ABSTRACT
This chapter explores existence of commercial relationships by considering the increasingly important phenomenon of digital gifts. Gifts would seem to belong firmly on the side of community, with the implication that they are given only to those with whom to close existing relationships, in a normatively endorsed process as making and strengthening connections within the community. The chapter also seeks to contribute to a number of wider yet related arguments: first, that giving is an economic activity and an important one in contemporary societies; second, there is a diverse range of giving practices, which do not all function in the same way or have the same implications; third, that in some contexts, certain giving practices are a promising alternative to commodity exchange; but fourth, that giving is often entangled with other economic practices in complex and interesting ways. It deploys examples of digital giving practices to support interlinked arguments about the relations between commerce, community, and giving itself.
