“She said you weren’t exchanging gifts . . . you believed her.” This is a quote off of one of our Keystone Light boxes (I know, I know, real classy). Point being, the Keystone Light motto is ‘Always smooth, even when you’re not,’ and the above quote made me laugh because every guy should know that they should never believe a girl when she says you aren’t exchanging gifts. Relationships are totally and completely centered on the expectation of reciprocation… instant reciprocation. Luckily, these are not the only types of relationships that one must participate in throughout life; thank God for gift and public goods economies online! Need information to make your life easier without the burden of having to immediately give back? The World Wide Web will be the best relationship you have ever committed to; it is the ideal boyfriend/girlfriend of the 21st century. Turn them on or off at your convenience, get what you need and get the heck out . . . that is until the next time you need something. Okay, I realize I just made these economies seem like free prostitutes, but I just wanted to really highlight the positives.
Getting down to business, Peter Kollock highlights Rheingold’s idea that “interaction in one online community as consisting of a gift economy, in which help and information is offered without the expectation of any direct, immediate quid-pro-quid.” Think about it this way, just as we discussed how downloading music files is addicting (because it is fast and free), we actually obtain much more information from the web than we think. Can’t cook? Recipes.com. Need a definition? Search through Wikipedia or Dictionary.com. Internet users are constantly absorbing new and useful information everyday through gift economies.
After reading up on gift economies, the first example that immediately came to mind was RateMyProfessor.com. I can honestly say that I attribute almost all of my college success to this website. Because of the comments/warnings/encouragement of students who have experienced certain classes and teachers, I have been able to create an ideal schedule.
College isn’t easy. Taking a few minutes to read over a potential professor on this website saves me the time and energy of having to sign up for the class and later realize that ‘hey, I’m screwed!’ In college, your peers are prime resources for almost everything you do. In Healy293’s blog, when talking about his fraternity, he discusses that, “We have notes and past tests dating back to 2004 in which a current member can use them to study or help them in some way.” This is similar to how RateMyProfessor.com helps students, except since it is online it benefits much more people.
The convenience of online gift economies reduces coordination costs. Kollack brings up a good point in saying, “People can meet, plan, and discuss issues without regard to physical location or time.” This goes hand in hand with what I said about saving time and energy having to experience something for myself. I do not have to search around campus asking random people if they have ever had a certain teacher; the chances are also pretty slim considering UB has about 30,000 students.
Kollack concentrates much of his article on the issue of the motivation to reciprocate and not just take when using gift economies (no free information prostitutes… that’s just rude). He says that the motivation to share information with an online group is the anticipated reciprocity (Kollack 1993). In other words, when I use RateMyProfessor.com, if I add comments about my own professors, I do so in hopes of keeping the flow of information alive and up to date; therefore, when I log on next semester, I will be reciprocated when there are recent evaluations of the professors that I look up. It is all a give and take, it just is not always an instant give or an instant take. I can honestly say, as well as vouch for many of my friends (from all different universities) that because 'RateMyProfessor' has been so valuable to us, that it is motivation for us to help others in the same way.
Gift economies of information online give users a feeling of not being alone. We all need information, and we all need each other’s help and expertise; it makes life easier! Also, if there is a possibility for bonus points in this blog, I’ll be sure to give Lackaff a good write up, yet your resume is already looking pretty stacked : Professor Lackaff.
Resources:
Kollock, P. (1999, January). The Economies of Online Cooperation: Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace. University of California, Los Angeles, Retrieved September 17, 2008, from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm
http://adamhirsch293.blogspot.com/2008/09/online-economies.html
http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=926939&page=2
(sorry I still really need to take time and figure out how to properly cite, don't worry I'll get it)
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6 comments:
Wow, I didn't know that site was still active. Your post was spot on.
hey, i thoroughly enjoyed your blog. I laughed out loud several times. and i agree with rate my professor.com saving my college career. I always wonder if those teachers check and cry themselves to sleep at night because of there bad reviews.
Thats how I've been surviving college too. If a professor gets at least one bad rating...C'ya. I think they need to put more picture up on that web page I always get confused in the begining of the semester and wonder if I have a guy or a girl teaching the class.
I agree with your standpoint on ratemyprofessor.com. It has been a helpful tool to not only me but people i know pick ideal schedules not based on the course, but the teacher. Maybe if the teachers read the reviews they would adapt to the opinions of those who sign up.
I can honestly say I've had about 2 good professors since I've been here at UB. And that's closing in on four years.
I'm glad these people with padded pockets and titles in front of their names are earning respect from their colleagues and can afford to buy high end sweater vests, yet day to day deliver monotonous, boring, bland, half-assed presentations and lectures.
I'm so glad they care.
And Keystone? Come on. That's rough.
I've only used rate my professor a few times but it was deff helpful... i can say it got me out of lectures that i would have otherwise fell alseep in b/c of boring teachers! thanks to those students that post on the professors... kind of like a gift economy? maybe.
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