[JoPP-Public] Spreading New Values [was: Re: JoPP#15 TRANSITION: policy critique and co-development

Tue Mar 23 06:34:44 CET 2021

Thanks Kat!

OK, here goes. I'm diving right into the practical proposals and skipping the "principles" (Have a Concrete Plan, Use Clear Language, Challenge the Technological Fetish, Embrace all Levels of Political Engagement, Work for Cultural Change) but if anyone is interested I can post these also. Most of these seem pretty self-evident but I could be wrong.

So following is an intro to the proposals and then the first one of these short practical proposals. I suppose the degree of "practicality" is something that can be disputed! Ideas on how to improve or implement them, or observations on why they are stupid and should be dropped, are invited.

cheers
Mathieu

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[Intro] Practical Proposals
At this point in time, a realistic assessment is that peer production’s collaborative methods and ethic of transparency are – with the exception of FOSS – anecdotal both in economic and ecological terms. They do however enable critical conversations about practical alternative solutions. We now present a range of concrete policy proposals (summarized in Table 30.2) aiming to put into practice the principles defined in the previous section. Some of these proposals can be achieved rapidly and independently (e.g., mapping common goods) but most will require years of concerted efforts (e.g., regulatory or education curriculum changes).

1. Spreading New Values

1.1-Change the curriculum
How can we increase the societal recognition of the worth of the commons? One way is to create new champions, whose contributions are valued and taught to school children and students alike. For example, Elinor Ostrom renewed economics by focusing on social and institutional forms which enable the sharing of common resources and rights. She contradicted how mainstream economists and international institutions conceived the world, a property and market-centric view that still dominates among Western elites and in our education systems (Broca & Coriat, 2015). During early modernity (16th to 18th centuries), by mixing law, technology and economics, “science” became normalized as the act of dissipating non-renewable natural resources (Capra & Mattei, 2015). We still live in a world where private property is better protected than common property: a concerted cultural shift, primarily disseminated through schools, must be made to understand the consequences of, and change this value system.
Indigenous people were the First Nations of many territories prior to the arrival of settlers.  Indigenous peoples’ territories have been taken away from them, and terrible violence, at times amounting to physical and cultural genocide, has been perpetrated. During colonization the justification for taking indigenous land was the doctrine of terra nullius which asserted that indigenous people were unsovereign, and therefore that their land held in common now belonged to the colonial power that discovered it. In a context of indigenous resurgence, grave environmental concerns, and opposition to extractivism, it is time to recognize, respect, and teach indigenous sovereignty – including indigenous technological and data sovereignty.

1.2. Mapping common goods
Identifying and celebrating the material common and public goods around us, such as built ones (schools and libraries), natural ones (air and sunlight), as well as communal islands in family, friendship, and cooperative circles, demonstrates that such goods are a foundational aspect of society. Mapping digital commons is also important. For example tracing co-production networks of free and open source projects and firms (O’Neil et al., 2021) addresses the issue noted by Eghbalh (2016): “With better metrics, we could describe the economic impact of digital infrastructure, identify critical projects that are lacking support, and understand dependencies between projects and people” (p. 129). The extent to which the IT industry depends on FOSS is not widely known, so increasing public awareness of this symbiotic relationship would help publicize the existence, benefits, and economic significance of peer production and the commons.

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________________________________
From: JoPP-Public <jopp-public-bounces at lists.ourproject.org> on behalf of Kit Braybrooke <kat.braybrooke at gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2021 21:21
To: Journal of Peer Production's general and public list <jopp-public at lists.ourproject.org>
Cc: Christian Pentzold <christian.pentzold at uni-leipzig.de>; Vasilis Kostakis <vkostakis at protonmail.com>
Subject: Re: [JoPP-Public] JoPP#15 TRANSITION: policy critique and co-development

Hi Mathieu, all,

I think it's a great idea to share excerpts, and discuss the proposals of, chapters 29/30 of the Handbook of Peer Production - a bit like a reading group, but via list.

Looking forward to the discussions.

// K

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Research Fellow, CreaTures<http://creatures-eu.org>
Director, Studiõ Wê & Üs<http://studiowe.net>
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On Sun, Mar 21, 2021 at 3:58 AM Mathieu O'Neil <mathieu.oneil at anu.edu.au<mailto:mathieu.oneil at anu.edu.au>> wrote:
Thanks Vasilis

You replied to individuals only so re-cc-ing public.

cheers
Mathieu

________________________________
From: Vasilis Kostakis <vkostakis at protonmail.com<mailto:vkostakis at protonmail.com>>
Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2021 2:07
To: Mathieu O'Neil <mathieu.oneil at anu.edu.au<mailto:mathieu.oneil at anu.edu.au>>; Christian Pentzold <christian.pentzold at uni-leipzig.de<mailto:christian.pentzold at uni-leipzig.de>>
Subject: Re: [JoPP-Public] JoPP#15 TRANSITION: policy critique and co-development

I agree with the proposed course of action. :-)

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
On Friday, 19 March 2021 03:23, Mathieu O'Neil <mathieu.oneil at anu.edu.au<mailto:mathieu.oneil at anu.edu.au>> wrote:

Hi all

We will be sending out reviews to authors next week. In the meantime, please find below a summary of the Handbook content now available via the jopp. Other updates will follow.
http://peerproduction.net/projects/books/the-handbook-of-peer-production/

1-HoPP: Extracts
The political economy of academic publishing (Chapter 29)
Table 30.1 Be Your Own Peer: Principles (Chapter 30)
Table 30.2 Be Your Own Peer: Policies for the common good (Chapter 30)

2-HoPP: Preprints
Prophets and Advocates of Peer Production (Chapter 7)
What’s Next? Peer Production Studies? (Chapter 29)

3-HoPP: Table of Contents

Chapter 29 finishes with these words: 'We asked at the outset: “Should there be a field of peer production studies?” The answer is: why not, but also: who cares? Ultimately when it comes to one’s personal interest in peer production, considering it analytically, as an object of study, is perhaps less important than getting involved as a participant. We have accordingly decided to use the knowledge and imaginaries we encountered whilst studying peer production to list the benefits commons-based and commons-oriented peer production could contribute to humanity and the biosphere. To this end, the next and final chapter of the Handbook of Peer Production outlines guiding strategic principles and concrete policy proposals for progressive social change. Though we hope others will find these useful, this is not our main concern: the primary audience for this final chapter, as implied by its title (“Be Your Own Peer!”), is ourselves. It is meant as a resource that we can, with as much success as events will afford us, put into practice.'

We would like to use the jopp public list to critique and further develop the policy proposals and other suggestions presented in chapter 30 of the HoPP ["Be Your Own Peer! Principles and Policies for the Commons" (Mathieu O’Neil, Sophie Toupin & Christian Pentzold)]

So, starting next week, we are proposing to post a succession of extracts of this chapter to the list, asking if anyone has any ideas on how to improve / implement our proposals.

The two tables from ch. 30 which summarise our proposed principles and policies can be found as PDFs on the abovementioned jopp page.

If there is fruitful feedback and debate on the list, we will publish the reworked proposals in jopp#15 TRANSITION, listing all contributors.

Is everyone OK with this plan?

Any thoughts or hacks most welcome. :-)

cheers,
Mathieu and Panos
eds jopp#15 TRANSITION

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