Kategorie: English

[Es gibt eine deutsche Übersetzung dieses Artikels.]

Previous part: Traits of Peer Production.

The first characteristic of peer production is that the effort required to reach the goals of a project is shared among those who care enough to contribute. How this sharing is organized depends on the kind of project.

Projects creating free software or open knowledge use a style which Francis Heylighen [2007] describes as „stigmergic“ (hint-based). The work done in such projects leaves „stimuli“ or hints motivating others to continue. Examples of such hints are to-do lists, bug reports, and feature requests in free software projects; or „red links“ to missing articles and listings of „most wanted articles“ in the Wikipedia. They point participants and potential participants to the tasks that are worth doing.

This hinting system also serves as an informal mechanism for prioritizing tasks: the more people care for a task, the more likely it is to be picked up by somebody (since the corresponding hints tend to become more visible and explicit, and since people are more likely to pick up a task they wish to be done). And since everybody is free in choosing the tasks they want to do, participants will generally be more motivated than in a market-based system, where they have to follow the orders of their boss or customer. They also tend to pick up those tasks they think they are good at, ensuring that the different talents and skills of people are applied in the best possible way.

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Wie mit Openness und Klimakatastrophe richtig viel Geld machen? Und gleichzeitig zu den Guten gehören? Das Project Better Place zeigt wie es geht. Kapitalismus ist pervers.

How to make really much money with openess and climatic catastrophe? And belonging to the good at the same time? Project Better Place shows how it works. Capitalism is perverse.

[Update: es gibt jetzt auch eine komplette deutsche Übersetzung dieses Artikels — danke, Stefan!]

Is it possible to generalize peer production into the physical world and to produce material goods and services in the same way as free software and open knowledge? Is it possible for peer production to become the primary mode of production, obsoleting markets and capitalism? In my „Peerconomy“ book, I argue that it is indeed possible and discuss how it can be done. This is the first part of a short series explaining my core ideas. It was triggered by discussion on the English Oekonux list. This article documents my first mail.

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[Update 2008-06-04: A revision of the draft paper below was published in Mute-Online Magazine]

This is a translation of the corresponding german blog post »Copyfarleft — eine Kritik«.

The following critique of Dmytri Kleiners paper »Copyfarleft und Copyjustright« (published in Mute-Magazine) has got three parts. First I discuss the general theoretical principles, then the transformation of these principles to the field of information goods, and finally the concept of copyfarleft. A concluding critique closes this article.

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