Commons-based peer production

Commons-based Peer Production (CBPP, German: " Allmende production durch Gleichrechte") is a proposal by Yochai Benkler , professor at Harvard Law School, to expand the new institutional economics . Accordingly, neither the common theories of neoclassical economics , which are based on the assumption model of Homo oeconomicus as a rational and self-serving individual, nor approaches such as New Institutional Economics can explain why phenomena such as open source software development or Wikipedia are possible at all.

With his Commons-based Peer Production, Benkler specifically refers to information economics and expressly understands this as an extension, not as a replacement for the established theories. Similar to the theories of the German economist Axel Ockenfels , not only monetary remuneration but also socio-psychological and hedonistic “rewards” are included.

Origin of the term

In Coase's Penguin, or Linux and the Nature of the Firm , Benkler describes peer production as a fundamental phenomenon of the networked knowledge economy . In The Wealth of Networks he also addresses the social and political implications.

concept

CBPP is a new way of creating and distributing value . An infrastructure between users (peer-to-peer), especially via the Internet, enables individuals to communicate with one another, organize themselves and ultimately use value in the form of digital commons of knowledge, software and design in joint work and without competition to accomplish. In summary, CBPP is based on open contributions, a participatory process of distributing tasks and commons as the work result.

Properties of CBPP

Different skills and motivations

In contrast to value creation in industrial capitalism, value creation within the framework of CBPP is open to anyone who has the skills to contribute to a joint project, so that the knowledge of all participants is bundled. Since CBPP projects are open systems within which knowledge can be freely shared and shared, both users who do not receive remuneration and those who are remunerated can participate. Apart from monetary motivation, participants contribute because they consider it sensible and useful. For the community as well as for ordinary users, the focus is on use value and not exchange value .

Transparent heterarchy

Within CBPP, cooperation is not controlled by the hierarchies of a company, but by mutual coordination mechanisms in the productive community. Since CBPP is based on a transparent and open system of collaboration, each participant can see the signals of the work of others and thus adapt to the needs of the system as a whole. Often, CBPP is based on cooperation in the form of stigmergy , which enables collective and decentralized actions by supporting social negotiation processes through internet-based technologies.

Furthermore, CBPP projects have a kind of quality control in the form of a benign hierarchy or heterarchy. Participants in a role as “sustainer” or “author” protect the integrity of the system and can reject contributions that endanger it. It is important at this point that you do not force the work of others.

Value creation ecosystem

CBPP enables a new form of value creation, which is characterized by a different ecosystem (compared to industrial capitalism). In the environment of shared commons in the form of knowledge, computer code and design there are three institutions: the productive community, the commons-oriented entrepreneurial alliance, and the utility-oriented society.

Digital commons as the core of value creation are non- or anti-competitive resources (i.e. the more participants use a resource, the more it is strengthened). These commons can be expanded, reused and adapted for specific situations and environments.
The productive community supports the ecosystem and thus the project and its coordination systems. All participants produce resources that can be used jointly, regardless of whether they are remunerated or not.
Companies using commons transform the combined knowledge into commons-oriented entrepreneurial alliances. These create additional market value all around the shared resources to secure the environment for the productive community. This is done using generative instead of extracting methods.
The benefit-oriented society is formed by independent institutions with management functions that enable the productive community and the commons-oriented entrepreneurial alliance to get involved in CBPP projects. In addition, it protects the Commons through special licenses and fundraising for their development.

Examples

Examples can be found in a large number of free and open source software (free software with published source code) projects or open source hardware communities.

literature

Yochai Benkler: Coase's Penguin, or, Linux and the Nature of the Firm. In: Rishab A. Ghosh (Ed.): CODE. Collaborative Ownership and the Digital Economy. Cambridge. MIT Press, Mass. 2005, pp. 169-206. Online version .
Yochai Benkler: The wealth of networks. How social production transforms markets and freedom. Yale University Press, New Haven Conn. 2006. Wiki for the book .
Christian Siefkes: Contribute instead of swapping. Material production based on the Free Software model. AG SPAK books, Neu-Ulm 2008. Wiki for the book .
D. Hilgers, G. Müller-Seitz, F. Piller: Benkler revisited - Venturing beyond the open source software arena? In: ICIS Proceedings. 2010, Paper 97, http://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2010_submissions/97

Web links

Bibliography for Commons at www.benkler.org
www.peerconomy.org - Wiki on the Peer Economy, in English and German

Other sources

James Surowiecki : The Wisdom Of Crowds : Why The Many Are Smarter Than The Few And How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies And Nations. Little, Brown, London 2004, ISBN 0-316-86173-1 . (German: The wisdom of the many: why groups are smarter than individuals and how we can use collective knowledge for our economic, social and political actions. Bertelsmann, 2005, ISBN 3-570-00687-5 )
Clay Shirky : Here comes everybody. How digital networks transform our ability to gather and cooperate. Penguin Press, New York 2005.
Don Tapscott, Anthony D. Williams: Wikinomics : How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. B&T, New York 2006, ISBN 1-59184-138-0 . (German: Wikinomics: The Revolution on the Net. Hanser, 2007, ISBN 978-3-446-41219-4 )
Christian Siefkes: Peer production the unexpected rise of a commons-based mode of production. 2012.

Individual evidence

^ Y. Benkler: Coase's Penguin, or, Linux and the Nature of the Firm. 2005.
^ Y. Benkler: The wealth of networks. 2006.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Michel Bauwens, Vasilis Kostakis, Alex Pazaitis: Peer to Peer . University of Westminster Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1-911534-79-2 , doi : 10.16997 / book33 ( uwestminsterpress.co.uk [accessed January 4, 2020]).

[1] Y. Benkler: Coase's Penguin, or, Linux and the Nature of the Firm. 2005.

[2] Y. Benkler: The wealth of networks. 2006.

[:0-3] Michel Bauwens, Vasilis Kostakis, Alex Pazaitis: Peer to Peer . University of Westminster Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1-911534-79-2 , doi : 10.16997 / book33 ( uwestminsterpress.co.uk [accessed January 4, 2020]).