Why do People Share Information?

A topic we studied in the enterprise. This NYTimes article presents some non-obvious answers. Because we wrote our own e-mail system in the 70s, we had lots of experience in the dynamic of how people communicate. Later, we understood that there was much duplicated and non-productive copying going on, so a number of 'smart-sharing' methods were promoted. The Web changed things since it made lots of information available to many, though even it was initially squelched by requiring high level management permission for open access. Really smart and well focused sharing of innovation and ideas is still not solved.