In times where ownership is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a powerful few, there has been a renewed interest in the concept of the commons – especially in the digital realm. Deeply rooted in human history, a commons arises wherever a community decides to manage a resource in a collective manner with regard to equitable access, use and sustainability. To start with, there was a short introduction to the field and an input. On this basis, we discussed whether the commons can possibly be a key ingredient for change for example in the form of platform cooperativism? Can the commons fulfill the promise of the early web to decentralise power to make more democratic ownership possible?“
With:
Boris Hekele, abgeordnetenwatch.de
Daniel Reichert, Gründer Liquid Democracy
Maria Haberer, Open University of Catalonia
Lorenz Matzat, AlgorithmWatch