Choosing Reputable Resources in Atomistic Peer-to-Peer Environments

Abstract

Peer-to-Peer information sharing environments have gained recognition and popularity during the recent years. In spite of the useful characteristics they provide in the ways that the participants can collaborate, the issue of quality preservation in the shared material has not been addressed yet. The lack of appropriate mechanisms and policies to evaluate the participants has sown fears that the overall popularity of the services will be affected. The nature of atomistic p2p models, where survivability is based on the idea of self-organization into communities could be the basis of a solution to the quality problem build-up by the peers themselves. We consider that the deployment of an assessment scheme as a consultancy service based on a localized view of reputation could help the associated members of the peer-to-peer community in making their choices and thus in the provision of better services.