The concept of a Gift Economy is one that has existed for a long time in the history of humanity, much longer than the current debates that now reign in regards to the Open Source movement and other information sharing communities. The primary definition of a gift economy is one in which goods and services are exchanged without any explicit contract of repayment. According to the wikipedia article, it can be considered a sort of reciprocal altruism.
There are many different forms of gift economies, most of which are discussed at length within the wiki article, for our purposes, gift economies include can conceivably include the dealings within The WELL, Wikipedia, Open Source Software, and other current online projects involving the free exchange of information.
- Wikipedia Article (General) [link]
- Wikipedia Subsection of Current Examples [link]
- Lewis Hyde, author of The Gift [link]
