Adam Arvidsson, Elanor Colleoni: Value in Informational Capitalism and on the Internet. A Reply to Christian Fuchs (draft, 2011)

This article critically engages with recent applications of the Marxist ‘labor theory of value’ to online prosumer practices, and offers an alternative framework to theorize value creation in such practices. We argue that the labor theory of value is difficult to apply to online prosumer practices for two reasons. First because value creation in such practices is poorly related to time. Second because the realization of the value accumulated by social media companies generally occurs on financial markets, rather than in direct commodity exchange. In alternative we offer an understanding of value creation as based primarily on the capacity to initiate and sustain webs of affective relations, and value realization as linked to a reputation based financial economy. We argue that this model describes the process of value creation and appropriation in the context of online prosumer platforms better than an approach based on the marxian labor theory of value. We also suggest that our approach can be cast new light on value creation within informational capitalism in general.

Available at Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
Working Paper Series
February 2011

original paper by Christian Fuchs
response to Arvidsson&Colleoni’s paper (Poor Richard, P2P Foundation)

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Satoshi Nakamoto: Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System (2009)

A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution. Digital signatures provide part of the solution, but the main benefits are lost if a trusted third party is still required to prevent double-spending. We propose a solution to the double-spending problem using a peer-to-peer network. The network timestamps transactions by hashing them into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work, forming a record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-work. The longest chain not only serves as proof of the sequence of events witnessed, but proof that it came from the largest pool of CPU power. As long as a majority of CPU power is controlled by nodes that are not cooperating to attack the network, they’ll generate the longest chain and outpace attackers. The network itself requires minimal structure. Messages are broadcast on a best effort basis, and nodes can leave and rejoin the network at will, accepting the longest proof-of-work chain as proof of what happened while they were gone.

Published on 24 May 2009
9 pages

author
wikipedia

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Walter W Powell – Neither Market Nor Hierarchy: Network Forms of Organization (1990)

Seminal paper examining networks as a governance mechanism, which won the American Sociological Association’s Max Weber Prize.

in: Barry M. Staw and L. L. Cummings (eds.): Research in Organizational Behavior Vol. 12. Pp. 295-336 (1990).

summary (Doug Simpson)

PDF (no OCR)