Governance of online creation communities for the building of digital commons

(Materials in English, Castellano, Italiano)

ENGLISH

Working paper: Fuster Morell, M. (2013). Governance of online creation communities for the building of digital commons: Viewed through the framework of the institutional analysis and development. Madison, M. J., Strandburg, K., & Frischmann, B. Convening Cultural Commons. Oxford University Press. (Forthcoming)

Abstract: This chapter addresses the governance of a specific type of constructed common-pool resource, online creation communities (OCCs). OCCs are communities of individuals that mainly interact via a platform of online participation, with the goal of building and sharing a common-pool resource resulting from collaboratively systematizing and integrating dispersed information and knowledge resources. Previous research of the governance of OCCs has been based on analyzing specific aspects of the governance. However, there has been a gap in the literature, one of lacking a comprehensive and holistic view of what governance means in collective action online. This chapter provides a set of dimensions that define the governance of OCCs. Particularly, most previous work did not consider infrastructure provision in their analysis. This chapter challenges previous literature by questioning the neutrality of infrastructure for collective action. The governance of OCCs is here analyzed through the institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework, building on Madison, Frischmann & Strandburg’s (2010) adaptation of this framework to constructing commons in the cultural environment. References to Schweik and English’s adaptation of IAD to free and open source communities will also be made. The empirical data are drawn from a statistical analysis of 50 cases and four case studies on OCCs (Wikipedia, Flickr, Wikihow& Openesf). The empirical analysis results in a set of models of OCCs governance. The conclusions provide an assessment of the utility of IAD in the analysis of OCCs, and Madison, Frischmann & Strandburg’s adaptation. Additionally, it ends by addressing the defining characteristics of digital commons.

MFM_WorkingPaper_IAD_OCC

Doctoral Dissertation: Fuster Morell, M. Governance of online creation communities: Provision of infrastructure for the building of digital commons. European University Institute. PhD thesis defense: 20 September 2010.

Abstract: This doctoral research is framed by the notion of a transition in which distinct commons organizational forms are gaining in importance at a time when the institutional principles of the nation state are in a state of profound crisis, and those of the private market are undergoing dramatic change. Additionally, the transformation of industrial society into a knowledge-based one is raising the importance of knowledge management, regulation and creation.

This doctoral research addresses collective action for knowledge-making in the digital era from a double perspective of organizational and political conflict through the case of global online creation communities. From the organizational perspective, it provides an empirically grounded description of the organizational characteristics of emerging collective action. The research challenges previous literature by questioning the neutrality of infrastructure for collective action and demonstrating that infrastructure governance shapes collective action. Importantly, the research provides an empirical explanation of the organizational strategies most likely to succeed in creating large-scale collective action in terms of the size of participation and complexity of collaboration. From the political conflict perspective, this research maps the diverse models of governance of knowledge-making processes, addresses how these are embedded in each model of governance, and suggests a set of dimensions of democratic quality adapted to these forms. Importantly, it provides an empirically grounded characterization of two conflicting logics present in the conditions for collective action in the digital era: a commons versus a corporate logic of collective action. Additionally, the research sheds lights on the emerging free culture and access to knowledge movement as a sign of this conflict.

In hypothesizing that the emerging forms of collective action are able to increase in terms of both participation and complexity while maintaining democratic principles, this research challenges Olson’s assertion that formal organizations tend to overcome collective action dilemmas more easily, and challenges the classical statements of Weber and Michels that as organizations grow in size and complexity, they tend to create bureaucratic forms and oligarchies. This research concludes that online creation communities are able to increase in complexity while maintaining democratic principles. Additionally, in the light of this research, the emerging collective action forms are better characterized as hybrid ecosystems which succeed by networking and combining several components, each with different degrees of formalization and organizational and democratic logics.

Download thesis

Fuster Morell, M. (2011, October). Rethinking government in the light of the emerging organisational principles of online collective action. In E. Aibar (Ed.) European Journal of ePractice. No 12. ISSN: 1988-625X. (pp. 81-93) Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/bslp3o7

Fuster Morell, M (2010). Participation in Online Creation Communities: Ecosystemic Participation?. Conference Proceedings of JITP 2010: The Politics of Open Source (p. 270). Retrieved from http://scholarworks.umass.edu/jitpc2010/1

Fuster Morell, M. (2011). The Wikimedia Foundation and the Governance of Wikipedia’s Infrastructure: Historical Trajectories and its Hybrid Character. In Lovink, G., Tkacz, N. & Roberts, I. (eds). Critical Point of View Reader, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2011. Retrieved from http://www.networkcultures.org/_uploads/%237reader_Wikipedia.pdf

Fuster Morell, M. (2012). Emerging conception of participation and democracy in online settings: Lessons and challenges for digital democracy experiences. (p. 129-188). In E. Campos and I. Ramos (Ed.). 3D Citizen. Madrid: Fundación IDEAS.

CASTELLANO

Fuster Morell, M. (2012). Horizontes del procomun digital. Revista documentacion social: revista de estudios sociales y de sociologia aplicada. Monografias. 165, Abril-Junio 2012. Retrieved from Mayo Fuster_Documentacion_Social

Fuster Morell, M. (2011). Acción colectiva a través de redes online: Comunidades de Creación Online para la construcción de bienes públicos digitales. Redes: Revista de Estudios para el Desarrollo Social de la Comunicación. No 6 (2011). Retrieved from https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/3919674.pdf

Fuster Morell, M. (2012). El surgimiento del concepto de participación en entornos en línea: Lecciones y retos para las experiencias de democracia digital . (p. 139-203). en E. Campos y I. Ramos (Ed.). La ciudadanía en 3D: democracia deliberativa digital. Un análisis exploratorio. Madrid: Fundación IDEAS.

ITALIANO

Fuster Morell, M. (2010). La participazione nella comunità di creazione online. Participazione come eco-sistema. I casi di Openesf.net i Wikipedia. Politica dil dirito. Il Molino nº: 2, September 2010 (Italy). (pp. 515-544). Impact factor: Journal Indexed in DoGi-Dottrina Giuridica, Articoli italiani di periodici accademici (AIDA), Catalogo italiano dei periodici (ACNP). Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/9damayc

Fuster Morell, M. (2010). La governance dei commons digitali: Wikipedia e il World Social Forum. A A. C. Freschi e S. Franceschini (Coord.). E-democracy 2.0 – Istituzioni, cittadini, nuove reti: un lessico possibile. (pp. 69-76). Quaderni della Participacione. Regione Emilia – Romagna.