through waged work, is now deemed complete (Eghbal, 2016; O’Neil et al., 2020a, 2020b).
The hybridity of this collective development (some people are paid, some are volunteers) has generated new institutional formations. Studies of organizational dynamics suggest that firms and FOSS projects are organized around different institutional principles (or “logics”): commercial logics for firms, communal logics for projects (O’Neil et al., 2020a). In order for these organizations to cooperate, discursive legitimation and concrete practical arrangements are required. An online survey of Debian project participants and interviews with Debian Developers found that a first phase of legitimation centered around licenses, in effect since the early 2000s, aimed to erase the distinction between work performed in firms and projects. In contrast a second phase of legitimation, centered around waged labor, put forward the notion that developers should be paid for work performed in Debian. Another finding was that firms were increasingly seeking to configure software to collect analytics in the form of statistics about which buttons users are pressing and which product features are being used, thereby potentially violating FOSS privacy principles, and laying the foundation for future conflicts and forks (O’Neil et al., 2020a).
The rise of the integrated firm‐project code development ecosystem can be partly attributed to the rise of the GitHub repository, though some projects have always been reluctant to use GitHub because of its proprietary status. This integration is evident in the business practices of IT giants and in the increasing propensity of end‐user firms – not just IT firms – to create Open Source Offices (OSPOs) which will act as open source advocates within the firm, and as firm liaisons with the code‐producing open source “communities” (O’Neil et al., 2020c).
5 The Handbook of Peer Production Aims to be Inclusive and Political
Like any academic Handbook worth its salt, this volume seeks to establish the state of the art of research in a given field of activity; to map origins, manifestations, achievements, and contradictions; to gather a group of contributors who are both knowledgeable and passionate. In addition, our approach is purposely inclusive and political.
When we say we wish this Handbook to be “inclusive” we mean that the commons‐based and oriented peer production approach towards generating and circulating all kinds of information goods, which fundamentally differs from individualistic models, from the competition of all against all, is occurring in an era where myriad forms of organizing and exploiting collective digital labor are in operation. It is hence necessary to pin down core elements of this alternative model of cooperation and governance such as cooperation and trust, transparency in production, collective democratic decision‐making, and the like. However, we also believe it makes sense to chart areas where some, though perhaps not all, these tenets have been adopted. So making peer production “inclusive” means casting the net wider and including a comprehensive range of cognate endeavors. In consequence, the Handbook traces peer production’s resonance in a broad number of fields, from a wide variety of perspectives.
When we say the Handbook is “political,” we mean that the chapters investigate and discover new possibilities for political action by re‐thinking concepts such as crowdsourcing, making, urban commons, and the partner state, or by conceptualizing the contradictions of autonomous production. Albeit in different guises, all chapters share a concern with how peer producing is intertwined with political issues such as hierarchical power, capitalism, gender, and race. By framing peer production as “political,” this Handbook offers the possibility of critically exploring the assumptions underpinning, and the contradictions animating, commons‐based and oriented peer production; and it also attempts to move beyond critique, towards praxis.
The Handbook of Peer Production is divided in six parts. Part I is the shortest, being made of this chapter, in which we (editors Mathieu O’Neil, Sophie Toupin, and Christian Pentzold) set the scene. Part II (chapters 2 to 6) outlines the key Concepts which help to make sense of peer production: Vasilis Kostakis revisits a famous Michel Bauwens article to define the core elements, or Grammar of Peer Production projects and ecosystems. Benjamin J. Birkinbine defines the Political Economy of Peer Production, Christian Pentzold outlines the Social Norms and Rules of Peer Production, and Michael Stevenson discusses the Cultures of Peer Production. We conclude this part with this volume’s sole reprint, Yochai Benkler and Helen Nissenbaum’s 2006 article on Commons‐Based Peer Production and Virtue.
Part III (Chapters 7 to 11) defines the necessary Conditions for peer production to exist: George Dafermos defines the Prophets and Advocates of Peer Production and Margie Borschke explores Virtue, Efficiency, and the Sharing Economy. Next, Mélanie Dulong de Rosnay analyzes Openness and Licensing, and Sebastian Spaeth and Sven Niederhöfer focus on User Motivations in Peer Production. We conclude this part with an analysis of the relationship between project governance and scope, Governing for Growth in Scope: Cultivating a Dynamic Understanding of How Peer Production Collectives Evolve by Rebecca Karp, Amisha Miller, and Siobhán O’Mahony.
Part IV (Chapters 12 to 20) presents Cases of peer production practice, including Free and Open Source Software by Stéphane Couture, Wikipedia and Wikis by Jutta Haider and Olof Sundin, Collective Cartography: Drones, Countermapping, and Technological Power by Adam Fish, and Peer Learning by Panayotis Antoniadis and Alekos Pantazis. Morgan Meyer analyses Biohacking, Yana Boeva and Peter Troxler present Makers, and Pablo Velasco Gonzáles and Nate Tkacz critically assess Blockchain, or Peer Production Without Guarantees. Finally, Gwen Shaffer retraces the history of Community Wireless Networks and Nicholas Anastasopoulos of Commoning the Urban.
Part V (Chapters 21 to 27) maps out areas where peer production practices and projects enter into Conflict with internal and external structures of power. Mathieu O’Neil and Sébastien Broca address Peer Production and Social Change, and Stefania Milan Peer Production and Collective Action. Sophie Toupin discusses Feminist Peer Production and Maitrayee Deka Postcolonial Peer Production. Francesca Musiani assesses Gaps in Peer Design whilst Kat Braybrooke and Adrian Smith interrogate Makerspaces and Peer Production: Spaces of Possibility, Tension, Post‐Automation, or Liberation? We conclude this section with Alex Pazaitis and Wolfgang Drechsler’s Peer Production and State Theory: Envisioning a Cooperative Partner State.
Having perused this list of authors and chapters, we trust our readers will agree with us that the Handbook of Peer Production has succeeded in accounting for the diversity of peer production histories, endeavors, theories, and contradictions. But when dealing with this topic, which is centered around do‐it‐yourself values such as individual empowerment, cooperation amongst equals, and engagement and participation, this is not enough. It would be impossible to write a comprehensive volume about peer production, and not contribute in some way. We must go further, by connecting peer production to a progressive social agenda.
Part VI (Chapters 28 to 30) therefore defines Conversions, elements that will advance peer production. In Making a Case for Peer Production we present interviews with practitioners Peter Bloom (Rhizomatica), Mariam Mecky (HarassMap), Ory Okolloh (Ushahidi), Abraham Taherivand (Wikimedia), and Stefano Zacchiroli (Debian). In What’s Next? Peer Production Studies?, we (editors Mathieu O’Neil, Sophie Toupin, and Christian Pentzold) outline promising avenues for new research into the contribution of peer production to productive efficiency and to social change. We also reflect on whether the Handbook fits into a field
