Yochai Benkler - Wealth of Networks - User contributions [en]

4. The Economics of Social Production

2009-08-20T22:11:06Z

Iwearshoess: Fixed Table Of Contents links

↑ [[Table of Contents]] 
← [[3. Peer Production and Sharing|Chapter 3]] | [[5. Individual Freedom: Autonomy, Information, and Law |Chapter 5]] →

== Content ==

* [http://www.benkler.org/Benkler_Wealth_Of_Networks_Chapter_4.pdf Full text (PDF)]
* [[Sentence-sliced Text Chapter 4|Full text, sentence-sliced (wiki)]]
* [http://www.slideshare.net/macloo/economics-of-social-production Slideshow summary of this chapter] by Mindy McAdams, Professor, Journalism, University of Florida

==Summary of the chapter==

===Overview===

===Motivation===
===Social Production: Feasibility Conditions and Organizational Form===
===Transaction Costs and Efficiency===
===The Emergence of Social Production in the Digitially Networked Environment===
===The Interface of Social Production and Market-Based Businesses===

==Sources==
===Sources cited in the chapter===
===Other relevant readings===
==Case Studies==
===Supporting examples===
From page 120-121

"... Goods, services, and resources that, in the industrial stage of the information economy required large-scale, concentrated capital investment to provision, are now subject to a changing technological environment that can make sharing a better way of achieving the same results than can states, markets, or their hybrid, regulated industries..."

John Seely Brown makes the point for sharing even in capital-intensive markets such as the auto industry where he contrasts Toyota's cooperation between and among its suppliers to Detroit's command and control relationships with its suppliers. This is talked about in his new book ''"The Only Sustainable Edge: Why Business Strategy Depends on Productive Friction and Dynamic Specialization"'' (Amazon link here[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591397200/sr=8-1/qid=1145751781/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-3528198-0636147?%5Fencoding=UTF8]). I have not read the book yet, but he talks about it in a podcast which is available at ITConversations.com (link here[http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail610.html])

One other point. Sharing presumes more transparency in the production process and results in types of sharing that not only involve contributions of inputs/goods/time, but contributions of better methods of achieving the goal of sharing. Think cooperative networks of faculty sharing their course notes and the result that this makes it easier for new entrants into the community (those teaching new courses and those new to teaching).

A better example is the use of Linux to teach Computer Science students. Before open source software, the no code was available for students to study (or to contribute to). The ability to share and the incumbent transparency it presumes is a motivator for new entrants to join the community vs. closed communities that you cannot join or contribute to - even if you wanted to.

===Counter-examples===
==Key Concepts==
Why do people participate and collaborate outside of the profit motive? Why is this becoming a factor now? Is it really efficient? (91)

===Motivation===
*'''Extrinsic Motivations''': Imposed from the outside such as money, rewards, of threats of punishment. (94)
*'''Intrinsic Motivations''': Come from within such as pleasure or pain (94)

Some studies have shown that adding money value to activities previously done for intrinsic motivations actually lowers the level of activity. (94)

Sociology-based view of motivation- two ultimate rewards for humans in a social structure (95):
*''Economic Standing''
*''Social Standing''

Some resources are more efficiently mobilized by social forces rather than monetary wealth (95). However, such resources are culturally contingent and cross-culturally diverse (96) as well as the relationship between economic and social rewards.

The amount which individuals are motivated by social rewards also varies between people. Yet, due to technological innovation, there are now conditions under which these social motivations can be turned into an important modality of economic production (98).

===Social Production: Feasibility Conditions and Organizational Form===
All technological factors necessary for production activities are under the control of individual users, yet people still must operate within the profit motive (we have to work to put food on the table). However, both human creativity and computational power exist in large quantities of excess. This excess is now able to be harbored through social networked technologies (99, 100).

Two characteristics that underly the success of social networked technologies:
*'''Modularity''': The extent to which a project can be broken down into smaller components, or modules, before it is assembled into a whole.
*'''Granularity''': The size of the modules in terms of time effort needed for production- fine grained modules can be created quickly and simply, while large-grained modules require more time and effort.

A successful peer-production project must have a significant portion of its modules be fine-grained (101). Not all chunks, however, must be fine-grained, as they can be structured so that different individuals can contribute diverse levels of effort based on interest, availability, and abilities. In fact, the entire World Wide Web is organized in this way (102). Yet the Web's modules (website) require far less cooperation between parts than peer-production processes.

Peer-Production cooperation is usually maintained by a combination of (104):
*''Technical architecture''
*''Social norms''
*''Legal rules''
*''Technically backed hierarchy validated by social norms''

3 characteristics make non-proprietary, non-monetary production outside the traditional market or firm possible (105):
*1. '''Ubiquitous hardware'''- The physical machinery required to participate is distributed nearly equally throughout the population
*2. '''Raw materials are public goods, and their marginal cost is zero'''- The product in created from existing information, knowledge, or culture
*3. '''Platforms, models and social norms are modular'''- Allows people to participate different amounts based on diverse motivations

===Transaction Costs and Efficiency===
Commons-based peer production and social production are sometimes more efficient than market-based production (106)

2 scarce resources in information production (107):
*1. ''Human creativity, time and attention''
*2. ''Computation and communications resources''

'''Human Creativity, Time and Attention'''
*In a firm or organization, individual effort is difficult to price, and therefore market mechanisms become more costly to maintain efficiently (110).

*In a commons-based peer production model on the other hand, the larger available talent pool is better structured to identify the best person to produce a specific component of a project (111).

'''Computation and Communications Resources'''
*The lack of specification in human-power also translates to physical resources (112).

*Computers, wireless transcievers, and Internet connections are “shareable goods.” Users in a wealthy society purchase computational power in discrete, “lumpy,” units. Therefore, they buy more computational power at a relatively low price than what they need on a daily basis, leaving the extra power unused. The ability to share this excess capacity makes personal computing “shareable.” (114)

Because social sharing requires less cost per transaction, it has an advantage over market-based mechanisms for reallocating the excess capacity. (114). This is reinforced by the ''“motivation crowding out theory:”'' Fewer owners will be willing to sell their excess capacity cheaply than to give it away for free in the right social context (115).

===The Emergence of Social Production In The Digitally Networked Environment===
Although culturally driven and cross-culturally diverse, sharing based on social norms and social capitol has always existed. Yet changes in technology has caused social sharing and exchange to become a viable mode of production by lowering the capitol costs required for effective individual action (121).

===The Interface of Social Production and Market-Based Business===
The rise of social production does not require a decline in market-based production, yet it will effect the shape and conditions of market action (122):

*'''New sources of competition'''- Peer-produced products compete against firm-produced ones
*'''Change in opportunity spaces'''- Anyone can, and many will participate
*'''Different relationships between firms and users'''- Consumers are also producers
*'''Redefine the boundaries of the firm'''- Bringing peer producers into the firm
*'''Redefine the role of management'''- Must identify patterns in the community and trust that they are correctly judging the patterns from the perspective of the users rather than the desires of the firm

It will be more effective for companies to adapt to and adopt rather than to fight these emerging changes(123). As businesses begin to adapt, the platforms and tools for collaboration improve, the opportunities and salience of social production increases, and the political economy begins to shift (127).

4. The Economics of Social Production

2009-08-20T22:06:36Z

Iwearshoess: Added notes to the Key Concepts section

[[Table Of Contents]]

== Content ==

* [http://www.benkler.org/Benkler_Wealth_Of_Networks_Chapter_4.pdf Full text (PDF)]
* [[Sentence-sliced Text Chapter 4|Full text, sentence-sliced (wiki)]]
* [http://www.slideshare.net/macloo/economics-of-social-production Slideshow summary of this chapter] by Mindy McAdams, Professor, Journalism, University of Florida

==Summary of the chapter==

===Overview===

===Motivation===
===Social Production: Feasibility Conditions and Organizational Form===
===Transaction Costs and Efficiency===
===The Emergence of Social Production in the Digitially Networked Environment===
===The Interface of Social Production and Market-Based Businesses===

==Sources==
===Sources cited in the chapter===
===Other relevant readings===
==Case Studies==
===Supporting examples===
From page 120-121

"... Goods, services, and resources that, in the industrial stage of the information economy required large-scale, concentrated capital investment to provision, are now subject to a changing technological environment that can make sharing a better way of achieving the same results than can states, markets, or their hybrid, regulated industries..."

John Seely Brown makes the point for sharing even in capital-intensive markets such as the auto industry where he contrasts Toyota's cooperation between and among its suppliers to Detroit's command and control relationships with its suppliers. This is talked about in his new book ''"The Only Sustainable Edge: Why Business Strategy Depends on Productive Friction and Dynamic Specialization"'' (Amazon link here[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591397200/sr=8-1/qid=1145751781/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-3528198-0636147?%5Fencoding=UTF8]). I have not read the book yet, but he talks about it in a podcast which is available at ITConversations.com (link here[http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail610.html])

One other point. Sharing presumes more transparency in the production process and results in types of sharing that not only involve contributions of inputs/goods/time, but contributions of better methods of achieving the goal of sharing. Think cooperative networks of faculty sharing their course notes and the result that this makes it easier for new entrants into the community (those teaching new courses and those new to teaching).

A better example is the use of Linux to teach Computer Science students. Before open source software, the no code was available for students to study (or to contribute to). The ability to share and the incumbent transparency it presumes is a motivator for new entrants to join the community vs. closed communities that you cannot join or contribute to - even if you wanted to.

===Counter-examples===
==Key Concepts==
Why do people participate and collaborate outside of the profit motive? Why is this becoming a factor now? Is it really efficient? (91)

===Motivation===
*'''Extrinsic Motivations''': Imposed from the outside such as money, rewards, of threats of punishment. (94)
*'''Intrinsic Motivations''': Come from within such as pleasure or pain (94)

Some studies have shown that adding money value to activities previously done for intrinsic motivations actually lowers the level of activity. (94)

Sociology-based view of motivation- two ultimate rewards for humans in a social structure (95):
*''Economic Standing''
*''Social Standing''

Some resources are more efficiently mobilized by social forces rather than monetary wealth (95). However, such resources are culturally contingent and cross-culturally diverse (96) as well as the relationship between economic and social rewards.

The amount which individuals are motivated by social rewards also varies between people. Yet, due to technological innovation, there are now conditions under which these social motivations can be turned into an important modality of economic production (98).

===Social Production: Feasibility Conditions and Organizational Form===
All technological factors necessary for production activities are under the control of individual users, yet people still must operate within the profit motive (we have to work to put food on the table). However, both human creativity and computational power exist in large quantities of excess. This excess is now able to be harbored through social networked technologies (99, 100).

Two characteristics that underly the success of social networked technologies:
*'''Modularity''': The extent to which a project can be broken down into smaller components, or modules, before it is assembled into a whole.
*'''Granularity''': The size of the modules in terms of time effort needed for production- fine grained modules can be created quickly and simply, while large-grained modules require more time and effort.

A successful peer-production project must have a significant portion of its modules be fine-grained (101). Not all chunks, however, must be fine-grained, as they can be structured so that different individuals can contribute diverse levels of effort based on interest, availability, and abilities. In fact, the entire World Wide Web is organized in this way (102). Yet the Web's modules (website) require far less cooperation between parts than peer-production processes.

Peer-Production cooperation is usually maintained by a combination of (104):
*''Technical architecture''
*''Social norms''
*''Legal rules''
*''Technically backed hierarchy validated by social norms''

3 characteristics make non-proprietary, non-monetary production outside the traditional market or firm possible (105):
*1. '''Ubiquitous hardware'''- The physical machinery required to participate is distributed nearly equally throughout the population
*2. '''Raw materials are public goods, and their marginal cost is zero'''- The product in created from existing information, knowledge, or culture
*3. '''Platforms, models and social norms are modular'''- Allows people to participate different amounts based on diverse motivations

===Transaction Costs and Efficiency===
Commons-based peer production and social production are sometimes more efficient than market-based production (106)

2 scarce resources in information production (107):
*1. ''Human creativity, time and attention''
*2. ''Computation and communications resources''

'''Human Creativity, Time and Attention'''
*In a firm or organization, individual effort is difficult to price, and therefore market mechanisms become more costly to maintain efficiently (110).

*In a commons-based peer production model on the other hand, the larger available talent pool is better structured to identify the best person to produce a specific component of a project (111).

'''Computation and Communications Resources'''
*The lack of specification in human-power also translates to physical resources (112).

*Computers, wireless transcievers, and Internet connections are “shareable goods.” Users in a wealthy society purchase computational power in discrete, “lumpy,” units. Therefore, they buy more computational power at a relatively low price than what they need on a daily basis, leaving the extra power unused. The ability to share this excess capacity makes personal computing “shareable.” (114)

Because social sharing requires less cost per transaction, it has an advantage over market-based mechanisms for reallocating the excess capacity. (114). This is reinforced by the ''“motivation crowding out theory:”'' Fewer owners will be willing to sell their excess capacity cheaply than to give it away for free in the right social context (115).

===The Emergence of Social Production In The Digitally Networked Environment===
Although culturally driven and cross-culturally diverse, sharing based on social norms and social capitol has always existed. Yet changes in technology has caused social sharing and exchange to become a viable mode of production by lowering the capitol costs required for effective individual action (121).

===The Interface of Social Production and Market-Based Business===
The rise of social production does not require a decline in market-based production, yet it will effect the shape and conditions of market action (122):

*'''New sources of competition'''- Peer-produced products compete against firm-produced ones
*'''Change in opportunity spaces'''- Anyone can, and many will participate
*'''Different relationships between firms and users'''- Consumers are also producers
*'''Redefine the boundaries of the firm'''- Bringing peer producers into the firm
*'''Redefine the role of management'''- Must identify patterns in the community and trust that they are correctly judging the patterns from the perspective of the users rather than the desires of the firm

It will be more effective for companies to adapt to and adopt rather than to fight these emerging changes(123). As businesses begin to adapt, the platforms and tools for collaboration improve, the opportunities and salience of social production increases, and the political economy begins to shift (127).

3. Peer Production and Sharing

2009-08-20T19:46:38Z

Iwearshoess:

↑ [[Table of Contents]] 
← [[2. Some Basic Economics of Information Production and Innovation|Chapter 2]] | [[4. The Economics of Social Production|Chapter 4]] →

== Content ==

* [http://www.benkler.org/Benkler_Wealth_Of_Networks_Chapter_3.pdf Full text (PDF)]
* [[Sentence-sliced Text Chapter 3|Full text, sentence-sliced (wiki)]]
* [[Summary Chapter 3|Summary (wiki)]]
* [[Commentary Chapter 3|Commentary (wiki)]]

==Summary==
It is not intuitive that thousands of volunteers could beat big companies. Yet they do.

Coase argues that corporations exist because the transaction costs of using the market are too high. Yet GNU/Linux, Apache, Perl and others use neither markets nor hierarchies.

I call this commons-based peer production. Commons (as opposed to property) because no one person controls how the resource is used, they are either open to the public or a defined group. Peer production because it is done through self-selected, decentralized individual action.

Examples: Free software, [http://clickworkers.arc.nasa.gov/top NASA Clickworkers], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikipedia], [http://secondlife.com/ Second Life].

Relevance and accreditation technology can ensure the results are good: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Directory_Project Open Directory Project], [http://slashdot.org/ Slashdot] (karma).

Distribution tech too: [http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page Project Gutenberg].

Sharing tech: [http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ SETI@Home], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster Napster]

==Sources==
===Sources cited in the chapter===
===Other relevant readings===
==Case Studies==
===Supporting examples===
; [http://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome Amazon Mechanical Turk] : Could be considered micro-outsourcing, allows API access to human effort. ''Also see [http://feeds.feedburner.com/Turkwatch Turkwatch] for an overview of recent MTurk projects''

===Counter-examples===
Robert McHenry, former editor in chief of the ''Encyclopedia Britannica'', criticized Wikipedia as being an unreliable source of information. McHenry cited the Wikipedia entry on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton Alexander Hamilton] which fixed Hamilton's birth at 1755 instead of describing the controversy over Hamilton's birth being in either 1755 or 1757. McHenry concluded that Wikipedia was unreliable because it was not professionally produced. However, he failed to note that other major online encyclopedias such as ''Columbia'' or ''Encarta'' also incorrectly described Hamilton's birth. Within hours of the publication of McHenry's Web article, Alexander Hamilton's Wikipedia entry was corrected, all references were confirmed, and the rest of the entry was cleaned up. (71)

In [http://edge.org/documents/archive/edge183.html On "Digital Maoism: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism"], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaron_Lanier Jaron Lanier] warns against the collective consciousness, which he dubs the "Hive Mind," as a dangerous trend in contemporary media "that is part of the larger pattern of the appeal of a new online collectivism that is nothing less than a resurgence of the idea that the collective is all-wise, that it is desirable to have influence concentrated in a bottleneck that can channel the collective with the most verity and force."

===Indeterminate Examples (in progress)===
; [http://mycroftnetwork.com Mycroft] : UCB iSchool research project, a generalization of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clickworkers ClickWorkers] by utilizing a few seconds of web surfer's abilities to collaboratively solve large problems, without leaving the page. Currently focusing on Wikipedia image tagging and [http://www.gutenberg.org/ Project Gutenberg].

==Key Concepts==
===Commons-Based Peer Production===
'''Commons'''- An institutional way of structuring rights to access, use, and control. It is understood as the opposite of "property" in that property law gives one particular person the authority to decide how a resource is used.

'''Commons Parameters'''
*1. Open to anyone or only to a defined group
*2. Regulated or Unregulated

===Peer Production===
'''Peer Production'''- Production systems that depend on individual action that is self-selected and decentralized, rather than hierarchically assigned.

'''Decentralization'''- Conditions under which the actions of many users work together effectively despite the fact that they do not rely on reducing the number of people whose will or authority counts to direct the action.

Contemporary society is witnessing an emergence of more effective peer production that does not rely on the price system or a managerial structure for coordination.

'''The Act of Communication'''
*1. ''The Utterance''- writing an article or drawing a picture
*2. ''Relevance & Accreditation''- Rendering the utterance as worthwhile
*3. ''Distribution''- How one takes on an utterance, and distributes it to other people who find it relevant and credible

All three acts of communication can be created and governed by peer production. For example:
*'''Utterance''': Mapping mars with [http://clickworkers.arc.nasa.gov/top NASA Clickworkers], creating articles and editing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikipedia], expanding game narratives in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massively_multiplayer_online_game MMOGs] generating and a virtual world in [http://secondlife.com/ Second Life].
*'''Relevance & Accreditation'''- Peer book reviews and tracking purchases on [http://www.amazon.com/ Amazon], Google's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_algorithm PageRank Algorithm], [http://slashdot.org/ Slashdot's] peer-review system
*'''Distribution'''- User-centered book scanning and proofreading on [http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page Project Gutenberg]

===Sharing Processing, Storage, and Communications Platforms===
Sharing computational power is similar to peer production of information in its radical decentralization and reliance on social relations and motivations. Yet it is different in that users are not sharing their innate and acquired human capabilities. Rather, they are sharing material goods that they privately own, and are producing economic, not public, goods. Distributing computational power in this way, created and maintained by large numbers of disparate users, are in fact more powerful and efficient than those built by centralized, financed corporations. Examples:

*[http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ SETI@home]- Uses the power of personal computers in peoples' homes to search for extra terrestrial life.
*[http://fightaidsathome.scripps.edu/ FightAIDS@Home]- Uses the power of personal computers in peoples' homes to screen compounds for drugs that fight the AIDS virus.
*[http://genomeathome.stanford.edu/ Genome@Home]- Uses the power of personal computers in peoples' homes to generate useful protiens
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer Peer-To-Peer] software like early [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster Napster] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_%28protocol%29 BitTorent] user protocols that allow tens of millions of computers users around the world to cooperate in producing the most efficient and robust file storage and retrieval system in the world.
*[http://www.skype.com/ Skype] uses [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasttrack FastTrack]-like architecture to share their computing and communications resources to create a global telephone system running on top of the Internet.

3. Peer Production and Sharing

2009-07-07T19:14:08Z

Iwearshoess: Added counter examples

↑ [[Table of Contents]] 
← [[2. Some Basic Economics of Information Production and Innovation|Chapter 2]] | [[4. The Economics of Social Production|Chapter 4]] →

== Content ==

* [http://www.benkler.org/Benkler_Wealth_Of_Networks_Chapter_3.pdf Full text (PDF)]
* [[Sentence-sliced Text Chapter 3|Full text, sentence-sliced (wiki)]]
* [[Summary Chapter 3|Summary (wiki)]]
* [[Commentary Chapter 3|Commentary (wiki)]]

==Summary==
It is not intuitive that thousands of volunteers could beat big companies. Yet they do.

Coase argues that corporations exist because the transaction costs of using the market are too high. Yet GNU/Linux, Apache, Perl and others use neither markets nor hierarchies.

I call this commons-based peer production. Commons (as opposed to property) because no one person controls how the resource is used, they are either open to the public or a defined group. Peer production because it is done through self-selected, decentralized individual action.

Examples: Free software, [http://clickworkers.arc.nasa.gov/top NASA Clickworkers], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikipedia], [http://secondlife.com/ Second Life].

Relevance and accreditation technology can ensure the results are good: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Directory_Project Open Directory Project], [http://slashdot.org/ Slashdot] (karma).

Distribution tech too: [http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page Project Gutenberg].

Sharing tech: [http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ SETI@Home], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster Napster]

==Sources==
===Sources cited in the chapter===
===Other relevant readings===
==Case Studies==
===Supporting examples===
; [http://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome Amazon Mechanical Turk] : Could be considered micro-outsourcing, allows API access to human effort. ''Also see [http://feeds.feedburner.com/Turkwatch Turkwatch] for an overview of recent MTurk projects''

===Counter-examples===
Robert McHenry, former editor in chief of the ''Encyclopedia Britannica'', criticized Wikipedia as being an unreliable source of information. McHenry cited the Wikipedia entry on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton Alexander Hamilton] which fixed Hamilton's birth at 1755 instead of describing the controversy over Hamilton's birth being in either 1755 or 1757. McHenry concluded that Wikipedia was unreliable because it was not professionally produced. However, he failed to note that other major online encyclopedias such as ''Columbia'' or ''Encarta'' also incorrectly described Hamilton's birth. Within hours of the publication of McHenry's Web article, Alexander Hamilton's Wikipedia entry was corrected, all references were confirmed, and the rest of the entry was cleaned up. (71)

In [http://edge.org/documents/archive/edge183.html On "Digital Maoism: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism"], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaron_Lanier Jaron Lanier] warns against the collective consciousness, which he dubs the "Hive Mind," as a dangerous trend in contemporary media "that is part of the larger pattern of the appeal of a new online collectivism that is nothing less than a resurgence of the idea that the collective is all-wise, that it is desirable to have influence concentrated in a bottleneck that can channel the collective with the most verity and force."

===Indeterminate Examples (in progress)===
; [http://mycroftnetwork.com Mycroft] : UCB iSchool research project, a generalization of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clickworkers ClickWorkers] by utilizing a few seconds of web surfer's abilities to collaboratively solve large problems, without leaving the page. Currently focusing on Wikipedia image tagging and [http://www.gutenberg.org/ Project Gutenberg].

==Key Concepts==
===Commons-Based Peer Production===
'''Commons'''- An institutional way of structuring rights to access, use, and control. It is understood as the opposite of "property" in that property law gives one particular person the authority to decide how a resource is used.

'''Commons Parameters'''
*1. Open to anyone or only to a defined group
*2. Regulated or Unregulated

===Peer Production===
'''Peer Production'''- Production systems that depend on individual action that is self-selected and decentralized, rather than hierarchically assigned.

'''Decentralization'''- Conditions under which the actions of many users work together effectively despite the fact that they do not rely on reducing the number of people whose will or authority counts to direct the action.

Contemporary society is witnessing an emergence of more effective peer production that does not rely on the price system or a managerial structure for coordination.

'''The Act of Communication'''
*1. ''The Utterance''- writing an article or drawing a picture
*2. ''Relevance & Accreditation''- Rendering the utterance as worthwhile
*3. ''Distribution''- How one takes on an utterance, and distributes it to other people who find it relevant and credible

All three acts of communication can be created and governed by peer production. For example:
*'''Utterance''': Mapping mars with [http://clickworkers.arc.nasa.gov/top NASA Clickworkers], creating articles and editing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikipedia], expanding game narratives in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massively_multiplayer_online_game MMOGs] generating and a virtual world in [http://secondlife.com/ Second Life].
*'''Relevance & Accreditation'''- Peer book reviews and tracking purchases on [http://www.amazon.com/ Amazon], the Google's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_algorithm PageRank Algorithm], [http://slashdot.org/ Slashdot's] peer-review system
*'''Distribution'''- User-centered book scanning and proofreading on [http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page Project Gutenberg]

===Sharing Processing, Storage, and Communications Platforms===
Sharing computational power is similar to peer production of information in its radical decentralization and reliance on social relations and motivations. Yet it is different in that users are not sharing their innate and acquired human capabilities. Rather, they are sharing material goods that they privately own, and are producing economic, not public, goods. Distributing computational power in this way, created and maintained by large numbers of disparate users, are in fact more powerful and efficient than those built by centralized, financed corporations. Examples:

*[http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ SETI@home]- Uses the power of personal computers in peoples' homes to search for extra terrestrial life.
*[http://fightaidsathome.scripps.edu/ FightAIDS@Home]- Uses the power of personal computers in peoples' homes to screen compounds for drugs that fight the AIDS virus.
*[http://genomeathome.stanford.edu/ Genome@Home]- Uses the power of personal computers in peoples' homes to generate useful protiens
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer Peer-To-Peer] software like early [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster Napster] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_%28protocol%29 BitTorent] user protocols that allow tens of millions of computers users around the world to cooperate in producing the most efficient and robust file storage and retrieval system in the world.
*[http://www.skype.com/ Skype] uses [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasttrack FastTrack]-like architecture to share their computing and communications resources to create a global telephone system running on top of the Internet.

3. Peer Production and Sharing

2009-07-07T18:54:26Z

Iwearshoess: Added MMOGs as an example of Utterances

↑ [[Table of Contents]] 
← [[2. Some Basic Economics of Information Production and Innovation|Chapter 2]] | [[4. The Economics of Social Production|Chapter 4]] →

== Content ==

* [http://www.benkler.org/Benkler_Wealth_Of_Networks_Chapter_3.pdf Full text (PDF)]
* [[Sentence-sliced Text Chapter 3|Full text, sentence-sliced (wiki)]]
* [[Summary Chapter 3|Summary (wiki)]]
* [[Commentary Chapter 3|Commentary (wiki)]]

==Summary==
It is not intuitive that thousands of volunteers could beat big companies. Yet they do.

Coase argues that corporations exist because the transaction costs of using the market are too high. Yet GNU/Linux, Apache, Perl and others use neither markets nor hierarchies.

I call this commons-based peer production. Commons (as opposed to property) because no one person controls how the resource is used, they are either open to the public or a defined group. Peer production because it is done through self-selected, decentralized individual action.

Examples: Free software, [http://clickworkers.arc.nasa.gov/top NASA Clickworkers], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikipedia], [http://secondlife.com/ Second Life].

Relevance and accreditation technology can ensure the results are good: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Directory_Project Open Directory Project], [http://slashdot.org/ Slashdot] (karma).

Distribution tech too: [http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page Project Gutenberg].

Sharing tech: [http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ SETI@Home], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster Napster]

==Sources==
===Sources cited in the chapter===
===Other relevant readings===
==Case Studies==
===Supporting examples===
; [http://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome Amazon Mechanical Turk] : Could be considered micro-outsourcing, allows API access to human effort. ''Also see [http://feeds.feedburner.com/Turkwatch Turkwatch] for an overview of recent MTurk projects''

===Counter-examples===

===Indeterminate Examples (in progress)===
; [http://mycroftnetwork.com Mycroft] : UCB iSchool research project, a generalization of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clickworkers ClickWorkers] by utilizing a few seconds of web surfer's abilities to collaboratively solve large problems, without leaving the page. Currently focusing on Wikipedia image tagging and [http://www.gutenberg.org/ Project Gutenberg].

==Key Concepts==
===Commons-Based Peer Production===
'''Commons'''- An institutional way of structuring rights to access, use, and control. It is understood as the opposite of "property" in that property law gives one particular person the authority to decide how a resource is used.

'''Commons Parameters'''
*1. Open to anyone or only to a defined group
*2. Regulated or Unregulated

===Peer Production===
'''Peer Production'''- Production systems that depend on individual action that is self-selected and decentralized, rather than hierarchically assigned.

'''Decentralization'''- Conditions under which the actions of many users work together effectively despite the fact that they do not rely on reducing the number of people whose will or authority counts to direct the action.

Contemporary society is witnessing an emergence of more effective peer production that does not rely on the price system or a managerial structure for coordination.

'''The Act of Communication'''
*1. ''The Utterance''- writing an article or drawing a picture
*2. ''Relevance & Accreditation''- Rendering the utterance as worthwhile
*3. ''Distribution''- How one takes on an utterance, and distributes it to other people who find it relevant and credible

All three acts of communication can be created and governed by peer production. For example:
*'''Utterance''': Mapping mars with [http://clickworkers.arc.nasa.gov/top NASA Clickworkers], creating articles and editing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikipedia], expanding game narratives in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massively_multiplayer_online_game MMOGs] generating and a virtual world in [http://secondlife.com/ Second Life].
*'''Relevance & Accreditation'''- Peer book reviews and tracking purchases on [http://www.amazon.com/ Amazon], the Google's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_algorithm PageRank Algorithm], [http://slashdot.org/ Slashdot's] peer-review system
*'''Distribution'''- User-centered book scanning and proofreading on [http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page Project Gutenberg]

===Sharing Processing, Storage, and Communications Platforms===
Sharing computational power is similar to peer production of information in its radical decentralization and reliance on social relations and motivations. Yet it is different in that users are not sharing their innate and acquired human capabilities. Rather, they are sharing material goods that they privately own, and are producing economic, not public, goods. Distributing computational power in this way, created and maintained by large numbers of disparate users, are in fact more powerful and efficient than those built by centralized, financed corporations. Examples:

*[http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ SETI@home]- Uses the power of personal computers in peoples' homes to search for extra terrestrial life.
*[http://fightaidsathome.scripps.edu/ FightAIDS@Home]- Uses the power of personal computers in peoples' homes to screen compounds for drugs that fight the AIDS virus.
*[http://genomeathome.stanford.edu/ Genome@Home]- Uses the power of personal computers in peoples' homes to generate useful protiens
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer Peer-To-Peer] software like early [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster Napster] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_%28protocol%29 BitTorent] user protocols that allow tens of millions of computers users around the world to cooperate in producing the most efficient and robust file storage and retrieval system in the world.
*[http://www.skype.com/ Skype] uses [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasttrack FastTrack]-like architecture to share their computing and communications resources to create a global telephone system running on top of the Internet.

3. Peer Production and Sharing

2009-07-07T17:31:09Z

Iwearshoess: Added content to the "Key Concepts" section

↑ [[Table of Contents]] 
← [[2. Some Basic Economics of Information Production and Innovation|Chapter 2]] | [[4. The Economics of Social Production|Chapter 4]] →

== Content ==

* [http://www.benkler.org/Benkler_Wealth_Of_Networks_Chapter_3.pdf Full text (PDF)]
* [[Sentence-sliced Text Chapter 3|Full text, sentence-sliced (wiki)]]
* [[Summary Chapter 3|Summary (wiki)]]
* [[Commentary Chapter 3|Commentary (wiki)]]

==Summary==
It is not intuitive that thousands of volunteers could beat big companies. Yet they do.

Coase argues that corporations exist because the transaction costs of using the market are too high. Yet GNU/Linux, Apache, Perl and others use neither markets nor hierarchies.

I call this commons-based peer production. Commons (as opposed to property) because no one person controls how the resource is used, they are either open to the public or a defined group. Peer production because it is done through self-selected, decentralized individual action.

Examples: Free software, [http://clickworkers.arc.nasa.gov/top NASA Clickworkers], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikipedia], [http://secondlife.com/ Second Life].

Relevance and accreditation technology can ensure the results are good: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Directory_Project Open Directory Project], [http://slashdot.org/ Slashdot] (karma).

Distribution tech too: [http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page Project Gutenberg].

Sharing tech: [http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ SETI@Home], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster Napster]

==Sources==
===Sources cited in the chapter===
===Other relevant readings===
==Case Studies==
===Supporting examples===
; [http://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome Amazon Mechanical Turk] : Could be considered micro-outsourcing, allows API access to human effort. ''Also see [http://feeds.feedburner.com/Turkwatch Turkwatch] for an overview of recent MTurk projects''

===Counter-examples===

===Indeterminate Examples (in progress)===
; [http://mycroftnetwork.com Mycroft] : UCB iSchool research project, a generalization of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clickworkers ClickWorkers] by utilizing a few seconds of web surfer's abilities to collaboratively solve large problems, without leaving the page. Currently focusing on Wikipedia image tagging and [http://www.gutenberg.org/ Project Gutenberg].

==Key Concepts==
===Commons-Based Peer Production===
'''Commons'''- An institutional way of structuring rights to access, use, and control. It is understood as the opposite of "property" in that property law gives one particular person the authority to decide how a resource is used.

'''Commons Parameters'''
*1. Open to anyone or only to a defined group
*2. Regulated or Unregulated

===Peer Production===
'''Peer Production'''- Production systems that depend on individual action that is self-selected and decentralized, rather than hierarchically assigned.

'''Decentralization'''- Conditions under which the actions of many users work together effectively despite the fact that they do not rely on reducing the number of people whose will or authority counts to direct the action.

Contemporary society is witnessing an emergence of more effective peer production that does not rely on the price system or a managerial structure for coordination.

'''The Act of Communication'''
*1. ''The Utterance''- writing an article or drawing a picture
*2. ''Relevance & Accreditation''- Rendering the utterance as worthwhile
*3. ''Distribution''- How one takes on an utterance, and distributes it to other people who find it relevant and credible

All three acts of communication can be created and governed by peer production. For example:
*'''Utterance''': Mapping mars with [http://clickworkers.arc.nasa.gov/top NASA Clickworkers], creating articles and editing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikipedia], generating a virtual world in [http://secondlife.com/ Second Life].
*'''Relevance & Accreditation'''- Peer book reviews and tracking purchases on [http://www.amazon.com/ Amazon], the Google's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_algorithm PageRank Algorithm], [http://slashdot.org/ Slashdot's] peer-review system
*'''Distribution'''- User-centered book scanning and proofreading on [http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page Project Gutenberg]

===Sharing Processing, Storage, and Communications Platforms===
Sharing computational power is similar to peer production of information in its radical decentralization and reliance on social relations and motivations. Yet it is different in that users are not sharing their innate and acquired human capabilities. Rather, they are sharing material goods that they privately own, and are producing economic, not public, goods. Distributing computational power in this way, created and maintained by large numbers of disparate users, are in fact more powerful and efficient than those built by centralized, financed corporations. Examples:

*[http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ SETI@home]- Uses the power of personal computers in peoples' homes to search for extra terrestrial life.
*[http://fightaidsathome.scripps.edu/ FightAIDS@Home]- Uses the power of personal computers in peoples' homes to screen compounds for drugs that fight the AIDS virus.
*[http://genomeathome.stanford.edu/ Genome@Home]- Uses the power of personal computers in peoples' homes to generate useful protiens
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer Peer-To-Peer] software like early [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster Napster] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_%28protocol%29 BitTorent] user protocols that allow tens of millions of computers users around the world to cooperate in producing the most efficient and robust file storage and retrieval system in the world.
*[http://www.skype.com/ Skype] uses [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasttrack FastTrack]-like architecture to share their computing and communications resources to create a global telephone system running on top of the Internet.

3. Peer Production and Sharing

2009-07-07T16:37:50Z

Iwearshoess:

3. Peer Production and Sharing

2009-07-07T16:37:12Z

Iwearshoess: Added links to various examples