Mainstream media generally accepts the current commonplace institutions as fundamental features of ‘the economy’. Others with an eye on innovation, recognize that digital platforms are empowering alternative forms of economic behavior at scales never before possible. Digital currencies, reputation metrics, social capital scores, and collaborative consumption platforms are proliferating at a rapid pace. Those of us who enthusiastically explore this territory regularly confront the lack of an appropriate language with which to describe these innovations.
Clearly we need a better way to frame these concepts. What is alternative currency? What is a gift economy? What is the attention economy? How can we systematically explain the economic impact of user-generated content or peer-to-peer exchange? The terms, ‘user generated’ and ‘peer-to-peer’ might as well be defined as ‘not professional’ and ‘not corporate’, respectively.
If we are to have any hope of understanding emerging economic relationships, we must begin defining them in terms of what they are, rather than what they are not. Here is my attempt.
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