Abstract
The question of "why do people contribute online" is a particularly relevant topic in this new era of internet, called "web 2.0". First of all, this phenomenon in interesting per se insofar as such a will to give, and to work without asking any compensation is somehow amazing. A lot is to be said of this new kind of utopia in which people share goods, knowledge and free time with people they won't ever meet. It is a fascinating social process of which many aspects are still left unstudied. But online contribution also enables the development of new businesses which are aiming at making profit out of the organization of this new possibility. A lot of new websites, also called wikis, are based on this community work, in order to provide net users the information they are looking for. Therefore the understanding of this free contribution is not only interesting in the field of psychology but also for many firms. Many companies are trying to discover how to develop this trend, and increase the number of contributors, as well as the participation of the existing contributors.
