Download as PDF, PPTX
Uploaded byStefanMz
Understanding Commons and Peer Production
This document discusses the concept of commons and peer production. It defines commons as common goods developed and maintained by a community using natural or produced resources, available under agreed rules. Peer production is based on voluntary contributions rather than exchange, with cooperation among equals and open access to resources to achieve a common goal. The document argues that neither markets nor states alone can sustain long-term resource use, and that open, collaborative approaches are needed to address complex problems.
More Related Content
Similar to Understanding Commons and Peer Production
Understanding Commons and Peer Production
- 1. Understanding Commons and Peer Production OKCon 2011 Berlin, June, 30th & July, 1st Stefan Meretz, Berlin oekonux.org keimform.de
- 2. Video on theCommons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otmrkhEFSZM
- 3. The Notion ofCommons – in Six Steps Commons are common goods However, what are common goods? ● Public goods? ● Goods belonging to all people, thus to nobody?
- 4. Notion of Commons– Two Commons are common goods maintained by a community Peter Linebaugh: „There is no commons without commoning“ ● But is it only about maintenance? ● What about newly developed goods?
- 5. Notion of Commons– Three Commons are common goods developed and maintained by a community What about resources? ● Where do they come from? ● What can resources be?
- 6. Notion of Commons– Four Commons are common goods developed and maintained by a community using natural or produced resources What about usage? ● Who can use resources and goods? ● All people?
- 7. Notion of Commons– Five Commons are common goods developed and maintained by a community using natural or produced resources, which are available for users Who defines to be a „user“? ● What are the conditions? ● How is it decided?
- 8. Notion of Commons– Six Commons are common goods developed and maintained by a community using natural or produced resources, which are available for users under commonly agreed rules This is a useful definition... ... which, however, do not answer all questions
- 9. The Commons Triangle commoning community rules natural common goods Commons goods resources products
- 11. Constitution material goods ● havea physical shape ● can be used up or crushed out ● perform their purpose only by their physical constitution non-material goods ● are decoupled from a specific physical shape ● services: – coincidence of production and consumption ● preservable non-material goods: – need a physical carrier
- 12. Resources natural resources ● alreadyexisting and raw resources ● seldom found in uninfluenced environments produced resources ● created material or non-material preconditions for further use in the – production of goods – production/preservation of resources ● examples: raw material, knowledge
- 13. Social Form Commodity ● privatelyproduced good for exchange/selling ● preconditions are scarcity and exclusion Subsistence ● produced good for personal use or benefit of personally known others (family, friends etc.) ● no exchange, but giving, taking, circulation Commons ● Produced/maintained goods for general others ● no exchange, but usage upon agreed rules
- 14. Legal Form Private Property ●exclusive control ● independent of constitution and possession Collective Property ● collectively owned private property ● stock corporation, nationally-owned enterprise, house owner community, cooperative etc. Free Goods (res nullius, terra nullius, no man‘s land) ● socially unregulated goods under free access ● tragedy of commons is tragedy of no man‘s land
- 15. Legacy of CodexJustitianus Realm Access Regulation res nullius open to all unregulated res privatae owner market res publicae government state res communes community peer to peer
- 16. Usage Excludability ● exclusive: access is prevented (→commodity) ● inclusive: open access for all (→Wikipedia) Rivalry ● rival: use restrictions for other people (→apple) ● non-rival: no restrictions for others (→E=mc²) Economics: relevant characteristic of goods! But: ● Exclusion is result of an activity (→Social Form) ● Rivalry results from constitution and can be dealt with
- 19. Characteristics of PeerProduction (1) Peer Production is based on contributions, not on exchange: ● peer-projects have a common goal ● participants contribute to this goal ● utility, not making money motivates participants ● effort sharing is the mode of production
- 20. Characteristics of PeerProduction (2) Peer Production is based on free cooperation, not on coercion and command: ● nobody can compel others to do something ● nobody is forced to obey others ● structures base on maintainers or admins who can decide, for example, which contributions to accept and which to refuse ● structures can be changed or: if the project can not be convinced, it can be forked ● cooperation among equals make them to “peers”
- 21. Characteristics of PeerProduction (3) Peer Production is based on possession, not on property: ● resources are privately or collectively owned ● resources are used and shared for the sake of the project („share what you can“) ● resources and products generally matter as something that can be used (possession), not as something that can be sold (property)
- 22. Commons Beyond Stateand Market „What one can observe in the world, ... is that neither the state nor the market is uniformly successful in enabling individuals to sustain longterm, productive use of natural resource systems. Further, communities of individuals have relied on institutions resembling neither the state nor the market to govern some resource systems with reasonable degrees of success over long periods of time“ Elinor Ostrom (1990), Governing the Commons, p.1 (German title, re-translated: The Constitution of the Commons – Beyond State and Market)
- 23. Openness „Open-ness, in short,is more than a commercial and cultural issue. It’s a survival issue. Systemic challenges such as climate change, or resource depletion—so-called ‘wicked problems’—cannot be solved using the same techniques that caused them in the first place. Open research, open governance, and open design are a precondition for the continuous, collaborative, social mode of enquiry and action that are needed.“ John Thackara in: Open Design Now – Why Design Cannot Remain Exclusive
- 24. Thank you :-) More about commons and peer production: www.keimform.de/category/english Finally... Cartoon by great Nina Paley under CC-by-sa license http://mimiandeunice.com/2011/07/01/inside-the-box/