Which good most closely fits the agalmic pattern?

A digital manual that many people can copy and retain. Exactly. Copying a digital manual need not deprive the original holder of it, although producing it took work.

What does inexpensive copying fail to eliminate?

The need for maintenance and other scarce inputs. Exactly. Cheap copies still require someone to create and maintain the work.

What did CERN's 1993 decision make available?

Its World Wide Web software. Exactly. The release concerned CERN's Web software, not every resource or piece of content on the network.

From the archive · October 31, 2026

Giving without having less

What changes when sharing a useful thing does not use it up?

01 · Word

Agalmics

Pronounced uh-GAL-miks

noun

The study and practice of making and sharing goods, such as digital files, without using up the original supply.

Examples

A freely copied software manual offers an example for agalmics.
Agalmics asks what sharing can create when handing over a copy does not remove your own.

Origin

Robert Levin proposed the term in his 1999 essay Agalmics: The Marginalization of Scarcity, drawing on Greek agalma, a pleasing gift. It remains a niche term.

02 · Idea

A copy changes the exchange

If you lend someone your only ladder, you cannot use it at the same time. Share a digital design and both of you can retain it. The recipient may also find an error or contribute an improvement.

Robert Levin, who proposed the term, used free software communities as examples. CERN's earlier release of Web software offers a concrete example of making a reusable tool widely available.

A shared copy can leave both people with more to work with.

Permission to reuse can matter as much as the technical ease of copying.

Limits

A file can be cheap to copy while its creation and maintenance still take time and effort.

03 · Moment

The Web released for others to build on

CERN, near Geneva; April 30, 1993

CERN released its World Wide Web software into the public domain on April 30, 1993. Other people could use and build on it without a licensing payment to CERN. Making another copy did not deprive the laboratory of its own.

Institution: CERN
Decision: Web software released to the public domain
Date: April 30, 1993

The caveat

CERN did not put every future website into the public domain, and the Web is distinct from the Internet it uses. The release predates Levin's term.

Tim Berners-Lee had developed the Web at CERN to support information sharing. Releasing the software removed an obstacle to wider adoption.

The connection

Cheap copying changes the cost of sharing, while creation and upkeep still require resources.