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Todd Suomela

OnTheCommons.org - The commons as a new sector of value-creation - 0 views

  • So my first point is the importance of recognizing the commons as a distinct sector for creating value. It can be difficult to recognize this reality because we don’t have an agreed-upon language or taxonomy for talking about the value-proposition of the commons. The phenomenon is still too novel. For many people, it is difficult to accept that value can exist without the sanction of money or private property rights—that value that is intangible and unquantifiable can actually matter. Cold, hard cash is nearly always seen as more valuable than something as amorphous and non-physical as an online community
  • I call these epochal changes in economic and cultural production The Great Value Shift. In the networked environment that is becoming pervasive, we are being forced to recognize that markets—or at least, traditional hierarchical institutions such as the corporation—do not have a monopoly on the ability to generate value.
  • If you can acknowledge this fact, then it follows that we should take affirmative steps to preserve the commons and the special types of value that it produces. Let me conclude by suggesting four general strategies.
    • Todd Suomela
       
      1. protect integrity of commons 2. new models for understanding value 3. invent new hybrids 4. active government support of commns
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    Keynote by David Bollier at Economies of the Commons Conference, April 12, 2008, Amsterdam.
Todd Suomela

OnTheCommons.org - The economics of online commons - 0 views

  • The focus of many presentations was how to organize the production and distribution of new creative works in a world where free/cheap digital transmission is the norm. It turns out that many established institutions—if they are going to come to terms with the Internet—are going to have to seriously transform themselves in order to survive.
    • Todd Suomela
       
      Key summary of the conference in Amsterdam.
  • If you want to see the future, one of the best places to look is the freeboot innovators of the underground. They are always the ones who tried out the new ideas that later ripen into market opportunities. Think how hip-hop emerged from record-scratchers in Brooklyn basements and how the hobbyists of the Homebrew Computer Club pioneered many of the early innovations in computing.
  • The idea of “culture without property” seems just too radical and counter-intuitive for some folks to get (or they get it only too well, because it jeopardizes their established business model). But this is not actually such a radical vision. There are already all sorts of profit-making enterprises that are building business models around open, non-proprietary platforms. IBM’s embrace of GNU Linux, the open-source operating system, is one of many prominent examples. So is Flickr, the photo-sharing website.
Todd Suomela

OnTheCommons.org » The Commoners of Crottorf (Part III) - 0 views

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    This is the third of a three-part installment of a report on the future of the commons, which is based on conversations at a retreat held at Crottorf Castle in Germany, in June 2009.
Todd Suomela

OnTheCommons.org » The Commoners at Crottorf (Part II) - 0 views

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    This blog post continues the one started yesterday - a report on the future of the commons as discussed by the commoners who met at Crottorf Castle in Germany, in June 2009.
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