What are 'The Commons'

Introductions

The Legal intepretation of the term 'commons' is defined as Something that is common is owned equally by two or more people, such as a piece of land. A Tenancy in Common is an interest in land wherein at least two people share ownership.

Source: legal dictionary

The Moral Considerations

In-effect, the consideration related to the design of Webizen and PeaceInfrastructureProject related works was, that in-order to protect FreedomofThought there needed to be a series of designs to support both HumanCentricAI and in-turn the manifestation of HumanCentricDigitalIdentity in a way that supported the NoLock-ins and broader SafetyProtocols built into the ecosystems. In-effect, as is one of the many topics of TheValuesProject the ability for people to have their fundamental human rights supported in a way that supports principals such as privacy and moreover the requirements people have in-order to support human dignity. This requires a means to decentralise the publically consumable knowledge of mankind in such a way that provides us, members of our human family as beneficiaries of these bodies of knowledge; to in-effect, be furnished a means to make use of that information using modern societal tools in a way that does not require us to submit to unwanted abuses of human rights.

The SocioEconomic Factors

The way 'commons' information has been developed for use on internet is now highly centralised, not simply at the level of which websites but moreover which jurisitictions; leading to a circumstance where our ability to define reality is highly dependant upon the few persons involved in making laws in one place on earth which have repercussive effects globally. This is a well known characteristic for many who are significantly involved.

Many of these websites continue to present requests for financial donations to be provided to support their services; and whilst it is absolutely the case that these services are essential, they have also been designed in a particular way which leads to a significant responsibility.

These systems of donations do not equally consider how the human labour of those involved in creating the materials might also be considered work; and good work, should be paid - but not paid in perpetuiety (ie: not subject to royalties); which in-turn leads to a few mechanisms that manifest, the first is that 'commons' materials become more easily targeted (increasingly on a programmatic basis) by bad actors (humans, organisations, software / AI) to change the records of what humanity depends upon as knowledge, to suit agendas relating to some particular issue that might be happening at any given time. Given these systems are unlike books; the content can be changed whenever and the ability to see the history is not easy.

Overall; there are a few variables that relate to issues that have manifested as a consequence of the 'commons' now becoming managed by systems that are so globally centralised legally.

The Technical Factors

In-order to support HumanCentricAI and HumanCentricDigitalIdentity commons information needs to be formatted into SemanticWeb standards related formats, and this should be done in a way where it is clear who defined the content of the resource (ie: a human being, a company or legal entity or a software agent); and then it needs to be able to be processed locally, without providing constant updates to the providers of any such resources that are essential for the use of computing systems in life.

Introductory Summary

Imagine if, we were only able to be entitled to use the English Language if we agreed to use a spell-checker that constantly provided to an overlord the information we generate about everything that we were using the english language to perform, as a requirement for using the english language...

This is one of many constituencies to the far broader 'commons' which permissive commons systems seek to ensure, are able to be used locally without providing any one any information about how we're using it at the time when we're using it; whilst then also, providing a means to create AI related functionality for the things that we end-up sharing with others; once we've decided to do so, and only in relation to the use of those works in relation to whomever it is we've decided to share it with.

External References

Below are some definitions sourced elsewhere...

WikiPedia: Commons

The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons can also be understood as natural resources that groups of people (communities, user groups) manage for individual and collective benefit. Characteristically, this involves a variety of informal norms and values (social practice) employed for a governance mechanism.cite 1 Commons can also be defined as a social practicecite 2 of governing a resource not by state or market but by a community of users that self-governs the resource through institutions that it creates.cite 3

Wikipedia: Digital commons

Main article: Digital commons (economics)

Mayo Fuster Morell proposed a definition of digital commons as "information and knowledge resources that are collectively created and owned or shared between or among a community and that tend to be non-exclusive, that is, be (generally freely) available to third parties. Thus, they are oriented to favor use and reuse, rather than to exchange as a commodity. Additionally, the community of people building them can intervene in the governing of their interaction processes and of their shared resources."cite 23Cite 24

Examples of digital commons are Wikipedia, free software and open-source hardware projects.

Source: WikiPedia: Commons

Source: WikiPedia: Commons

Wikipedia: Digital commons (economics)

The digital commons are a form of commons involving the distribution and communal ownership of informational resources and technology. Resources are typically designed to be used by the community by which they are created.12

Examples of the digital commons include wikis, open-source software, and open-source licensing. The distinction between digital commons and other digital resources is that the community of people building them can intervene in the governing of their interaction processes and of their shared resources.3

The digital commons provides the community with free and easy access to information. Typically, information created in the digital commons is designed to stay in the digital commons by using various forms of licensing, including the GNU General Public License and various Creative Commons licenses.

Source: WikiPedia: Digital Commons (economics)