Commons-based Peer Production
From The New Media Embed Program Fall08
Contents |
Characteristics of Commons-based Peer Production
- Decentralized motivation
- Large population of differently motivated people.
- Decentralized capitalization
- People have the physical capital necessary to make and communicate information knowledge and culture
- Potential objects must be modular, meaning the components can be produced independently of the others (allows for diversity)
- Importance of granularity (meaning size)—they must be small in order to motivate volunteers to only have to contribute a little amount of time and effort.
- Must have low cost integration: it needs to be able to defend itself against destructive contribution and needs to have a mechanism to create the finished product
How to Achieve Success
Successful peer production enterprises have an advantage in that traditional firms and markets simplify decision making which ultimately cuts outs info. Peer production enterprises contain more updated information, and the variability of volunteers within the projects and existing information resources is so great that it allows for more and diverse information. What makes this whole concept work is the fact that it engages many people with different ideas and reasons to get involved to work towards a common goal.
Examples
NASA Click Project
- Volunteers were able to develop the same map of mars that a PhD NASA employee created as well, only they did it much more efficiently and for free. The point here is that peer production can accomplish the same work as capital production, only quicker and cheaper.
Slashdot
- A website that is a compilation of stories and posts by users of interesting things they found on the web. The users moderate by grading comments, marking its relevance; in turn those user comments are then moderated as well in order to determine the legitimacy of the original post. This site is created by the people, for the people, and policed by the people.
Digg
- A website where users submit links and news stories then vote/comment on them. Links can be moved up (dugg) or down (Buried) based on their perceived value, with the most newsworthy and important stories appearing on the main page. The user base keeps the site functioning through commenting each other and through voting, the sites main function, the users themselves get to decide what is important to their community.
