Making Commons for Peer Production

* 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

Description

Selected from the contents, headings related to peer production and the commons:

2.4 The actual program: Making Commons (attempts at composing prospects in the opening of production)................................55

3 Commons as the first compass .....................................................................56

3.1 In the swampy lowlands of the opening of production:

a long way for the definition of the ’where’ and the ’what’.....................56

How commons entered this work ....................................................... 58

3.2 Commons as a manifold notion..........................................................60

3.3 Commons, commoning, and infrastructuring in the opening of production...

xxx

2. THE OPENING OF PRODUCTION ................................................ 87

7. Mapping the opening of production..........................................................88

7.1 Hackers, makers, and freedom for commons-based production......88

Commons-based peer-to-peer goes tangible

(and maybe also big?) ....................................................................... 91

7.2 Open and democratic innovation, publics and ethical economy ..93

7.3 Sharing economy buen vivir and degrowth ......................................97

7.4 The opening of (re)production: a matter of care ..............................99

7.5 The opening of production: the same old story?............................102

8. What happens to the roles of users, producers, and designers? ..........104

9. Issues and dilemmas in the future of opened production.......................109

9.1 Maintenance and provisioning of the commons............................109

9.2 A very fine line between empowerment and exploitation.............111

9.3 The myth of the amateur? ................................................................112

9.4 Going local and small: the risks of neo-medievalism.....................114

9.5 Infrastructures for commoning: struggling towards economies of scope....................................................................................................114

10. The engagements: two infrastructures in the swamp .................................................................................................116

10.1 Malmö: a city in the opening of production.................................116

10.2 Fabriken and Connectivity Lab: infrastructures for

tangible production .................................................................................118

10.3 The Neighbourhood and HWA as enabling platforms ..............119

3. COMMONS AND PROSPECTS ...................................................125

11 Fabriken and HWA as commons in the opening of production............ 126

11.1 What kind of production? ..............................................................126

11.2 HWA as a commons: consensus, collective identity, the premises .............................................................................................129

Collective groups versus peer-to-peer networks?.............................130

11.3 Fabriken commons, form 1: transient participation,

lack of consensus, and the NGO as a partner ....................................132

Issues with transient participation ....................................................135

11.4 Fabriken commons, form 2: from commoning with individuals

to commoning between organizations...................................................138

Issues with expectations and ownership..........................................140

11.5 Commons sustainability: rivalry and durability and economies of scope....................................................................................................142

Nuancing rivalry and durability .......................................................142

Economies of Scope ........................................................................143

11.6 Connectivity Lab a non-commons..................................................145

12. Prospects in the opening of production .................................................146

12.1 Creative communities struggles .....................................................146

When bees and trees do not match.................................................146

Spaces and resources for experimentation and continuity.............148

Supporting the trees? ........................................................................152

12.2 While waiting for the third industrial revolution ...........................152

Commons-based, peer-to-peer production goes tangible:

articulating openness ........................................................................152

Dealing with material scarcity ..........................................................153

Amateurs, but not necessary entrepreneurs.....................................155

New producers and old producers: alliances in the margins? ......157

13. Which prospects get to travel?

(Constraints making)...........................158

13.1 The making of CL and the delegitimization of Fabriken...............159

13.2 Others constraints making: regaining legitimacy .........................162

13.3 Shaping ‘matters of fact’, actants, and relationships ...................165

4. MAKING COMMONS AS COMPOSING ...................................169

14 Commons which gather actors with diverse interests ............................170

14.1 Boundaries, boundary objects, boundary organizations and trading zones....................................................................................170

14.2 Engagements: infrastructuring for boundary organizations and trading zones....................................................................................173

15 Initiating commons...................................................................................174

15.1 Exploring boundaries: finding common interests and articulating differences............................................................................174

15.2 Giving trust, lending/borrowing trust............................................177

15.3 Non-humans mobilizing humans: laser cutters and stories .........178

15.4 Openness as matter of constructing the stakeholder ...................180

16 Unfolding commons.................................................................................183

16.1 From co-design to non-consensus-based commoning ..................184

16.2 Collaborative making without commons?.....................................186

16.3 Co-ownership for long-term commitment ......................................187

16.4 Diverse and non-overlapping interests..........................................189

16.5 Collaboration: trading or bending? .............................................191

17 Continuing commons...............................................................................193

17.1 Control over production ................................................................193

17.2 Sharing as a necessity and (safe) trading zones ........................194

18 Leaving commons.....................................................................................196

19 Design(er) and making commons...........................................................199

19.1 Collective prototyping and making rather than facilitating..........199

19.2 Making power, practicalities and friendly hacking ......................201

19.3 Beyond workshops: other collective forms....................................203

19.4 From strategies and methods to located prudent tactics..............205

5. CONCLUSIONS ..........................................................................208

20 Summing up contributions .......................................................................210

20.1 Answering the questions................................................................210

What kind of co-production practices are emerging in the opening of production?...............................................................210

To what kind of (alternative) futures do they relate?

Which of them may move forward as possible presents? ..............212

How can design be at play in co-production practices as a matter of making possible presents?.............................................214

20.2 Design practice-based approach, as a matter of making futures .... ..................................................................................................215

20.3 Reflecting on the programmatic approach ...................................216

Actionable program, knowledge-able experiments, a matter of where ..............................................................................216

From experiments to engagements...................................................218

21 Aftermath reflections................................................................................219

21.1 Prospects in the opening of production.........................................219

Community-supported production....................................................219

Makerspaces, meeting-by-making, and learning-by-making ..........220

21.2 Making commons and design .......................................................221