Abstract
Editorial Notes: Productive Negation\n\nWelcome to the first issue of the Journal of Peer Production (JoPP). The journal has been created to further the study and critical discussion of the concept of peer-to-peer. What is meant by that term is precisely one of the questions we wish to investigate here. Provisionally, we define “peer” or “collaborative” production as a mode of commons-based and oriented production where participation is voluntary and predicated on the self-selection of tasks. Starting from this ideal type, we set out to scrutinise the inconsistencies and contradictions of peer production. Our aim is to add a new kind of forum for discussing the concerns, aspirations and fears that have been fermenting on the Internet for close to a decade. The journal format will hopefully allow for a more sustained and focused investigation of these topics, while increasing their visibility in academia and in offline society. The genesis of the Journal of Peer Production occurred at the Fourth Oekonux conference in Manchester in 2009.\nquote from editorial: \nThe social scientist is bound to react to such techno-utopianism with a wry smile. Hearing the science-fiction references in the quote above, he or she will instinctively proceed to criticise the hidden assumptions of a logocentric, western and patriarchal hacker culture. We invite scholars to develop such critiques as part of the mission of this journal. Having said that, we are also concerned that the trained reflexes of the professional academic, which often overlap with an anxiety not to be perceived as naïve, are complicit with the ironic, post-ideological hegemonic order of the day. In contrast, the faith shown by Richard Stallman and like-minded people in what they are doing has been rewarded with a range of successes. The creation of peer production projects such as Project Gutenberg, Wikipedia and the many offshoots of GNU/Linux are some cases in point. Those accomplishments stand out all the more as the traditional left is struggling to come up with an adequate response to the mounting crisis of the capitalist system. Post-1989, the space for thinking and debating alternatives to neo-liberal and/or keynesian capitalism is steadily shrinking, even within the left. It is in this light that investigations into the peer production model become urgent.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1-3 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Journal of Peer Production |
Volume | 1 |
Issue number | 1 |
Publication status | Published - 2012 |