Friday, February 9, 2007

QotW4: Gift Economies: Wha?!


Upon reading this week’s topic, I wanted to just go to bed. It’s so… meh-ish. I had no idea what it truly meant or what I had to do with it. So, inevitably, more reading had to be done. Oh yay.

From the term, you can roughly get a hint of what it’s about - an economic system in which the prevalent mode of exchange is for goods and services to be given without explicit agreement upon a quid pro quo (the Latin term for the concept of "a favor for a favor"). Typically, this occurs in a cultural context where there is an expectation either of reciprocation--in the form of goods or services of comparable value, or of political support, general loyalty, honor to the giver, etc.--or of the gift being passed on in some other manner" ("Gift Economy," 2007). In layman’s terms, although that was already pretty simple to understand, one favor begets another/you give to receive. A traditional gift economy is based on the obligation to gift, the obligation to accept, and the obligation to reciprocate (Lewis Hyde, 1983)

You might think that a gift is something tangible; however, for gift economies, the ‘gift’ in ‘gift economies’ shouldn’t be taken literally and is often in fact, attained through means other than monetary. I guess this’ why we might already be in one without knowing it (Kevin Lim, 2007)! It’s a good way for cheap people to still be useful – they can exchange advice, information, and etc. all without spending a penny!

In this modern age, more people are turning to the cyber world and spending their time there. Eventually, when enough people get online together, they start to realize and discover that many others out there have the same interests as them. When that happens, they then form virtual communities, which they use to talk about and share their interests. The interaction we see going on in these forums and communities is a trait of gift economy. Online communities such as forums are a huge part of today’s gift economy. I personally enjoy dabbling in discussions in some of them (okay not really, but I figured this piece would be a lot more authentic/believable if I said I did). Heavy Metal Realm is a forum I visit quite a bit.

At Heavy Metal Realm, angst-filled teenagers and those who lie to themselves that they’re still indeed young at heart because they have no jobs and still live in their parents’ garage come to talk about bands which play nothing but good music (noise to those over 25 and prefer classical, melodic music). We discuss upcoming tours, concerts and merchandise, often exchanging valuable information in the process like how the bass wasn’t tuned properly in the Iron Maiden concert of 2003 in Perth, Western Australia, or how the name ‘Black Sabbath’ came about when Geezer Butler, bassist for the band, saw it on a movie theatre marquee and thought it suited the band. Yeah… valuable information indeed. Members of this forum who’re more experienced with the scene and have ACTUAL valuable information such as tour dates and ticketing information post it up for the rest to know about. These people are often the ones contributing the most and by offering their experience and advice to the community, they seem to receive more help more quickly when they ask for something” (Wellman & Gulia, 1997; Rheingold, 1993).

Clearly, we can see that a gift economy is really a vicious cycle, only not vicious. The people contributing the most are at some point of time on the receiving end as well. When push comes to shove, it all boils down to people wanting and willing to give and take, and by having a balance of both give and take, online gift economies can certainly stay active and continue to be a way for people to interact and have a space to share their interests and passions.

Personally, I’d rather give than take, so I can hold it over the other person and have the upper hand whenever. But that’s just me and I reckon I have issues. Okay time for them references aye!




References:

Kollock, Peter (1999). 'The Economies of Online Cooperation; Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace" Retrieved February 8, 2007 from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm

Wikipedia (2007). Gift economy. Retrieved February 8, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy

Matzan, J. (2004). The gift economy and free software. Retrieved February 7, 2007, from http://software.newsforge.com/software/04/06/04/142238.shtml?tid=150&tid=82

2 comments:

ponga said...

farnnie....hahaha....

Kevin said...

Julius, could have been really helpful if you posted the link to the forum you mentioned. Other than that full grades for getting it "sort of" right. Try to describe the examples you provide in great detail where possible.