Wednesday, February 04, 2004

Internet Gift Economies Kylie J. Veale writes: The Internet today is a mix of the ‘free and the fee’, though it still remains in part a gift economy. Personal and organisational sharing of free information, products and software continues to flourish as a circle of gifts for returned intangible reward. Though a perceived lack of these rewards, due in part to an inability to quantify them, has resulted in givers seeking more for their efforts. What are their revised motivations? What now are their rewards? Confronted with this development, I suggest their rewards are voluntary payments as forms of tangible reciprocity. This paper therefore outlines the Internet as a gift economy. It suggests a conceptual path through gift economy principles to reveal voluntary payments as tangible reciprocity. It also documents an analysis of voluntary payment schemes as evidence of operationalising tangible reciprocity. I also introduce monetary, content and purpose gifting mechanisms as tangible reciprocity. Although the Internet started humbly as an educational resource based on free personal and organisational sharing, it is today a mixed economy of free and fee. The commercialisation of the Internet has been marked by a constant rise in e-commerce enterprises and fee-based content and services along side traditionally free varieties. Those that continue to champion gift economy principles do so for intangible returns such as notoriety or pride. Some even earn money from related developments based on their reputation. Reciprocity in this ‘circle of gifts’ assumes what is given will come back as others participate (Crawford, 2001). What happens if there is no tangible return or rewards are not quantifiable? I suggest that the gift economy weakens and content providers seek more than just intangible rewards — reciprocity in the form of tangible compensation. To demonstrate that the Internet remains a gift economy, this paper describes voluntary payment schemes as examples of tangible reciprocity in the Internet gift economy. It describes the gift economy, its origins and relevance to the Internet, outlines the fundamental principles of the gift economy and suggests how these principles can lead to tangible reciprocity inside a working gift economy. The work concludes by outlining various mechanisms for voluntary payment as attempts to operationalise tangible reciprocity in the gift economy. (02/04/04) Community Supported Farms Steven McFadden writes: Over the last 18 years Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has taken root in North America with moderate speed and has gradually grown to include as many as 1,700 farms spread over every region. Against a surging tide of decline for small farms in general, CSA has set roots deep and wide. CSA is providing direct support for hundreds of small farms and clean local food for thousands of families. As side benefits, CSA is also establishing a matrix of environmental oases, building networks of families who are cultivating new and healthy aspects of community life, and helping to shape a new vision of agriculture. As CSA approaches its 20th anniversary, the possibility of a substantial third wave of development looms large. The workable paths are well known by now; meanwhile, a host of food- and farm-related issues is steadily building a groundswell underneath this grass-roots movement. ... Anthony Graham was among the founders of the Temple-Wilton (TW) Community Farm, along with Trauger Groh and dairyman Lincoln Geiger. ... "Our approach works. It requires honesty and good will, but it works,” Anthony says. The last four or five years, our annual budget meeting with the farm members has only taken about 45 minutes. It’s fast, up front, and everyone understands it by now." The overall philosophy of the TW Farm evolved from some of Steiner's ideas spelled out in his anthroposophical writings. Some of the farm’s key ideas are: New forms of property ownership—The land is held in a common by a community through a legal trust. The trust then leases its property long-term to farmers who use the land to grow food for the community. New forms of cooperation—A network of human relations replaces old systems of employers and employees as well as replacing the practice of pledging material security (land, buildings, etc.) to banks. New forms of economy – (associative economy). The guiding question is not "how do we increase profits?" but rather "what are the actual needs of the land and of the people involved in this enterprise?" (02/04/04) Surviving Cancer BBC Health -- Being given the "all clear" after a cancer diagnosis is like winning the lottery, according to Catherine Render. She and her daughter Sophie, now eight, have both been hit by the disease. But both have now been told they have no signs of cancer. ... "We first noticed something was wrong with Sophie a month after her third birthday. She was pale and she had a rash. "But the last thing we though it was going to be was leukaemia." However, hospital tests showed Sophie did have Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). "I couldn't believe it was happening. You think you're infallible and your family is too. "You think that everything's going to be OK. "The news was absolutely devastating. At first you do think 'this is a death sentence' and that there's nothing you can do." But while Sophie was receiving treatment, Catherine found a lump in her breast. "I didn't think it was going to be anything. I'd even gone along to the clinic on my own." Mother and daughter went through chemotherapy - and lost their hair - at the same time Catherine, from Eccleston, St Helens, had also had a mastectomy, and was given courses of the drugs herceptin and taxotere. The family thought their brush with cancer was over. But when she was five, Sophie she had a relapse. She then contracted a virus that caused a fungal infection to grow in an area of her brain. Doctors gave her 24 hours to live. Sophie was saved by a bone marrow transplant from her brother Jack, now six. Then, last year, Catherine's breast cancer reoccurred and she had to undergo another course of chemotherapy. Sophie has now been clear of cancer for two years, and Catherine for two months. She said the news that they were both free of the disease had come as a big relief. "You've always got it in the back of your mind that you're going to get bad news. But then it's like winning the lottery. You've got more time." (02/04/04)  Reversing Global Warming BBC Science -- UK scientists claim they now know how Earth recovered on its own from a sudden episode of severe global warming at the time of the dinosaurs. Understanding what happened could help experts plan for the future impact of man-made global warming, experts say. Rock erosion may have leached chemicals into the sea, where they combined with carbon dioxide, causing levels of the greenhouse gas to fall worldwide. UK scientists report the details of their research in the journal Geology. About 180 million years ago, temperatures on Earth rapidly shot up by about 5 Celsius. The cause is thought to have been a sudden release of huge amounts of methane from the sea bed. Methane is itself a greenhouse gas but it is short-lived. However, it is easily oxidised to carbon dioxide (CO2) which lingers in the atmosphere for long periods of time. Plants and animals were affected by the sudden rise in atmospheric CO2. Scientists have found evidence of a marine mass extinction during this period that killed off 84% of bivalve shellfish. Over a period of about 150,000 years, the Earth returned to normal and life continued flourishing. How this happened was a mystery, but now scientists from the Open University in Milton Keynes claim to have a possible answer. "Our new evidence has shown that this warming caused the weathering of rocks on the Earth's surface to rapidly increase by at least 400%," said Dr Anthony Cohen, who led the research. "This intense rock-weathering effectively put a brake on global warming through chemical reactions that consumed the atmosphere's extra carbon dioxide." They discovered that intense rock weathering coincided with warm conditions and high atmospheric CO2. ... "Global warming is affecting the climate today, but it's very difficult to predict what's going to happen," Dr Cohen told BBC News Online. "The reason for doing these studies is that you get the whole history. If you learn what happened then, that can inform how you deal with [the same problem] in future." (02/04/04) Why Activists Fail From the Wilderness -- Michael C. Ruppert writes: There are two reasons why activist efforts to halt the inertia of the Empire have failed and will continue to fail: human nature, and human nature. Activists all over the political spectrum are flailing about in the post-9/11 world, spinning wheels, and throwing out idea after idea without a unifying principle or a clearly stated goal. As has happened so many times before with the victims of a dozen other instances of government criminality, the new victims - like the New Jersey widows of 9/11 who are known for their persistence in challenging government lies - make mistakes that have been made before, put their faith in strategies that have been tried before, and discount the wisdom and experience of those who have suffered before. Human nature says that it is wrong to criticize victims. Yet the new ones make a habit of ignoring the old ones, only to be replaced and forgotten when the next, inevitably greater, crime takes place. Each time a new tragedy strikes, whether it be 9/11, TWA 800 (a Navy shootdown), CIA involvement in drug trafficking, Iran-Contra, Waco, The Savings and Loan Scandal, the Enron shareholders, the Gander crash, or any of a dozen other events in recent history, a new crop of people is instantly and brutally transformed from people who once trusted the system into people who have been betrayed by it. Psychologically and emotionally raped, they rage. They vow to fight. The need to make the system that failed them work as they were "taught" becomes a new imperative for their sanity and emotional stability. They must believe that they can make people listen to them, that they can "fix" it. When, therefore, others who have been brutalized before them present themselves with valuable experience and try to explain the lay of the land, the new victims are faced with the awful responsibility of acknowledging that they themselves had not listened or responded when their predecessors cried out for help. They had been just as quick to say "I'm too busy" or "That's a bunch of b.s. It couldn't be that way." Yet it is. The new victims had once been as deaf as the rest of the world now appears to them. Still they clutch at straws and cling to the illusion that "this time it will be different". For their own sanity they must ignore the reality of the people who came before them, when to listen and learn might provide a unifying, if terrifying, focus that might ensure success. All it takes is courage and a good map. (02/03/04) 6:05:56 AM

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