The Gift Economy is Back

Christmas fever (Photo credit: Alan Carter)OK, I have been super busy with everything else I have been doing so The Gift Economy has been a little neglected. I am back now though and will be posting some more regular updates to this blog.

A lot of what I wanted to do here was essentially have an online discussion of what gift giving can achieve. We live in an increasingly selfish world with individuals looking out for themselves.

What I see from things like the global financial crisis is that the richer someone in in monetary terms, the poorer they are spiritually, unwilling to give up any of their wealth and only wanting more.

This is why you see many more generous people in the lower and middle classes of society. It is also why I write this blog of giving in the hope that it is a little step towards reducing the greed inherent in our world.

Not to go into a whole rant at the moment, as this is more of a welcome back note, but just to say thanks fro visiting and I hope to add some more fun stuff soon!

Related articles

• Money, Debt and the Gift Economy (faitheconomyecology.wordpress.com)
• I work for free (istopforsuffering.wordpress.com)
• Sacred Economics: Money, Gift and Community in an Age of Transition (the2012scenario.com)
• The Gifting Economy (screamforpeace.wordpress.com)
• Our Corrupt Politics: It's Not All Money (nybooks.com)

Been a While... Still Writing

Image via WikipediaJust a quick update to say I am still writing on the Gift Economy Australia blog and will be continuing to do so. At the moment I have been busy working with my business website and my business in general. Because I am beginning to work for myself full time I hope to be able to contribute more on the subject of the gift economy.

The more I write on the subject the more it seems to me that even blogging is a gift in itself. Not many of us get paid for most writing we do online but I guess out of enjoyment and perseverance we continue to do it. For myself I have just gotten a paid writing assignment and will be getting into the swing of making my few websites even better.

Coming up on the blog I will discuss the benefits of being a giving person and the problems that come with being stingy (i.e cheap). And, no, it's not about money, it's more about what kind of spirit you have: a generous one or a self-absorbed one.

A big thank you to all my regular readers that may be wondering what is going on with the blog. This started out as an experimental project and I hope it can start to grow in the ways I planned when I started it.

Related articles

• New Website Packages from $99 (doublefootproductions.com)
• New Website Launched - Double Foot Prod. (doublefootproductions.com)
• Gain Exposure through kjwriteleft.com! (doublefootproductions.com)
• Double Foot Productions Current Projects (doublefootproductions.com)
• Choosing Between Free Blogging Sites (doublefootproductions.com)

Merry Christmas and Enjoy the Giving!

Image by Alan Carter via FlickrChristmas is a time of year that everyone can get involved with giving gifts. As you know from this site and my main business site Double Foot Productions I have aimed to try and provide gifts all year round but Christmas is an especially good time of year and there is nothing like choosing gifts to give to friends and family.

While the site has been lacking in some updates lately I hope to alleviate that problem with a few days off coming up and hopefully a move towards working on website production fulltime. I hope to elaborate on many of the discussions I have had on this site and will also be pushing my own business model incorporating a 'gift economy' into its main structure. This is all very experimental so any support is appreciated as I get started.

I thank you all for visiting this (for now) little blog discussing the joys of giving and of receiving. May you all have a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous new year. Thanks again!

-KJ Halliday

Double Foot Productions Offers Gifts!

Image via Wikipedia

Because I run Double Foot Productions (a website design and promotion business) I am pleased to share with all of my Gift Economy readers the great gifts available through my own program on the site. I offer assitance with web design and promotion for both individuals and organisations that want to improve or create a presence online. I can offer Wordpress or Joomla setup but unfortunately cannot provide the hosting services but will help you find the best hosting and domain registration for your needs.

Yes, this is a strange advertisement, I am selling services for free but as you can see from this blog it is with a purpose and that is to give free time and resources that I have back to people (especially artists who may be starting out) who need help getting a site setup. There isn't a catch to this and I love to promote new work and websites!

If you want to check out my own work on websites you can visit http://doublefootproductions.com/ which is a Wordpress based website and also contains all the contact information to enquire about the services on offer. Only eligible individuals and groups will be considered.

The Modern Gift Economy

Image via Wikipedia

As I have begun this site this year I have been thinking about the Gift Economy in modern society and have been surprised at how common this type of interaction is. In the realm of the internet 'free' is almost a given and gifts are given every second of the day through Open Source Software, free ebooks, sharing of comments and ideas and more. Even large organisations like Google operate some of their programs this way as you can see with this blog being published through google's "Blogger" platform.

 The other heartening thing to see is the amount of people willing to give their time and energy to helping others. Volunteer work is still popular and many people now look for ways to increase their 'self worth' by doing something meaningful in an increasingly meaningless society. This brings up an important point that most human beings want a world where people are cared for and resources are shared but are tied to old economic structures of profit and greed. 

 As I have mentioned in a previous post even world governments (albeit with self interest at heart) operate a very large gift economy throughout the globe under the name "economic aid" which does confirm that the current structure of world economies will never sustain human life on this planet as it creates the need for greed and self interest. This ties into the developed world's notion that economies must always grow and expand which of course is impossible in a world with limited resources. 

 As you continue through this blog or throughout the internet and into your day to day lives just take a look at how much 'giving' is going on. Especially in the lead up to Christmas you will see this as a most beautiful pinnacle of human endeavour: the ability to give of ourselves so that others may survive. I hope you all receive the gifts that you need and if you have everything you need why not consider changing someone's life with a gift you are able to give?

-KJ Halliday 

Author of Gift Economy Australia

Editor of kjwriteleft.com

Excerpt from kjwriteleft.com "Who Cares About the Environment?"

Image via WikipediaExcerpt from kjwriteleft.com:

Most of you would have heard all the arguments for protecting the environment from global warming through to protection of resources such as clean water. While specific groups such as 'green' political parties work towards saving the environment it must also be asked who else (apart from these specific interest groups) cares about it. It could be argued that personalities such as Al Gore (ex-vice president and creator of 'An Inconvenient Truth') merely use the environment to keep their public profile. Other groups like green movements quite obviously want to support environmental activism because it is their ethos and support base. What about those who have no 'green' leanings politically?

Read the entire article here!

Gift Economy Moving Ahead!

Open gifts everyday! Image by opensourceway via Flickr

As you may have noticed the blog posts have not been as regular as I would like but that is about to change. In association with Double Foot Productions and kjwriteleft.com (my other sites) I am working to integrate these sites together. If you have seen the Double Foot Productions site you would know I offer assistance and advice (as a gift!) to any worthwhile individual or organisation. This is my experimental business model incorporating a 'gift economy' with standard commerce. 

I hope to see this work outas it will mean more posts on this site as well as related features on my other websites. Heading towards Christmas I will be having some continuing discussions on "Gifts" in general and the general problems presented when gifts become purely about money and influence. Along with these discussions I will bring up some new points on people and places that are 'gift giving' everyday, even if they don't know it! I hope to highlight some work of great people who would otherwise never get a mention, so if you have a worthwhile idea, organisation or website then please let me know and you may get a huge amount of free publicity (gifted of course!) 

As always I wish all of you the best and look forward to building this blog with all of you and any guest bloggers are always welcome if you have a relevant topic.  

-KJ Halliday Editor of Gift Economy Australia