Institutions & Markets
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Commons-based peer production describes how large numbers of people coordinate to produce shared resources without hierarchical control, with implications for energy communities and distributed grid governance.
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Commons-based peer production (CBPP) is a model of socio-economic production in which large numbers of people work cooperatively, typically over digital networks, to produce shared outputs without requiring traditional contractual or hierarchical coordination. The concept was developed by Yochai Benkler, who argued that peer production is defined not only by the openness of its outputs but also by a decentralised, participant-driven method of working.1)
Three principles characterise successful commons-based peer production. First, goals must be modular: divisible into independent components that participants can produce asynchronously without direct coordination. Second, granularity matters: modules must be available at varying levels of size and effort, so contributors with different levels of motivation and time can all participate. Third, integration costs must be low: a mechanism for combining contributions into a coherent whole, including quality control, must be accessible without requiring significant overhead.2)
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