October 4, 2016 at 12:00 pm
Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University
There is abundant research on commons-based Peer Production communities, from free/open source software and wikis to fablabs and even community gardens. Research shows how these communities, regardless of their type, follow a deeply unequal distribution of effort (the 1-9-90 rule). This fact frequently generates feelings of frustration and guilt among contributors and users.
How can we translate social research into evidence-based interventions to aid these communities? Which online tools would help reduce the invisible wall between contributors and users to facilitate participation? How can we ensure the tools we build respond to the communities' needs?
Associate Professor Samer Hassan shares three years of research within the EU-funded P2Pvalue.eu project, aimed at translating social research into the building of online tools to increase the participation and sustainability of commons-based peer production communities.
About Samer
Samer Hassan (PhD) is an activist and researcher, Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society (Harvard University) and Associate Professor at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain). Currently focused on decentralized collaboration, he has carried out research in decentralized systems, social simulation and artificial intelligence from positions in the University of Surrey (UK) and the American University of Science & Technology (Lebanon). Coming from a multidisciplinary background in Computer Science and Social Sciences, he has more than 45 publications in those fields. Engaged in free/open source projects, he co-founded the Comunes Nonprofit and the Move Commons webtool project. He's an accredited grassroots facilitator and has experience in multiple communities and grassroots initiatives. He's involved as UCM Principal Investigator in the EU-funded P2Pvalue project on building decentralized web-tools for collaborative communities and social movements. His research interests include Commons-based peer production, decentralized architectures, online communities, grassroots social movements & cyberethics.
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