Free Software as a model for Commons-Based Peer Production and its Policy Implications____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Overview• The challenge of free software• Peer production all around• The incentives problem• Coase’s Penguin• an information opportunity costs theory of peer production• increasing returns to scale for agents, resources, and projects• The trouble with commons• Ecological competition and its institutional manifestation• The stakes of law____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Free Software____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________• Getting harder to ignore successApache market share 1995-09/2001 Source: Netcraft Survey Sept. 2001Free Software____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________• Getting harder to ignore successSource:Netcraft SurveySept. 2001Free Software____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________• Getting harder to ignore success• Current explanations of open source software• Detailed description of the phenomenon• Explanations of what is special about software• Explanations about hacker cultureFree Software• Proprietary software depends on exclusion• Use permitted in exchange for payment• “Learning” often prevented altogether to prevent copying and competition• Customization usually only within controlled parameters• No redistribution permitted, so as to enable collection by owner ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Free Software• Proprietary software depends on exclusion• Free software limits control• Use for any purpose• Study source code• Adapt for own use• Redistribute copies• Make and distribute modifications• Notification of changes• Copyleft____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Free Software• Proprietary software depends on exclusion• Free software limits control• Identifying characteristic is cluster of uses permitted, not absence of a price (“free speech” not “free beer”)____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________• Raymond, Moody• One or more programmers write a program & release it on the Net• Others use, modify, extend, or test it• Mechanism for communicating, identifying and incorporating additions/patches into a common version (led by initiator/leader/group) • Volunteers with different levels of commitment and influence focus on testing, fixing, and extendingAnatomy of Free Software____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Peer Production All Around____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________• Peer production• various sized collections of individuals• effectively produce information goods• without price signals or managerial commandsPeer Production All Around____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________• Peer production• All Around• Old: academic research• The Web• Content (Mars clickworkers, MMOGs) • Relevance/accreditation • commercial utilization--Amazon, Google• volunteer--open directory project, slashdot• Distribution• physical--Gnutella, Freenet• value added--Project Gutenberg, Distributed ProofreadingThe Incentives Problem____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________• Why would anyone work without seeking to appropriate the benefits?• Open source software literature• Moglen: Homo ludens, meet Homo faber• Raymond & others: reputation, human capital, indirect appropriationThe Incentives Problem____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________• Why would anyone work?• Open source software literature• Two propositions• Given a sufficiently large number of contributions, incentives necessary to bring about contributions are trivial• e.g., a few thousand “players”, a few hundred young people “on their way”, and a few or tens paid to participate for indirect appropriation will become effectiveThe Incentives Problem____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________• Why would anyone work?• Open source software literature• Two propositions• incentives are trivial• Peer production limited not by the total cost or complexity of a project, but by• modularity (how many can participate, how varied is scope of investment)• granularity (minimal investment to participate)• cost of integration____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________• Organizations as mechanisms for reducing uncertainty of agents as to alternative courses of action• Markets price to produce information• Firms use managerial algorithm to separate signal from noise• Each departs differently
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