Proto-Mooc on Commons Economics

= Draft of introduction to commons economics course

Table of Contents

Module 1: The anthropology of peer to peer and the commons

Introductory definitions:

what is peer to peer, what are commons, what is peer production?

P2P as a relational dynamic: new social relations, then and now

Frameworks to understand P2P: Alan Page Fiske / TIMN

The Commons in History

1. Karatani’s framework
2. Handy study
3. Kondratieff / Polanyi
4. Evolution of commons formats throughout history
5. The Commons and Nature

Module 2: The Commons as a mode of production / the commons as economic system

Institutional Logics

1. The commons and the market
2. The commons and capitalism
3. The commons as post-capitalism
4. The commons in the context of other alternatives
5. The commons in the context of the ecological crisis

Module 3: The Institutional, technical and societal logic of the commons

The commons as a technical infrastructure

1. Introducing the four quadrants
2. Surveillance capitalism / data capitalism

Governing the commons

1. Resource, community, set of rules (Ostrom) + inclusive commons
2. The issue of enclosures and protecting the commons
3. Knowledge Commons, with Case studies: Wikipedia, open source software
4. Urban Commons, with Case studies
5. Collaborative urban governance
6. Technological sovereignty (data, AI, privacy)
7. Case studies: Bologna, Ghent, Malmo, ??

Cosmo-Local Production Commons, with case studies

1. Open design commons
2. Localized production
3. Protocol cooperativism (city-to-city mutualization of digital infrastructure)
4. Examples: Fab City

Module 4: P2P as transformative emancipatory movement

Commons transition as a political process:

1. Prefigurative strategies
2. What kind of reform ?
3. Local or global, big or small

Prefigurative institutions ?

'#assemblies and chambers of the commons, partner state, public-commons processes, etc..

Transforming Markets:

1. Polanyi and beyond - economy needs to be nested into the social (contract) not visa versa - how the economy is servant to “something higher” (some transformative p2p / commons logic)
2. The role of copyfair licenses
3. Contributive accounting
4. Planetary mutualization - everyone is solving everyone else’s problems by mutualizing knowledge and resources

Module 5: Urban Transformations

The partner state or partner city model

1. The Italian examples after the Bologna regulation
2. Sharing Cities in the world (Seoul, etc..)
3. The case study of Ghent, Belgium

Institutional cooperation models

1. Public-commons cooperation
2. Commonification of public services
3. Cosmo-local production at the urban level

==Module 6: P2P Theory as Theory

1. High theory vs low theory
2. Issues: horizontality vs verticality / hierarchy theory
3. Ecological theory
4. Spiritual theory ? (place of humanity on planet earth and the universe, relation to other living beings)

Supporting Material in the P2P Foundation Wiki

Module 1: The anthropology of peer to peer and the commons

Introductory definitions:

what is peer to peer, what are commons, what is peer production?

P2P as a relational dynamic: new social relations, then and now

Frameworks to understand P2P: Alan Page Fiske / TIMN

The Commons in History

1. Karatani’s framework
2. Handy study
3. Kondratieff / Polanyi
4. Evolution of commons formats throughout history
5. The Commons and Nature

Module 2: The Commons as a mode of production / the commons as economic system

Institutional Logics

1. The commons and the market
2. The commons and capitalism
3. The commons as post-capitalism
4. The commons in the context of other alternatives
5. The commons in the context of the ecological crisis

Module 3: The Institutional, technical and societal logic of the commons

The commons as a technical infrastructure

1. Introducing the four quadrants
2. Surveillance capitalism / data capitalism

Governing the commons

1. Resource, community, set of rules (Ostrom) + inclusive commons
2. The issue of enclosures and protecting the commons
3. Knowledge Commons, with Case studies: Wikipedia, open source software
4. Urban Commons, with Case studies
5. Collaborative urban governance
6. Technological sovereignty (data, AI, privacy)
7. Case studies: Bologna, Ghent, Malmo, ??

Cosmo-Local Production Commons, with case studies

1. Open design commons
2. Localized production
3. Protocol cooperativism (city-to-city mutualization of digital infrastructure)
4. Examples: Fab City

Module 4: P2P as transformative emancipatory movement

Commons transition as a political process:

1. Prefigurative strategies
2. What kind of reform ?
3. Local or global, big or small

Prefigurative institutions ?

'#assemblies and chambers of the commons, partner state, public-commons processes, etc..

Transforming Markets:

1. Polanyi and beyond - economy needs to be nested into the social (contract) not visa versa - how the economy is servant to “something higher” (some transformative p2p / commons logic)
2. The role of copyfair licenses
3. Contributive accounting
4. Planetary mutualization - everyone is solving everyone else’s problems by mutualizing knowledge and resources

Module 5: Urban Transformations

The partner state or partner city model

1. The Italian examples after the Bologna regulation
2. Sharing Cities in the world (Seoul, etc..)
3. The case study of Ghent, Belgium

Institutional cooperation models

1. Public-commons cooperation
2. Commonification of public services
3. Cosmo-local production at the urban level

==Module 6: P2P Theory as Theory

1. High theory vs low theory
2. Issues: horizontality vs verticality / hierarchy theory
3. Ecological theory
4. Spiritual theory ? (place of humanity on planet earth and the universe, relation to other living beings)