More and more blogging anthropologists - but the digital divide persists

I’m particularly interested in the gift economy issue you mentioned. I enjoyed Alireza Doostdar’s recent article “The Vulgar Spirit of Blogging” (American Anthropologist, Dec. 2004) not least because it describes some of the ways that bloggers exchange links, trackbacks, and comments as a way of developing social networks and expanding blog readership.

Exactly, that’s what I had in mind. Principles of gift economies and culture of sharing and cooperation are much more common online than in the offline. The bearing principles of offline-life, especially of the “New economy” is competition and accumulation. On the Internet you share ideas, exchange texts and photos, collaborate in blogs and projects like Wikipedia and free software like Wordpress and much more. You earn respect and built networks by giving and not by accumulating.

There are many articles on the internet gift economy, among others these huge collection of papers

Or:

Eduardo Navas: The Blogger as Producer. He reviews “The Hi-Tech Gift Economy” by Richard Barbrook
who has also written “Giving is Receiving”

ira nayman: the gift of generalized exchange

Eric Raymond: The Hacker Milieu as Gift Culture

Open source movement is like things anthropologists have studied for a long time

Open Source Anthropology : Are anthropologists serious about sharing knowledge?

Lorenz, thanks for mentioning my blog! I am still a neophyte intiate among elders well-versed in the rules of the rite. I am currently planning a more elaborate blog (moving off of blogspot for one), so I’d like to keep you posted once I do.

And thanks for all these great links on issues of exchange as it relates to blogging. Judd, too, for that citation in the American Anthropologist. I’d like to read them when I have time.

I have a request: what about putting these links up as a post? They seem much too interesting to be tucked away in a comment section. Unless if you have already posted them elsewhere…in that case, could you direct me to it? Thanks.

Hi tak, good idea, putting the links into a post, I’ll do it later tonight. Originally, I collected the links for an exam in economic anthropology some years ago - some of them are on my older webpage in German but I’ll have to update them, though.

By the way, I’ll visit the Japan cultural week here in Oslo will be interesting to see how the official Japan represents / wants us to know about Japanese culture

It’s getting late again… I’ll write the post tomorrow on gift economies morning