Title: INCA: qualitative reference framework for incentive mechanisms in P2P networks

Authors: Andrew Roczniak, Abdulmotaleb El Saddik, Pierre Levy

Addresses: Multimedia Communications Research Laboratory and Collective Intelligence Laboratory, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. ' Multimedia Communications Research Laboratory and Collective Intelligence Laboratory, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. ' Multimedia Communications Research Laboratory and Collective Intelligence Laboratory, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

Abstract: The existence of peer-to-peer networks is due to benefits brought by decentralisation of control and distribution of resources. It is expected that the usage of such networks will grow and provide support for a variety of applications, including collaborative environments. Since entities participating in those networks are autonomous and therefore free to decide on their level of participation, mechanisms to resolve conflicts between individual and collective rationality are needed. How can implementations of such mechanisms be compared? This paper introduces INCentive frAmework (INCA), a qualitative reference framework, highlighting essential elements and major design decisions in any implementation of incentive mechanisms. In the context of collaborative environments built on top of P2P architectures, the reference framework can be used in assessing the impact on the quality of experience of applications when incentive mechanisms are included.

Keywords: collaborative environments; peer-to-peer systems; P2P networks; incentives; reference frameworks.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2007.014062

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2007 Vol.29 No.1, pp.71 - 80

Published online: 14 Jun 2007 *

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