Commons-based Peer Production

An approach to the production of information goods where resources are applied through a commons model, without central ownership.

Term first coined by Benkler, who further emphasises that peer production is defined not only by the openness of its outputs, but also by a decentralized, participant-driven working method of working.

Nadia Eghbal points out that even if in theory a project is adopting a commons-based peer approach, depedning of the balance of maintainers and users it is possible that growth will be limited by the fact that Attention is a Rivalrous Resource

Requirements

• intrinsic motivation
• modular / granular tasks
• low co-ordination costs

See also

• Coase's Penguin, or Linux and the Nature of the Firm, Benkler 2002
• Working In Public, the making and maintenance of open source software, Nadia Eghbal, 2020
• wikipedia