Just one observation. What Girard says is that in the course of
mimetic conflict the object of the envy is often destroyed (but even
that does not end the fight). And then if you apply it to Open Source
projects you'll see that the licences used *prevent* the hypothetical
fighters from imparing the code - because the programmers cannot take
back the license they applied to their work.

--
Zbyszek

On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 11:36 AM, Rosanna Tarsiero
<rosanna@...> wrote:
> Hi Again Zibi :)
>
>
> > I don't know if I have much to tell here, I have no formal
> > background in humanities - I just read book by Rene Girard and got
> > fascinated by his thinking (then I read everything interesting on
> > his theories I could find on the Internet). If we belive his main
> > thesis - 'mimetic conflict' is inevitable in each community (it
> > grows from 'mimetic desire' - that, in lay terms, is just envy) -
> > and it can destroy the community completely - so techniques how to
> > cope with it are of vital importance. It is a general theory - so
> > it should be applicable for online communities as well.
>
> How to cope with envy in an online community? Let's see...
>
> I think the main way is, setting the *right* incentives. In other
> words, honor, respect, reputation should be attained or acquired for
> the right reasons (ie: sharing expertise, answering questions, being
> competent and personable, being available to help, engaging in
> troubleshooting/brainstorming with peers, to name a few).
>
> Often, I see colleagues (ie other facilitators) praising experts just
> because of their name or credential, regardless of whether their
> behaviour toward others is appropriate or not... that is to say, the
> expert is praised even when he or she pontificates and/or wants to be
> obeyed more than understood by virtue of "what s/he has done and
> written".
>
> I've seen people claiming that they were critical thinkers because
> after all they had a PhD (rather than explaining the reasons behind
> their methodology) LOL On the other hand, I've also seen people
> throwing mud at experts JUST because those experts did have a PhD and
> the one throwing mud hadn't :))
>
> Similarly I've witnessed other colleagues allowing members of a
> community to diss at others because they didn't show the same learning
> style/preference for a given media, or because they weren't present at
> a given event or conference!
>
> Envy *definitely* plays a role in group interactions of *any* kind...
> only or face to face! Online, signatures are used as indicators of
> status, more or less like clothes, cars and make-up. If you pay
> attention to a debate in a professional group, you will see that it
> starts with the poster signing with just his/her first name, then as
> the argument goes on, the last names of the contenders are added in
> their rebuttals, till they feel compelled to add their educational
> qualifications, and sometimes even the name of the department where
> the sender teaches!!! Some just put the punchline "name surname,
> title" just to point out how you (generic) better shut up before
> getting hurt LOL
>
> I find group facilitation fascinating, especially online, because I
> have fun observing how social cues are conveyed and perceived... and
> the fun of observing it is even deeper, given that many think that
> their motivations can't be conveyed through "words only", thereby
> becoming even more transparent :) I've even seen smileys being used to
> "show one's teeth" so to speak, who's the boss!
>
> As much as we like to think we are individual, our brain is hard-wired
> with the hominid mentality (not necessarily a bad thing, but a
> humbling reflection, yes), so we DO compete for resources...!
>
> What - at times - makes me vomit though is the amount of pretty
> excuses we (generic) fabricate in the attempt to sound holier,
> enlightened and uninterested... at minimum, we are in search of peer
> recognition :)
>
> Ah, I hope I weren't too tedious! I'll read something more about
> Girard... he does sound bloody interesting!
>
>
>
> Rosanna Tarsiero
>
>
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--
Zbigniew Lukasiak
http://brudnopis.blogspot.com/