Open AccessQualities of Sharing and their Transformations in the Digital Age
Author(s) -
Andreas Wittel
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
international review of information ethics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2563-5638
DOI - 10.29173/irie218
Subject(s) - order (exchange) , object (grammar) , computer science , social exchange theory , function (biology) , knowledge management , information sharing , social relationship , sociology , world wide web , business , social psychology , psychology , social science , artificial intelligence , finance , evolutionary biology , biology
This article examines the social side of sharing. It is an attempt to work towards a sociological concept of sharing in the digital age. This is the hypothesis: different forms of sharing have different qualities with respect to the social. Digital technologies bring about new forms of sharing. In order to support this claim I will analyse the social qualities of sharing by focusing on the object, on what is being shared. Using an object-centred analysis it will be argued that digital forms of sharing introduce a new function of sharing. Whereas pre-digital sharing was about exchange, sharing with digital technologies is about exchange and about distribution.