* PhD Thesis: ANNA SERAVALLI. MAKING COMMONS (attempts at composing prospects in the opening of production). Doctoral dissertation in Interaction Design. Malmö University, School of Arts and Communication, Faculty: Culture and Society, 2014

URL = http://dspace.mah.se/handle/2043/17232

Author is affiliated witj the MEDEA Collaborative Media Initiative, Malmö

Abstract

"This thesis accounts for a designerly inquiry into the swamp of the opening of production. The “opening of production” refers to the rising of openness, collaboration and sharing in processes through which things are made and service delivered. It is defined as a swamp, because it represents a complex landscape where theory and practice meet and where diverse views and understanding of what openness, collaboration and sharing may entail are intertwined.

The interest in exploring such a swamp stems from two concerns. The first is understanding the nature of open, collaborative, sharing production practices and to what extent they can lead to more environmentally and socially sustainable ways of producing things and delivering services.

The second concern is how, as a designer, it might be possible to engage in not only envisioning and prototyping, but also in constructing open, collaborative, sharing-production practices.

In methodological terms, this thesis uses a programmatic approach, which means the way knowledge is produced is in the interaction between the practice and the program that defines the focus of the inquiry; also, in what is to be explored and how to explore it. In regard to practical work, this thesis is based on two long-term engagements: the setting up and running of a makerspace, Fabriken, and the long-term collaboration with an NGO of immigrant women, Herrgårds Women Association (HWA). The program aims at exploring making commons and does so out of an interest in composing prospects.

The notion of making commons brings into the work theories and frames from the academic discourses around commons (i.e. collective and collaborative organizational forms) in order to articulate the nature of open, collaborative and sharing practices; it allows for discussion of the engagements, what they produce, and how they do it. It also allows for consideration into how these practices have been initiated, implemented, and carried out over time.

Composing prospects entails a particular way of exploring alternative futures by engaging in collective and located attempts at constructing them. Thus, it defines a possible way for designers to engage in the making. Further, it provides the possibility to relate the engagements to the expectations and broader scenarios emerging in the opening of production and to articulate what kind of making may be at play in acknowledging hypothetical futures as possible presents.

This inquiry builds on and addresses the fields of design for social innovation, participatory design, and commons"

Description

Anna Seravalli:

"In a nutshell, this work wishes to provide three takeaways:

A context:

The opening of production, a map of the landscape of open, collaborative, and sharing-based production practices which weaves together practical examples and theoretical discourses around commons and heterodox economies. It articulates expectations and visions in the opening of production, what they may entail for the roles of producers, designers, and users, as well as a number of challenges and risks in relation to them.

A designerly approach:

Compositionism entails a specific way to frame and understand design when engaging with the making of possible presents rather than proposing alternative futures. Compositionism allows both articulating a particular way of working in the swamp as well as developing a discussion about how and why some futures may become presents and other may not.

A way to frame the outcome and the process of co-production processes:

Making commons develops as a two-fold notion, which allows for consideration of the design practice as matter of outcome as well as process when it comes to co-production.

In the understanding of commons which are making, it considers what open, collaborative, and sharing-based practices are generating and how they do it by considering their organizational forms, their sustainability, and how value is created through them.

In the understanding of commons which are being made, it focuses on what kind of design practice may be at play in co-production by articulating how commons can be initiated, constructed, continued, and left, and how this entails a specific way of performing openness, collaboration, and sharing."

This chapter depicts the program of the research and how it came to be. It introduces the programmatic approach in general terms and then it specifies it as a matter of defining what is to be investigated, how to do it, and where the inquiry is taking place (i.e. which genealogies it wishes to relate to).

Then, it discusses the long detour in defining the ’where’ and the ’what’ of this research and how the theoretical compass of commons played a central role in their definition. In presenting the ’how’, the second compass is introduced—compositionism—which represents both a particular mode of investigation as well as further defining the object of the inquiry. The final part addresses the methodological consequences of compositionism by relating it to the genealogies and articulating validity, relevance, and rigor in relation to this work.

Chapter 2 — The opening of production.

This chapter maps the swamp in which the inquiry developed and weaves together the diverse genealogies. The notion of commons is used to describe the different ways in which open, collaborative, sharing-based production practices may be at play; it highlights possibilities, but also limits and risks related to diverse discourses and expectations about the opening of production. Further, it discusses what this phenomenon implies for the design field and for the roles of the producer and user. It ends by positioning the engagements in the swamp.

Chapter 3 — Commons and prospects.

This chapter depicts some of the insights emerging from the engagements, using the notion of commons. It looks at what value was generated by open, collaborative and sharing-based practices in Fabriken/STPLN and HWA and how such value was produced (i.e. what kind of organizational forms were in place). When it comes to Fabriken/STPLN, it also accounts for how the commons evolved over time. After reflecting on the nature of the engagements as commons, this part looks at what kind of possible presents, or prospects, they might represent in relation to the opening of production. By reflecting on the process of how Connectivity Lab came to be, it also provides some insights on what it might take for a prospect to move forward and shift from potentiality to actuality.

Chapter 4 — Making commons as composing.

This chapter accounts for the insights, which emerged from the engagements in relation to initiating, establishing, continuing, and leaving commons. It does so by introducing and using an additional set of compasses (boundary objects, boundary organization, and trading zones) which allow to articulate the design practice as well as to discuss the nature of openness, collaboration and sharing as emerging from the engagements.

Chapter 5 — Conclusions.

This chapter sums up the main findings of the work by answering to the research questions. It also provides some methodological considerations in relation to how design practice-based research can be at play in exploring futures and, in relation, to how the programmatic approach has been adapted in this work. It then brings forward issues that may require further exploration when it comes to prospects in the opening of production and design for non-consensus-based commons."

Excerpts

The notion of the Opening of Production

Anna Seravalli:

"The opening of production, where the increased accessibility to means of production, and the rising of open, collaborative and sharing-based production practices are fostering the emergence of a number of visions and scenarios about the future of production.

In such a swamp, I position my two engagements which may be looked upon as two possible examples of the growing role that openness, collaboration and sharing play in making things and delivering services. The broader context and the two engagements raise a series of questions which are relevant for the design field, but also for academic and practical work concerning alternative, or heterodox, economics.

1.1 In the opening of production: a matter of alternative futures?

The notion of the opening of production accounts for emerging practices and understandings of co-production, where openness, sharing, and collaboration play a growing role in making goods and delivering services. Openness—as the increased possibilities of participation for ’end-users’ in processes of value creation, thanks to the growing accessibility of means and resources for production. Sharing—as the establishment of forms of collective ownership, management, and use over resources for production, as well as over 21 processes’ outputs. Collaboration— as forms of collective action that, contingently, emerge with openness and sharing.

When it comes to performing value production, the opening of production entails a shift from individuals, private property, controlled production, and closed innovation processes, toward collectives, shared ownership, and distributed and open production processes.

The opening of production is not a homogenous phenomena; it spans from the software field to public services and from food production to the media industry. It also presents a number contradictions and issues in the way in which openness, sharing, and collaboration work.

Nevertheless, it seems characterized by four distinctive traits:

- Shuffling of roles—these practices often entail an overlapping of roles between end-users, producers and designers and, consequently, a profound transformation of the relationships between them.

- Beyond use value—the centrality of sharing and collaboration implies that these practices are not only generating products and services which respond concretely to a human need, but also social connections between the participants, as well as facilitating a knowledge exchange between them.

- Alternative production forms—the increasing availability of technologies and knowledge about making is boosting the emergence (or reinforcement) of marginal practices on the border of capitalist, industrial mass-production.

- Diverse forms of commons—where commons have to be understood as ways of organizing and performing sharing and collaboration and, consequently, entailing diverse modes of openness.

The opening of production is mobilizing and feeding a number of possible futures that span from the creation of a post-capitalist mode of production based on shared resources, to the idea of collaboration and sharing as the new mantra for possible business models and startups. An in-depth mapping of the opening of production, the possibilities and challenges it entails is provided further on. What is important to highlight here is both how it challenges the traditional role of the designer and how it seems to open up the possibility of 22 transforming or reforming the actual production system toward a more social and environmentally sustainable one."

Making Commons for Peer Production

Contents