I am interested in collaborative forms of creativity enabled or enhanced through computer networks and the ways in which law or other factors facilitate or frustrate creativity and innovation. A primary example of collaborative creativity that interests me is open source and free software development. Free software projects such as the Linux kernel or the Apache web server are noted as great success stories but the challenges facing such endeavors are numerous. I seek to understand what works, what doesn’t, and why, and also whether policy-makers and business leaders could or should make adjustments in light of these findings.


role of information as the object of exchange in social exchange environments and the production of collective goods in computer-mediated exchange networks. My current collaborative work focuses on the relationship between exchange structures and risk, uncertainty, trust, and cooperation (in the U.S. and across societies).


cooperation, trust-building, and social exchange in computer-mediated environments.