I don't think too many people in the Fediverse know...

I don't think too many people in the Fediverse know of the groundbreaking, but quite accessible research Elinor Ostrom did on the Commons, which eventually won her the Nobel Price.

Commons = a resource shared by a group and that together manages that resource for the good of all.

The #Fediverse is a #Commons, but as it is today it isn't very good about several of the success criteria that #Ostrom identified. E.g. look at the list at the bottom of:

https://www.onthecommons.org/magazine/elinor-ostroms-8-principles-managing-commmons/index.html

Can we do better?

Like 3 Aug 2023 at 23:30 | Open on social.coop

6 comments

Aswath Rao

@J12t
I am not being argumentative, but I do not agree that #Fediverse is not a #Commons. This is true even after we exclude widely defederate instances. Instances run by Medium or BBC can not be expected to be Commons. We can only force at the interconnect interface. This is done by AP and enforced by defederation.

An individual joining an instance can attempt to enforce these guidelines by joining a coop. Other than I am not sure what more can be done.

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4 Aug 2023 at 1:20 | Open on mastodon.social

Johannes Ernst

@aswath oh, i do think it’s a commons, just that it could function better if we applied Ostrom’s rules better.

4 Aug 2023 at 4:46 | Open on social.coop

Emme Ci 🍉

@J12t Interesting article, but could you be more explicit about how you think those principles should apply to the fediverse? Because from my point of view we are doing a decent job at many of them (with lots of room for improvement, of course)

4 Aug 2023 at 8:36 | Open on freeradical.zone

Johannes Ernst

@muzzle I’m more interested right now in simply raising awareness that there is significant research on the subject.

But a glaring example: almost all fediverse instances are operated by what’s essentially autocrats: server admins. Only in very few (like social.coop where I am) do the governed have a say in the rule making.

4 Aug 2023 at 16:34 | Open on social.coop

Emme Ci 🍉

@J12t It's a good point, most admins are quite democratic but they are, in the end, benevolent autocrats.

You should consider writing a longer post about how one could apply the principles of commons management to the fediverse if you wanto to spark a discussion.

4 Aug 2023 at 20:31 | Open on freeradical.zone

Johannes Ernst

@muzzle One of the big challenges with that is that it's unclear how many Commons there are, or should be, that together comprise the Fediverse.

For example: is each independent instance a Commons on its own? Is each app a Commons on its own? Should it be? Or is the scope "all people who want to have the same moderation policies"? All people who signed the AntiMeta pact? The standards group defining ActivityPub? And if it's "all of the above", then how do/should all those Commons interact?

4 Aug 2023 at 20:53 | Open on social.coop