The Trust System

The Second Life Community Convention is going on in San Francisco, and tonight's festivities included a performance by Second Life's Beyers Sellers (aka Robert Bloomfield) and Lauren Weyland in the physical and virtual worlds. (To watch Malburns Live Stream click here.)

On the stage there's a tip jar, and as I purchased 5,000 Linden dollars (worth about $20) to tip Molaskey's Pub and support music, I thought about how, in childhood, I'd been amazed when my family stopped at a farm stand on the side of the road. We asked our parents why anybody would pay when nobody was there to tell you how much you owed or make sure you paid it, and they explained the honor system to us. Though the vegetables looked easy enough to sell, but somebody had to grow them, and that was hard work.

The honor system should be a major part of the digital culture. If tipping is a transparent gesture (as it is in Second Life, where the tip and the name of the tipper show up in chat) then more people are likely to do it. Imagine if while you were reading an article in The New York Times, you could see that other readers were paying what they thought the information was worth. Publications should create a gold membership level for top sponsors. This would additionally enable publications to keep track of key metrics, and allow public sponsors to keep track of what's in the fund and vote on not only the budget basics, but on the priorities of the publication.

This would change the entire debate around the future of journalism. Instead of charging for content, let readers and viewers tell you what it's worth. Put a tip jar out on the farm stand.