QotW4: Santa Blogger.

**Note from The Blogger:
Go ahead and read on; it’s free.

My fellow bloggers may not know it, but they are the Santa Clauses of the virtual world. Blog posts are their gifts; The world is the recipient. Every time they update their blogs, they add to the rich pool of information present on the internet. And this they do for free. Unlike most of today’s journalism, which is sold for money, “the weblog comes out of the gift economy.” (Rosen, 2003)

What is the gift economy? It is an economic system where goods and services are “offered without the expectation of any direct, immediate quid-pro-quo.” (Kollock, 1999) Status, in a gift economy, is not accorded to the wealthy, but “to those who give the most to other.” (Pinchot, 1995) The most important thing about gift economies is that the gift must always be passed on, instead of selfishly owned. To many, this may seem like a utopian ideal that cannot be achieved. Robert Cialdini, however, begs to differ. As recorded in his book, Influence: Science and Practice, the rule of reciprocation governs all human societies and makes us “obligated to the future repayment of favors, gifts, invitations, and the like.” (Cialdini, 2001) By this reciprocity rule, gift economies not only exist in our world, they thrive.

Gift economies have come a long way, dating back to the Stone Age, when the Trobriand Islanders participated in Kula exchange. The Kula exchange, also known as the Kula ring, is a “ceremonial exchange system… (where) valuables are… traded purely for purposes of enhancing one’s social status and prestige.” (Kula ring, 2007) Since then, gift economies have been evolving and flourishing. The internet, for example, has evolved from traditional gift economies. It “started humbly as an educational resource based on free personal and organizational sharing” (Veale, 2003) and has now become a host to many prosperous virtual gift economies which transcend time and space limitations.

The blogosphere is one of the gift economies that thrive on the World Wide Web. Although there are some who are paid to blog, majority of the bloggers update their personal sites on their own initiative, without monetary motivation. Academic bloggers, like my fellow classmates and I, analyze other sources to address a certain issue and pass the knowledge that we gain on to our readers as a gift through our academic blogs. We post our research findings on our academic blogs, not for any personal gains, but simply for the purpose of sharing information.

Other non-business blogs that do not offer information support the blogging gift economy by providing recreation as a gift (Pollard, 2005). Being an ardent reader of more than thirty blogs, this is definitely true for me. It has become my daily habit to visit all those blogs to check for updates. A fellow blogger finds himself in a similar situation. On his 16th June 2002 post on his blog - http://radio.weblogs.com/, he stated that “as the net gets more and more commercial and more and more advertising driven, (he) just don't read Salon or MSN or whatever. (He) read blogs instead.” As we can see, blogs pose “a great threat… to television, radio, and other forms of recreation… (like) movies… and even recreational reading.” (Pollard, 2005)

Another gift that blogs provide is the “(creation of) powerful virtual relationships.” (Pollard, 2005) A blog can tell readers so much about the blogger that they can actually ‘know’ the blogger without ever meeting him/her. That is not all that a blog can do to enhance relationships. The commenting function that blogs provide allows communication to go two ways; readers can not only read the blog, but also publish their opinions regarding the blog posts. This enables blog readers to break out of usual passive reading and actively communicate with the blogger. In this way, blogs serve as effective social networking tools which encourage the growth of social circles in depth. Simply put, blogs speed up the formation of close relationships.

All in all, the blogging scene on the internet is no doubt a gift economy that serves good purpose. While some still scoff at blogging being a waste of time, bloggers have already proven weblogs to be worthy of existence through their generous giving to readers. Fret not, fellow Santas, because there are some like Tom Haskins, who believe that “bloggers are going the extra mile and beyond the call of duty” to make “unrewarded contributions” to all web users. (Haskins, 2007) So be encouraged, and keep up the giving!

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References:

Cialdini, Robert B. (2001). Influence: Science and Practice. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Gift economy. (2007, February 4). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 08:50, February 9, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gift_economy&oldid=105681971

Haskins, Tom. (2007, January 7). “Blogging as a gift economy” Retrieved February 9, 2007 from http://growchangelearn.blogspot.com/2007/01/blogging-as-gift-economy.html

Kollock, Peter. (1999). 'The Economies of Online Cooperation; Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace" Retrieved February 9, 2007 from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm

Kula ring. (2007, January 27). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 10:03, February 9, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kula_ring&oldid=103681571

Pinchot, Gifford (1995). "The Gift Economy" Retrieved February 6, 2007 from http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC41/PinchotG.htm

Pollard, Dave. (2005). "Blogs and the Gift Economy as 'Disruptive Innovations'" Retrieved February 9, 2007 from http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/categories/blogsBlogging/2005/08/24.html#a1253

Rosen, Jay. (2003, October 16). “What’s Radical About the Weblog Form in Journalism?” Retrieved February 9, 2007, from http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2003/10/16/radical_ten.html

Veale, Kylie J. (2003). “Internet gift economies: Voluntary payment schemes as tangible reciprocity” First Monday, 8(12). Retrieved February 9, 2007, from http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue8_12/veale/index.html

QotW3: Signed, Sealed, and Pirated.

“Put an end to piracy.” pleaded Hollywood, through its anti-piracy campaign launched in 2003. (BBC News, 2003) When content piracy reaches a state of rampancy intense enough to worry this billion dollar generating motion picture industry, we know it deserves attention. Figures show that the “total loss of the audio visual industry through copyright theft… is more than £818 million.” (PiracyIsACrime.com) What, exactly, is causing such extensive piracy?

Some might wonder if copyright laws are too ill-defined to protect content creators of their right to their creations. On the contrary, copyright laws seem specific enough to offer the creators adequate protection. Copyright gives creators “exclusive rights to their creations for a limited time,” (Ovalle, 2005) including the right to authorize reproduction and public performance or display of their creations. Copyright also allows creators to “benefit financially from their creations, which should provide an incentive for them to continue creating.” (Ovalle, 2005)

Far from the common misconception that “copyright is a law invented by publishers solely to serve their own financial interests (and)… the convenience of scholars,” (Givler, 2003) copyright exists not only for the creators’ benefit, but also, “for the public good.” (Givler, 2003) Because the copyright laws encourage creators to work for the “progress science and useful arts,” (Ovalle, 2005) and their creations will belong in the public domain once the limited time stated by law is over, we are the ones who stand to gain from these laws in the long run.

In this sense, copyright laws protect the rights of both the content creators as well as the public. It balances the interests of both parties, and is undoubtedly sufficient to ensure the fair use of intellectual property. This brings us back to the old question: what, then, can be causing such extensive piracy? I would think that the problem lies not in the law itself, but in the people under the law. The public in general are lacking in two areas which are essential pillars of support for the copyright laws.

The first would be a clear understanding of what copyright is and why it exists. With Attorney Kevin S. Brady’s list of common copyright myths and misconceptions running as long as 25 items, it is hard not to notice how little the general public knows about copyright. Researches conducted on educators showed that “many educators lack the basic understanding of the copyright law and the actual latitudes it provides (for them)." (Chase) If the educators are unsure of how copyright works, be rest assured that almost everyone else are too. Schools are where people first come to learn of concepts like intellectual property and plagiarism. If the teachers themselves are unsure of these laws, there is no way they can teach their students right regarding this topic. Without knowing exactly what copyright is, it is no wonder that many believe copyright to be a law that protects content creators at the public’s expense. (Givler, 2003) Such misconceptions would only lead to copyright infringements; after all, who would obey rules that undermine their personal rights?

The second which the public lacks is social integrity. When interviewed, a 26-year-old business student in Berlin confessed that he “has burned 700 to 800 CD’s… with downloaded songs,” (Landler, 2003) and still “don’t feel like (he is) infringing on the artists.” (Landler, 2003) “Whether Robbie Williams makes 15 million or 12 million a year doesn’t matter to me, honestly speaking,” he said, referring to the British pop star whose songs are repeatedly downloaded from the net. This student is not the only one who expressed apathy towards content creators. Charles W. Moore provided an unsound justification for piracy in his online article, claiming that piracy is “perceived as a victimless crime… (because) if someone copies a song… the copyright-holder is no worse off materially than he or she was prior to the piracy.” (Moore, 2003) Such indifference towards the plight of the content creators veils the need to reward content creators, and thus of course, causes people to disregard piracy as an act of impertinence. People need to know that the content creators deserve rewards as incentives for future creations, before they would succumb to obeying the copyright laws.

Before the public gains a clear understanding of copyright and uses copyrighted content with integrity, the best defined set of laws will not keep piracy out of our world. Thus, even though the present copyright laws are well-scripted enough to supposedly offer adequate protection for the rights of both the public and the content creators, the public needs to be educated more regarding these laws before piracy can be curbed.

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References:
BBC News. (2003, July 22). Hollywood Launches Anti-Piracy Campaign. Retrieved February 2, 2007, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/3085875.stm

Brady, Kevin S. Copyright FAQ: 25 Common Myths and Misconceptions. Retrieved February 2, 2007, from http://users.goldengate.net/~kbrady/copyright.html

Chase, Mark E. Educators' Attitudes and Related Copyright Issues in Education: A Review of Selected Research 1980-1992. Retrieved February, 2007, from http://www.ifla.org/documents/infopol/copyright/cham.txt

Givler, Peter. (2003, May 9). Copyright: It’s For the Public Good. Retrieved February 2, 2007, from http://aaupnet.org/aboutup/copyright.html

Landler, Mark. (2003). The New York Times: U.S Is Only the Tip of Pirated Music Iceberg. Retrieved February 2, 2007, from http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/docs/nytimes/2003-09-26_nytimes_global_piracy.pdf

Moore, Charles W. (2003, August 8). Is Music Piracy Stealing? Retrieved February 2, 2007, from http://www.applelinks.com/mooresviews/pirate.shtml

Ovalle, Carlos. (2005). Why Copyright? Retrieved February 2, 2007, from http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/~i312co/2.php

PiracyIsACrime.com. DVD Piracy – The Big Picture. Retrieved February 2, 2007, from http://www.piracyisacrime.com/bigissue/piracy.php