Digital commons
Digital commons refers to a digital resource (software, content, data, infrastructure or knowledge) that is collectively managed by a community, under shared rules, and whose access and use remain open to all rather than reserved to a single exclusive owner.
Definition
A digital commons rests on three elements:
- a shared resource (code, content, dataset, protocol...);
- a community that produces, maintains and evolves it;
- governance rules defining rights of access, use and contribution.
This definition transposes to the digital world the notion of "commons" theorised for shared natural resources, notably by economist Elinor Ostrom, winner of the 2009 "Nobel" Prize in Economics, who showed that shared resources can be managed sustainably without falling under either exclusive private property or sole state control.
Origins
The notion of digital commons emerged in the 1990s-2000s with the rise of:
- free and open-source software (GNU GPL licenses, movement led by the Free Software Foundation);
- Creative Commons licenses (2001), which provide legal tools for sharing content;
- collaborative encyclopedias such as Wikipedia (2001), managed by its community of contributors.
Characteristics
A digital commons is generally characterised by:
- an open license guaranteeing reuse (free/libre, Creative Commons, open source);
- shared governance, often horizontal, among contributors;
- non-exclusive access, without excessive financial or technical barriers;
- near-zero marginal copying cost, specific to digital goods (unlike physical commons, a digital commons is not subject to rivalry of use).
Examples
- Free/open-source software: Linux, LibreOffice, Firefox
- Collaborative content: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap
- Open data: data.gouv.fr, OpenFoodFacts
- Shared infrastructure: internet protocols (TCP/IP, DNS), Web standards (W3C)
- Academic knowledge: open archives (HAL, arXiv)
Stakes and responsible digital practices
Digital commons play a central role in thinking about responsible digital practices:
- they foster sobriety by avoiding duplication of resources (pooling rather than multiplying equivalent proprietary tools);
- they strengthen the digital autonomy of organisations and territories (less dependency on a single vendor);
- they raise the question of economic sustainability: who funds the maintenance of a resource freely accessible to all? (pooled funding models, foundations, public subsidies, corporate contributions);
- they raise questions of governance: how to fairly involve volunteer contributors alongside institutional or commercial actors?
See also
References
- Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons, Cambridge University Press, 1990.
- Framasoft, resources on digital commons.
