Carr–Benkler wager: Difference between revisions

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== Analysis ==

The early exchange of arguments from the two sides shows the crevasse between two opposing realities: Carr looks at the market-oriented outcome of a, at the time, nascent digital economy, while Benkler looks at the peer-based process, on which the market capitalizes.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pazaitis|first=Alex|last2=Kostakis|first2=Vasilis|date=2021-06-16|title=Are the most influential websites peer-produced or price-incentivized? Organizing value in the digital economy|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/13505084211020192|journal=Organization|language=en|pages=13505084211020192|doi=10.1177/13505084211020192|issn=1350-5084|doi-access=free}}</ref> There are many layers where this tension can be observed. First, there is a subtle difference between peer production and [[commons-based peer production]] (CBPP). On one hand, for-profit initiatives, such as Facebook, Google or Bitcoin, utilize peer production practices to maximize shareholder value. On the other hand, commons-oriented initiatives, such as Wikipedia, [https://www.latelierpaysan.org/ L’Atelier Paysan], [https://farmhack.org/tools Farm Hack] or FOSS projects, utilize such practices to maximize sharing and commons creation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Bauwens|first=Michel|url=https://www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk/site/books/m/10.16997/book33/|title=Peer to Peer|last2=Kostakis|first2=Vasilis|last3=Pazaitis|first3=Alex|date=2019-03-20|publisher=University of Westminster Press|isbn=978-1-911534-79-2|language=en|doi=10.16997/book33/}}</ref>.

Second, even though the majority of the most influential websites seem to be run by commercial companies, a considerable part of their technological infrastructure, as well as nearly all software used by Fortune 500 companies and governments is based on CBPP: from Apache, the most popular web server, to GNU/Linux, on which the top-500 supercomputers run, to WordPress, the most popular content management system, to OpenSSL, the most popular encryption protocol to secure transactions.<ref>Eghbal, N. (2019) ‘Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure’, Ford Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.fordfoundation.org/media/2976/roads-and-bridges-the-unseen-labor-behind-our-digital-infrastructure.pdf. </ref>.

Finally, CBPP draws from a diverse set of motivations. Contributors participate to gain knowledge, to produce something useful for them, to build their social capital, to communicate and have a sense of belonging, but also to get financial rewards.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Erden|first=Zeynep|last2=Krogh|first2=Georg Von|last3=Kim|first3=Seonwoo|date=2012|title=Knowledge Sharing in an Online Community of Volunteers: The Role of Community Munificence|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1740-4762.2012.01039.x|journal=European Management Review|language=en|volume=9|issue=4|pages=213–227|doi=10.1111/j.1740-4762.2012.01039.x|issn=1740-4762}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Krogh|first=G. V.|last2=Haefliger|first2=S.|last3=Spaeth|first3=S.|last4=Wallin|first4=M. W.|date=2012|title=Carrots and Rainbows: Motivation and Social Practice in Open Source Software Development|url=https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/5955/|journal=MIS Quarterly|language=en|volume=36|issue=2|pages=649–676}}</ref>. So, the price-incentivized production does exist in CBPP but it is relegated to being a peripheral concept only.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Wealth of Networks {{!}} Yale University Press|url=https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300125771/wealth-networks|access-date=2021-06-24|website=yalebooks.yale.edu}}</ref>. Moreover, public infrastructure and institutions make the digital economy possible to begin with, by regulating the conditions under which service providers can offer services, information is transmitted and users get access to it. It is only after all the above are in place that competition and price-incentives can actually function. Hence, the dominance of one modality over the other is not an outcome of “natural selection,” rather a result of political definition. The state steers competition and profit-motives, implicitly rationalizing the produced economic outcomes, in the way they are measured in business and national accounts. Likewise, the state could use similar leverages to enable and support the direct creation of public purpose value by the civil society and commons-based enterprises.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Citation|last=Pazaitis|first=Alex|title=Peer Production and State Theory: Envisioning a Cooperative Partner State|date=2020-11-21|url=https://zenodo.org/record/4415340|work=The Handbook of Peer Production|pages=359–370|place=Hoboken|publisher=Wiley|isbn=978-1-119-53709-0|access-date=2021-06-24|last2=Drechsler|first2=Wolfgang}}</ref>.

==See also==