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Wiley InterScience | ||||||||||||||
  Communication TheoryVolume 6 Issue 1, Pages 60 - 87 Published Online: 17 Mar 2006 © 2010 International Communication Association Published on behalf of the International Communication Association
Abstract | References | Full Text: PDF (Size: 1752K) | Related Articles | Citation Tracking  Connective and Communal Public Goods in Interactive Communication Systems The preparation of this article was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (No. SBR-922537), Janet Fulk and Peter Monge, coprincipal investigators. The authors thank Claire Parnassa, Suzanne Rumsey, David Watennan, and Don Ellis and anonymous reviewers for Communication Theory for helpful suggestions on an earlier version of this article. Copyright 1996 International Communication Association ABSTRACTThis paper extends theories of public goods to interactive communication systems. Two key public communication goods are identified. Connectivity provides point-to-point communication, and communality links members through commonly held information, such as that often found in databases. These extensions are important, we argue, because communication public goods operate differently from traditional material public goods. These differences have important implications for costs, benefits, and the realization of a critical mass of users that is necessary for realization of the good. We also explore multifunctional goods that combine various features and hybrid goods that link private goods to public ones. We examine the applicability of two key assumptions of public goods theory to interactive communication systems. First, jointness of supply specifies that consumption of a public good does not diminish its availability to others. Second, impossibility of exclusion stipulates that all members of the public have access to the good. We conclude with suggestions for further theoretical development. | 
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