Document Type
Article
Date
6-1-2006
Disciplines
Library and Information Science
Description/Abstract
In an earlier article, “Ideas, artifacts and facilities: information as a common-pool resource”, we examined the role of collective action in building robust knowledge commons and in circumventing trends of enclosure and privatisation of the intellectual public domain. Our analysis suggested that collective action and new institutional design play as large a part in shaping the collection, distribution, and preservation of scholarly information as do legal restrictions and market forces. The microbiological commons extends well beyond the boundaries of e-prints and other full-text research documents that are the focus of the open access movement. It includes the contents of scientific databases, research archives, and multimedia publications which all need to be seamlessly integrated. In addition, the global, biological commons is also comprised of social networks and social capital. The success of freely sharing microbiological data will require a complex blend of technology, scientific content, metadata standards, open source software packages, negotiated and respected intellectual property rights agreements, sustainability and preservation design mechanisms, evolving rules and institutions, and, ultimately, a firm commitment on the part of providers and users to the common good.
Recommended Citation
Hess, Charlotte and Ostrom, Elinor, "A Framework for Analysing the Microbiological Commons" (2006). Libraries' and Librarians' Publications. 110.
https://surface.syr.edu/sul/110
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Additional Information
Copyright 2006 International Social Science Journal. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and International Social Science Journal. The article may be found at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2451.2006.00622.x/abstract