Today social media is building the foundation for a Participatory Economy (J. Chrisite, Social Media Notes, November 1, 2010). This type of economy results from people working together, to produce products and services, often for free and for use for no fee (p. 2) . This is turning consumers into users as they are more actively involved in the products and services being developed, from the original idea, to the production, to the marketing and finally the use of the product (p. 3). This cooperation without single ownership rights and control is known as Commons-Based Peer Production (CBPP), which is changing economics into wikinomics. Wikinomics is based on openness and partnerships and it results in better products because they are what the user wants and innovation is greater due to the world wide resources available (p. 3). Can every product and service be produced in this manner? There are pros and cons to this idea.
This style of economy requires trust and this trust is developing despite credit ratings and actual personal knowledge of the other participants - A trusting collaboration. Will this trust mean that racial and ethnic issues disappear? Will fear of terrorism also be erased? If so then any product or service can be created by CBPP. If these factors do not disappear then certainly not every product or service can be produced in a collaborative manner. Do we want bombs and other weapons of destruction to be created in this manner? Certain things must be developed in private/ secret to protect our countries. There are some legal guidelines that are being used such as Free Licences, and Creative Commons Licences, but how strong are the laws. If there is no ownership, as stated by Y. Benkler and H. Nissenbaum (2006) “ No single entity “owns” the product or manages its direction”, who do you accuse if there is a problem with the end product or service? How much easier will it be for terrorists or psycho’s to get people to unknowingly contribute to the development of killer viruses. On the other hand perhaps as a result of trust we can create new vaccines, medication, and new procedures that will benefit society. Through trust people are bartering and sharing (collaborative consumers), and as a result we are becoming more environmentally friendly (J. Chrisite, Social Media Notes, November 1, 2010). Finally through trust and collaboration the costs of some products and services may be lowered due to reduced fees if any paid to developers and the reduced costs to obtain funds through another social media effort called Crowd funding (M. Bauwens, 2010) . Crowdfunding does not have a lending rate like a bank instead supporters may receive a % of the profits, discount on product, or simply notoriety (J. Chrisite, Social Media Notes, November 1, 2010).
So what products can and cannot be generated, with a Commons-Based Peer Production methodology? It is impossible to say. This will be up to us, the user/s and the creator/s. For me, someone who has lived the majority of their life in a market-based society, products and services that protect me and my country should not be developed using a common’s based peer production method. I don’t want the enemy to know how to attack and destroy my family, myself or my country. I would love to think that the trust is there and that these fears would not be there but I’m not there yet.
References
Bauwens, M. (2010), The emergence of open design and open manufacturing. Retrieved November 2, 2010, from http://www.we-magazine.net/we-volume-02/the-emergence-of-open-design-and-open-manufacturing/
Benkler, Y., Nissenbaum, H. (2006). Commons-based Peer Production and Virtue. Retrieved November 2, 2010, from http://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/papers/jopp_235.pdf
Berkman Center (June 12, 2008). Berkman@10: Cooperation. [video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ummx6OG1GbM
Christie, J. (2010, November 1), Social Media and the Economy Module. Retrieved from Durham college WebCT site: https://connect.mycampus.ca/webct/urw/lc4130011.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct
Lioubareva, I and Feledziak, B. (n.d.). Organizational arrangements in Commons-Based Peer Production. Retrieved November 2, 2010, from http://www.isnie.org/assets/files/papers2007/lioubareva.pdf
This Blog is very well done, this is the first one that I have viewed with pictures on it. Your references have come into good use making your post really academic. I agree with the disadvantages of common based peer production. A lot of people do not realize how dangerous this social media tool can be as far as terrorism, how people can use common based peer production towards deviant behavior, and how user can use this tool to spread deadly viruses to computers. There is a very interesting message sent in your post for users to be cautious using common based peer productions.
ReplyDeleteHey awesome piece, it really made me deeply think about this weeks work. I like how you brang up trust issues and ethnicity issues. I never even thought about the scary possibility that all of that can come into play. I do believe to answer your question that trust could be built if we all did work together, but realistically in society it probably wouldn't happen, as negative as that sounds. Great job.
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