Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 66
  • Working Paper
    Bolivia Stands Up for Common Wealth
    (2010) Bollier, David
    "Evo Morales's bold bet against privatization pays off."
  • Working Paper
    New Era for Commons-based Development in Africa?
    (2009) Bollier, David
    "Ostroms Nobel validates cooperative strategies for land management."
  • Journal Article
    The Rediscovery of the Commons
    (2003) Bollier, David
    "The prevailing discourse for talking about the Internet is that of the market. But economic categories are too parochial for understanding our broader needs as citizens and human beings in the emerging cyber-polity. They also fail to understand how many websites, listservs, open source software programs and peer-to-peer file sharing systems function as commons – open, community-based systems for sharing and managing resources. It turns out that peer production is often a more efficient, creative mode of value-creation than a market as well as more humanistic. The commons paradigm helps us understand this fact because it recognizes that value-creation is not just an episodic economic transaction, as market theory holds, but an ongoing process of social life and political culture. When will we recognize that the commons plays a vital role in the economic and cultural production of our time?"
  • Working Paper
    A Stem Cord of a Web of Relationships
    (2010) Bollier, David
    "Participants in Ogallala Commons meditate on what it means to be a commoner."
  • Conference Paper
    The Rise of Collective Intelligence: Decentralized Co-Creation of Value as a New Paradigm of Commerce and Culture
    (2007) Bollier, David
    "Every year, the Information Technology Roundtable of the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program examines a timely issue that is posing perplexing new challenges for business, culture and society. In 2007, the gathering met to explore the many ways in which network-based communities are becoming socially and economically significant. The phenomenon has been called 'decentralized co-creation of value' — the process by which social communities and loose networks of people use Web 2.0 platforms to generate useful new types of collective intelligence. Although the value that is created tends to be social in origin, it has far-reaching economic implications for business and nations. Online communities are often rich sources of innovative ideas, specialized knowledge, timely and sophisticated market intelligence and niche consumer demand. Moreover, because this decentralized value-creation is occurring online - and therefore is widely available — it is capable of diffusing rapidly and disrupting entrenched institutions and societal practices."
  • Conference Paper
    The Clash of Markets and Commons - and How It Affects Science, Economic Performance and Democracy
    (2004) Bollier, David
    "Most of the controversies spawned by the molecular revolution are tremendously complex, so I wade into this territory with some trepidation. I am not a scientist or lawyer, nor even a biotech policy expert. Yet the history of taming dangerous technologies nuclear power, synthetic chemicals, automobiles shows that outsiders often offer valuable, catalytic perspectives. With that conceit, I enter this dialogue as an informed citizen irregular and non-scientist whose expertise lies in a meta-realm: how shall we talk about the ethical, social and democratic implications of genetic technologies? I believe the framing of the issues is at least as important as the so-called facts, because the questions we ask will determine what we regard as relevant facts. The significance of our answers will depend on how we frame our discussion in the first place."
  • Working Paper
    Open Source Hardware
    (2009) Bollier, David
    "The participatory ethic of open source software has become so widespread these days that it is migrating into some unexpected places... like musical instruments, tractors and ecological technology."
  • Conference Paper
    Commoners as an Emerging Political Force
    (2008) Bollier, David
    "The question that I want to address today is: 'How might free culture begin to relate to other social movements?' I will start with several quick examples of what I call 'digital citizenship.' I think you will quickly connect the dots."
  • Conference Paper
    Why Open Source Software Is Fundamental to a Robust Democratic Culture
    (2002) Bollier, David
    From p. 1: "Software programming is sometimes patronized as an arcane black art that is the preserve of techies. And that may or may not be true. But it is not well-appreciated that software itself has ramifications that reach far beyond the techie community and even the software marketplace. It is becoming the invisible architecture of our emerging digital culture. The structures that are embedded in software – and in the technical standards of the Internet – determine what kinds of inter-relationships we can have as a society. Software is becoming a key component of the hard-wiring of our culture. This, of course, is one of the primary themes of Larry Lessig’s 1999 book, Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace. He talked about how code, markets, law and social norms each play a role in structuring and regulating our lives."
  • Conference Paper
    Globalization, Cultural Diversity and the Commons: Remarks by David Bollier
    (2005) Bollier, David
    From p. 1: "If the advocates of cultural diversity hope to take our message to the mainstream, I believe our biggest challenge is to develop a more compelling grand narrative for explaining how cultural diversity originates, why it is important and how it can be sustained. In global trade circles, the prevailing story for talking about culture is the story of the market. 'Globalization' is all about expanding the governance rules of markets to all corners of the globe. It is about subjecting social relations and resource management to a matrix of property rights, contracts and market exchange. According to this mainstream story, 'value' is created by enclosing something in an envelope of private property rights, and through contracts to buy and sell those rights for money. This will result in robust markets and 'development.' According to the market story, this is how 'value' is created – with 'value' serving as a synonym for 'money.' But we all know, at a certain level, that the real value of the arts, culture and civic life cannot be expressed through any economic measurement. What is the value of indigenous artwork? What is the value of ethnobotanical knowledge? What about Native American folk stories or traditional designs?"