Tere VadénInfrastructuring the Commons, 7.11. 2013
“What do you think you are doing?”- two cases
Background – FOSS and peer production
• The Protestant ethic strikes back: Open source developers and the ethic of capitalism
Teemu Mikkonen, Tere Vadén, and Niklas VainioFirst Monday, Volume 12, 2007
• Community created open source hardware: A case study of “eCars — Now!”
by Tiina Malinen, Teemu Mikkonen, Vesa Tienvieri and Tere Vadén. First Monday, Volume 16, 2011
• 3D printing community and emerging practices of peer production
Jarkko Moilanen and Tere Vadén.First Monday, Volume 18, 2013
Entrypoint
- A need for a common(-resource pool)- Some resources and capacities exist, but a key element is
missing (money!)
Two projects of “infrastructuring”- with two shared problems
1.- OS and “commons-based peer production” projects are
sustainable collectively (as projects) but not individually (for participants)
- Bauwens 2009- OS career path - compare science, research
2.
“ … radical projects tend to founder, or at least become endlessly difficult, the moment they enter into the world of large, heavy objects: buildings, cars, tractors, boats, industrial machinery. This is in turn is not because these objects are somehow intrinsically difficult to administer democratically; it’s because […] they are surrounded by endless government regulation, and effectively impossible to hide […]”- David Graeber, Revolutions in Reverse
14.04.2023
Laitoksen nimi
6
Vertaisrahasto – “peer fund”
The goals:- democratisation of research funding
- implying the one donation, one vote rule- leveling of the institutional & expert hierachies of doing
research - implying anonymisation and limitations to the size of the
application- a more direct link between researchers, research topics and
people not affiliated with research institutions.
7
How was it done?
• Core group of volunteers• First round of donations• Launching a co-op (for the next step)• Collaborative design project at demola.fi• Launching a non-profit (ry)
At least 3 layers of heavily bureaucratic org (co-op, demola project, non-profit) for the bootstrapping
At least 3 years of intermittent volunteer work
14.04.2023
8
14.04.2023
Laitoksen nimi
9
Robin Hood Minor Asset Management
The goals:• Democratization of finance
• “counter investment cooperative of the precariat”• Create non-wage income
• New forms of organisation• What brings people together? What is a precarious
community? Solidarity?• Investigate financial/semiocapitalism
• “Is this art?”
14.04.2023
10
How was it done?
• Research community on economy and art (Akseli Virtanen)• Sakari Virkki working on observing Helsinki Stock Exchange
• -> core group of volunteers• Launching a co-op • Future Art Base, Aalto University
• Discontinued
At least 3 layers of persistent and/or heavily bureaucratic org (research community/activity, co-op, university res center) for the bootstrapping
Tens of years of volunteer labour
14.04.2023
11
Principles?• Opt-in community
• the community is elsewhere?!• Nested action & governance (Ostrom 1990)
• Layers of different types of activity• Most people want the action, but access to governance a
condition• Transparency
• People want/need more info than you have• Friction with entities not keen on transparency
• Rules (Hess 2008) and more rules…• for all the layers (different types of participants, co-op,
non-profit) • “the right to devise rules respected by external
authorities”(Ostrom 1990) -> the devising of rules not (obviously) improper in view of external authorities- Compare Stadin Aikapankki and the tax authorities
14.04.2023
Department of Art
12