Comments on: The Digital Commons – Left Unregulated, Are We Destined for Tragedy? http://www.openeducation.net/2008/02/21/the-digital-commons-%e2%80%93-left-unregulated-are-we-destined-for-tragedy/ Free Education for All Fri, 13 May 2011 00:38:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: menonnite http://www.openeducation.net/2008/02/21/the-digital-commons-%e2%80%93-left-unregulated-are-we-destined-for-tragedy/#comment-853 menonnite Wed, 19 Mar 2008 07:49:17 +0000 http://www.openeducation.net/2008/02/21/the-digital-commons-%e2%80%93-left-unregulated-are-we-destined-for-tragedy/#comment-853 dale eastman is correct, the original finite premise doesn't necessarily translate to the newer, semi-finite context except that you can be pessimistic about either one. for every commons that doesn't work out on the net, you can clone it and build another version of it differently. it's true that there are a limited number of people to organize things, but the commons we're really talking about is "web 2.0," the content-driven paradigm which is built on top of the web with no version number. it's a very young idea. the new-world comparison is an interesting one. it's true, we're not living in any utopia, and anyone should know better than to think the internet will just become one, or probably ever become one. on the other hand, the new world has brought a number of good and bad things to the world, among them, the world-wide-web itself. so if the new world can usher in an age of the internet, what can the age of the internet usher in? i'm sure it will be good and bad, but not at all pointless, and not necessarily a complete disappointment. oh and no disrespect to cern, i know you did more than help. dale eastman is correct, the original finite premise doesn’t necessarily translate to the newer, semi-finite context except that you can be pessimistic about either one.

for every commons that doesn’t work out on the net, you can clone it and build another version of it differently. it’s true that there are a limited number of people to organize things, but the commons we’re really talking about is “web 2.0,” the content-driven paradigm which is built on top of the web with no version number. it’s a very young idea.

the new-world comparison is an interesting one. it’s true, we’re not living in any utopia, and anyone should know better than to think the internet will just become one, or probably ever become one.

on the other hand, the new world has brought a number of good and bad things to the world, among them, the world-wide-web itself. so if the new world can usher in an age of the internet, what can the age of the internet usher in? i’m sure it will be good and bad, but not at all pointless, and not necessarily a complete disappointment. oh and no disrespect to cern, i know you did more than help.

]]> By: KATALOG-STRON.AZ.PL - CIEKAWE INFORMACJE Z RÓŻNYCH STRON » CC and Net Neutrality http://www.openeducation.net/2008/02/21/the-digital-commons-%e2%80%93-left-unregulated-are-we-destined-for-tragedy/#comment-711 KATALOG-STRON.AZ.PL - CIEKAWE INFORMACJE Z RÓŻNYCH STRON » CC and Net Neutrality Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:19:02 +0000 http://www.openeducation.net/2008/02/21/the-digital-commons-%e2%80%93-left-unregulated-are-we-destined-for-tragedy/#comment-711 [...] the growing availability of Open Educational Resources on the web. In a recent post entitled, The Digital Commons — Left Unregulated, Are We Destined for Tragedy? , they explore the potential of the open digital commons, concluding that open access is the key to [...] [...] the growing availability of Open Educational Resources on the web. In a recent post entitled, The Digital Commons — Left Unregulated, Are We Destined for Tragedy? , they explore the potential of the open digital commons, concluding that open access is the key to [...]

]]> By: Dale Eastman http://www.openeducation.net/2008/02/21/the-digital-commons-%e2%80%93-left-unregulated-are-we-destined-for-tragedy/#comment-703 Dale Eastman Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:51:08 +0000 http://www.openeducation.net/2008/02/21/the-digital-commons-%e2%80%93-left-unregulated-are-we-destined-for-tragedy/#comment-703 The difference between the Town Commons that Mr. McFadden writes of, and the Digital Commons is the difference of a virtual place and a real place. It is true that the virtual place is circumscribed by a real place, specifically the server hardware, and more specifically, the storage medium within such servers and thus the limits of a real place will place limits on a virtual place. However, the ratio of the size of the virtual place to its containing real place is very large, and getting larger, because of technical solutions. Do you remember 8" floppy disks? 500 kilobytes of memory. Now we have USB flash drives with 8 gigabytes of memory and hard drives with 1 terabyte have just become available. In the physical world, the tragedy of the commons is that the commons has physical limits. In the virtual world, those limits are virtually non-existent. P.s. The source cited for the tragedy of the commons is on a web site examining the commons problem of peak oil. The requirement for energy to run servers will be the real reason for a tragedy of the virtual commons. The difference between the Town Commons that Mr. McFadden writes of, and the Digital Commons is the difference of a virtual place and a real place.

It is true that the virtual place is circumscribed by a real place, specifically the server hardware, and more specifically, the storage medium within such servers and thus the limits of a real place will place limits on a virtual place.

However, the ratio of the size of the virtual place to its containing real place is very large, and getting larger, because of technical solutions. Do you remember 8″ floppy disks? 500 kilobytes of memory. Now we have USB flash drives with 8 gigabytes of memory and hard drives with 1 terabyte have just become available.

In the physical world, the tragedy of the commons is that the commons has physical limits. In the virtual world, those limits are virtually non-existent.

P.s. The source cited for the tragedy of the commons is on a web site examining the commons problem of peak oil. The requirement for energy to run servers will be the real reason for a tragedy of the virtual commons.

]]>