Introduction to the P2P Foundation Wiki Material about the Commons

= What we share. Creations of both nature and society that belong to all of us equally, and should be maintained for future generations. [1]

This new section exclusively devoted to the emergence of Commons in various fields.

Most commons fall into three general categories – gifts of nature, material creations, and intangible creations. [2]. Here are the Four Rules against the False Abundance of the Eternal Growth Economy.

Introduction

• James Quilligan:

"Our global economic system is now in grave crisis, threatening the entire planet, its institutions and species.

A new kind of common wealth is needed to protect the assets of Earth, resolve our private and public debts, and create a global society of justice, sharing and sustainability for everyone.

Our commons are the collective heritage of humanity — the shared resources of nature and society that we inherit, create and use. People across the world are now rediscovering these common goods and choosing to protect them for future generations.

Whether our commons are traditional (rivers, forests, indigenous cultures) or emerging (solar energy, intellectual property, internet), communities are managing them through unique forms of self-governance, collaboration and collective action. And in working together to preserve these resources, we are generating new standards of responsibility, mutual aid and sustenance for all beings.

Global Commons Trust promotes the creation of trusteeships, where the rights to our commons may be realized for the benefit of all." (http://globalcommonstrust.org/)

• Key concepts [3] for a Global Common Wealth:

1. Introduction to the Commons, the Tragedy of the Commons and the Tragedy of the Tragedy of the Commons
2. The Commons - Typology of Stefan Meretz
3. Establishing Global Commons Trust , Global Common Goods and a Commons Reserve Currency
4. The Co-Governance and Co-Production of the Commons through Commons Trusts on the basis of Social Charters
5. Replacing the scarcity-engineering of capitalist markets by the abundance engineering of the commons, see the Abundance - Typology and the Wealth Typology
6. Introduction to Commons-centered economics. By Sam Rose, Paul Hartzog et al.
7. Ryan Lanham proposes a set of P2P Commons Boundary Conditions
8. In this article on Use Communities, Alex Steffen argues that sharing infrastructures are vital for sustainability
9. Darryl Birkenfield: What is the Meaning of Being a Commoner?

Typology

Sam Rose and Paul Hartzog offer the following typology for Commons based on different distributed infrastructures:

  1. Energy Commons
  2. Food Commons
  3. Thing Commons
  4. Cultural Commons
  5. Access Commons

See also: Commons - Typology

Examples

Physical Commons:

1. Atmosphere Commons ; Atmospheric Commons
2. Food Commons ; Food as Common and Community
3. Hunting Commons
4. Infrastructure Commons
5. Land as Commons
6. Marine Commons
7. Microbial Commons
8. Petroleum Commons
9. Solar Commons
10. Water Commons

Knowledge/Culture Commons:

1. Book Commons
2. Cultural Commons
3. Educational Commons
4. Genome Commons
5. Global Innovation Commons
6. Global Integral-Spiritual Commons
7. History Commons
8. Information Commons ; Information as a Common-Pool Resource
9. Knowledge Commons ; Knowledge as a Commons
10. Learning Commons
11. Music Commons
12. Open Education Commons
13. Open Scientific Software Commons ; Open Source Science Commons
14. Patent Commons ; Eco-Patent Commons
15. Psychological Commons

Institutional Commons:

1. Financial Commons
2. Global Legal Commons
3. Household as Commons
4. Internet Commons
5. NonProfit Commons
6. Taxes as Commons
7. Thing Commons
8. Urban Commons
9. Wireless Commons

Citations

Sam Rose on Transition Economics

"Where people work together to both share those resources that are shareable now (software, designs, knowledge, waste that can be used as food, surplus capacities and resources) and cooperate to produce items that are still based in scarcity, then re-invest the profits into creating more and more abundance-economy-based systems."

Key Resources

Key Blogs

1. Kim Klein and the Commons
2. On the Commons

Key Books

1. Christian Siefkes (2007), From Exchange to Contributions: Generalizing Peer Production into the Physical World. [4]: proposal for a commons-based economic system
2. The Common Thread. By John Sulston: a nuanced defense of treating knowledge of the genome as a commons.
3. Genes, Bytes and Emissions: To Whom Does the World Belong? Ed. by Silke Helfrich. Heinrich Boll Foundation, 2009

[5]

1. On the Water Commons: Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop Corporate Theft of the World’s Water. By Maude Barlow.the Water Commons

Key Essays

Introductory article:

• Four conditions for successful commons. by Mark van Vugt: "I have identified four key conditions for the successful management of shared environmental resources: information, identity, institutions and incentives. I believe we can and should use this 4i framework as the basis for a plan of action to combat local and global environmental catastrophe."

Major essays:

1. Christian Siefkes (2009), The Commons of the Future. Building Blocks for a Commons-based Society.
2. The Circulation of the Common = Analytical concept proposed by Nick Dyer-Witheford related to the reproduction of the commons [6]
3. Information as a Common-Pool Resource. Charlotte Hess and Elinor Ostrom. 66 Law & Contemp. Probs. 111, Winter-Spring 2003. [7]: a paper contextualizing knowledge commons and the study of other commons
4. Global Commons and Common Sense. Jorge Buzaglo. real-world economics review, issue no. 51 [8] : policy proposals for a global governance of planetary commons
5. The Common in Commonism. Michael Hardt looks at what Marx had to say about the common. [9]
6. A typology for managing common resources: Wolfgang Hoeschele on Contributory Resource Use
7. The Five Commons - ( http://forwardfound.org/blog/?q=five-commons ) a “minimally necessary” set of practices to achieve a sustainable society.

Also:

1. Philippe Aigrain: The Reinvention of the Commons in the Information Age (french)

Manifesto's:

1. Strengthen the Commons Now!

Related topics:

1. Denis Postle: Psychological Commons, Peer to Peer Networks and Post-Professional Psychopractice

Special Authors:

• James Quilligan

1. People Sharing Resources. Toward a New Multilateralism of the Global Commons. James Bernard Quilligan Kosmos Journal, Fall | Winter 2009: this article frames what a global commons-based policy and governance structure should be.
2. James Quilligan: Toward a Commons-based Framework for Global Negotiations

Key Organizations

1. On The Commons]