The concept of web 2.0 fits the characteristics of a public good (I have just added this definition to Characteristics of "Web 2.0" in wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0#Characteristics_of_.22Web_2.0.22)
We can simply regard it as a resource we can all enjoy from as it is open to all.
Researchers (mainly in the fields of psychology and economics) are investigating the individual strategies in situations of public goods. Researchers (including me) focus mainly on the public good dilemma. This dilemma can be found in a variety of real-life decision problems, such as the decision to buy a television/radio license, donate to charity organizations, become a member of a labor union, or participate in volunteer work. In each of these instances individuals are better off if the good or service is provided without their contribution as everyone can profit from its existence. However, if hardly anyone makes a contribution these facilities will cease to exist and everyone is worse off.
In the scientific literature Public Goods are characterized by two properties: jointness of supply and non-excludability (Hardin 1982). The impossibility to exclude group members who didn’t contribute to the goods from sharing its profits gives rise to the possibility that rational members (this is the game theory perspective) will prefer to withhold their contribution of effort and "free ride" on contribution of others (Marwell and Ames, 1979).
This prediction is supported by experimental results showing that free riding is the major motive for not contributing in public goods situations.
This brings us back to the web2.0 structure. We all have access to this form of “public good” but not all of us do actively contribute efforts. In fact, many of us participate only by viewing without adding new materials (publishing), our insights (commenting) or our perceptions of the quality the item holds (ranking).
What do you think? Does the definition of Public Good fit the concept of web 2.0? Would you agree that as in other public good structures - we are dealing with a "free riding” problem in web 2.0?
This definition was written by Taly Weiss, Social Psychologist (PhD).
You can find more on this subject in my blog. See the following posts:
http://www.trendsspotting.com/blog/?p=1http://www.trendsspotting.com/blog/?p=4http://www.trendsspotting.com/blog/?p=23 I used the following sources:
Hardin, R. 1982. Collective Action. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
http://books.google.com/PPP1,M1 Marwell, G. and R. Ames. 1979. `Experiments on the Provision of Public Goods. I. Resources, Interest, Group Size, and the Free-rider Problem. American Journal of Sociology, 84: 1335-1360.
General Web 2.0 Topics
