Benkler – Alyssa Arbuckle

On “The Battle Over the Institutional Ecology of the Digital Environment,” by Yochai Benkler

September 24, 2016 Alyssa Comments 0 Comment

In yet another excellent chapter from The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom (2006), Yochai Benkler considers the digital environment (or sphere, or network, or whatever you like to call it), as an “institutional ecology.” He does this in order to examine the forces that shape the way we create, navigate, consume, and share electronic content, with a distinct eye to legal forces. Focusing on legal actions is critical; as Benkler notes, “we have seen a…

On “Peer Production and Sharing,” by Yochai Benkler

September 12, 2016 Alyssa Comments 0 Comment

In this chapter from The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom (2006), Yochai Benkler defines “peer production” as a term, and provides ample examples of peer production in networked, computational systems. For Benkler, peer production “characterizes a subset of commons-based production practices,” which are “self-selected and decentralized, rather than hierarchically assigned” (62). He also elaborates that there are four types of commons: 1) commons that are open to anyone; 2) commons that are only open to a…