will never know, but at the same time you are giving the “gifts” to other people that you do not know just by being on this file sharing network. In this example the motivator for giving the gift, or letting others download your files, is that you are then capable of downloading files from a large base of users.
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s nineteenth-century essay ‘Gifts’, outlines as follows "The gift, to be true, must be the flowing of the giver unto me, correspondent to my flowing unto him." DC++ abides by this definition as a gift economy because it is a big network of gift givers and receivers. Although the gift giving and receiving is indirect because we aren’t necessarily giving downloads back to the same person we downloaded something from, there is a constant flow of giving happening. There are many other examples of gift economies that can be found on the web.
Another type of gift economy that I am thankful for are websites like wikipedia or Google. They are a type of gift economy because they are giving free information. If you are interested in learning about something you can go to one of these sites and acquire the information that you need. I consider these gift economies because without them I would have to buy encyclopedias, or seek out experts in whatever it is that I am trying to learn. Instead I can access the information free and easy by simply going online. There are a few different types of gifts when it comes to a gift economy. These forms of giving are considered content gifts, which are gifts that have the capacity to satisfy more than one person and in many cases, information gains rather than loses value through sharing. How does information gain value you might be asking, it can simply be more valuable to one person than to another at any given time. According to “The Economics of Online Cooperation” there are many different types of motivators for givers. In the case of the websites mentioned above I think the motivator might be loyalty. These websites give information that people request with the expectation that the next time they are looking for something on the web they will return to their site. I consider online gift economies to be very helpful in times when information is needed, regardless of the topic.
References
- Kollock, P. (1999). The Economies of Online Cooperation: Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace. London: Routledge
- Retrieved September 21, 2007, from Wikipedia: Gift Economy.
Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/Gift_economy
- Retrieved September 21, 2007, from FirstMonday.org
Website: www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue8_12/veale/
Friday, September 21, 2007
Friday, August 31, 2007
Assignment 2
American Online was a major internet development that allowed mass personal use of the internet possible in private homes. American Online or AOL as is it often referred to as was founded by William von Meister who started a short lived venture called Quantum Computer Services. The main purpose of AOL was for an online gaming service called Gameline, for the Atari 2600 video game console. Consumers who wished to purchase this service would have to pay for a modem, a one time start up fee and an hourly rate. This company went bankrupt in 1983 but it marked the first time that individuals could communicate and interact with other people from their own homes using a computer.
Over the next couple years AOL slowly changed its focus from gaming systems to computers, but always included several online games for its customers. In February of 1991 AOL released a version for DOS, and then later for Windows in 1992. AOL was the first company to make the internet safe and easy to use in personal homes. They also offered several features that their competition lack in such as, chat rooms, e-mail, online games, instant messaging, and a flat rate of use instead of hourly rates.
AOL is greatly responsible for the huge availability and popularity of the internet today. Presently you can bring you laptop virtually anyway and pick up a internet signal, homeless people have e-mail accounts, friends and family can communicate instantly all over the world by a few touches on the key board. Internet gaming is hugely popular with such huge games as World of WarCraft and Counterstrike bring in millions through internet subscriptions. Not even mentioning the huge success eBay as seen. In the year 2007 everything revolves around the internet, and AOL was the first to make the internet usable for average Americans.
Link
Over the next couple years AOL slowly changed its focus from gaming systems to computers, but always included several online games for its customers. In February of 1991 AOL released a version for DOS, and then later for Windows in 1992. AOL was the first company to make the internet safe and easy to use in personal homes. They also offered several features that their competition lack in such as, chat rooms, e-mail, online games, instant messaging, and a flat rate of use instead of hourly rates.
AOL is greatly responsible for the huge availability and popularity of the internet today. Presently you can bring you laptop virtually anyway and pick up a internet signal, homeless people have e-mail accounts, friends and family can communicate instantly all over the world by a few touches on the key board. Internet gaming is hugely popular with such huge games as World of WarCraft and Counterstrike bring in millions through internet subscriptions. Not even mentioning the huge success eBay as seen. In the year 2007 everything revolves around the internet, and AOL was the first to make the internet usable for average Americans.
Link
Assignment 1
Hello My name is Nathan Chapuis. I am a communication major finishing up my third year this semester. I have never made a blog before so from the start of this class I think it will probably be beneficial. https://ublearns.buffalo.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_47434_1
A little about me. I am currently unemployed. I just finished a job working for Time Warner cable which involved doing survey work. Basically I just walked around all day and checked the cable equipment. It was a Great job. Unfortunately it was on like 4 months worth of work. So I currently am searching for a job. I also like to buy and sell vehicles to make a little side cash. Which by the way if anyone’s looking for a winter rat I got one I am selling.
I am not really from anywhere. I have moved several times. Like ten. I was born in Hobbs, NM. Shortly after I was born my family moved Midland, Texas. We lived in Midland for about two years. After Midland we moved to Mesquite, TX, which is where my little brother Clayton was born. We lived in Mesquite for 2 years also, and then we were off to Tulsa, OK. I started kindergarten while we were in Oklahoma. After my first year of school we back to Texas. We moved into Wichita Falls, Texas. Where it is always very hot and very dry from what I can remember. It was a pretty miserable place to live. We finally left Wichita Falls and moved only three hours across the state to Plano. Plano was a good place to live because it was a young town that was growing be leaps and bounds. We stayed in Plano the longest I have ever lived anywhere. We were there for 6 years. Until this point I had lived all of my life in the south. From Plano we moved to good old Buffalo. I spend my freshman year of high school here before moving to Utica, NY. If I could suggest a place just never to go this would be the one. Of all the places I have been and lived Utica was my least favorite. I met a lot of good people and eat some good food, but other than that Utica is pretty worthless. I graduated high school here. After high school I spent a year at community college and then moved to Houston, TX to go to UTI. UTI is an automotive school and I went there to take the hot rod program, because I wanted to build hot rods. I went to this school for about 5 months before withdrawing. Everybody who had graduated that I knew could not land a job, so I went back to school. I spent another semester in school and then moved back to New York. Unfortunately I was cursed with having to spend another summer in Utica because that’s where my family lived. Over the summer I got into UB and I’m still here. I plan to move to Denver hopefully when I get done with school.
http://mynameisinternet.blogspot.com/2007/08/writing-assignment-1-personal-context.html this is the link to go back to the required post.
A little about me. I am currently unemployed. I just finished a job working for Time Warner cable which involved doing survey work. Basically I just walked around all day and checked the cable equipment. It was a Great job. Unfortunately it was on like 4 months worth of work. So I currently am searching for a job. I also like to buy and sell vehicles to make a little side cash. Which by the way if anyone’s looking for a winter rat I got one I am selling.
I am not really from anywhere. I have moved several times. Like ten. I was born in Hobbs, NM. Shortly after I was born my family moved Midland, Texas. We lived in Midland for about two years. After Midland we moved to Mesquite, TX, which is where my little brother Clayton was born. We lived in Mesquite for 2 years also, and then we were off to Tulsa, OK. I started kindergarten while we were in Oklahoma. After my first year of school we back to Texas. We moved into Wichita Falls, Texas. Where it is always very hot and very dry from what I can remember. It was a pretty miserable place to live. We finally left Wichita Falls and moved only three hours across the state to Plano. Plano was a good place to live because it was a young town that was growing be leaps and bounds. We stayed in Plano the longest I have ever lived anywhere. We were there for 6 years. Until this point I had lived all of my life in the south. From Plano we moved to good old Buffalo. I spend my freshman year of high school here before moving to Utica, NY. If I could suggest a place just never to go this would be the one. Of all the places I have been and lived Utica was my least favorite. I met a lot of good people and eat some good food, but other than that Utica is pretty worthless. I graduated high school here. After high school I spent a year at community college and then moved to Houston, TX to go to UTI. UTI is an automotive school and I went there to take the hot rod program, because I wanted to build hot rods. I went to this school for about 5 months before withdrawing. Everybody who had graduated that I knew could not land a job, so I went back to school. I spent another semester in school and then moved back to New York. Unfortunately I was cursed with having to spend another summer in Utica because that’s where my family lived. Over the summer I got into UB and I’m still here. I plan to move to Denver hopefully when I get done with school.
http://mynameisinternet.blogspot.com/2007/08/writing-assignment-1-personal-context.html this is the link to go back to the required post.
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