Understanding knowledge as a commons: from theory to practice

• Charlotte Hess, Elinor Ostrom

Commons, Scientific communication

There appears to have been a spontaneous explosion of “ah ha” moments when multiple users on the Internet one day sat up, probably in frustration, and said, “Hey! This is a shared resource!” People started to notice behaviors and conditions on the web–congestion, free riding, conflict, overuse, and “pollution”–that had long been identified with other types of commons.