Physical vs Digital Commons
Imagine a world in which someone has invented a machine that can produce perfect copies of any food item
The Big Question
All you have to do is put in a single bowl of rice, or slice of pizza, or an apple, or a piece of cake, and the machine can make an infinite number of perfect copies for anyone who asks. And it can make those copies instantaneously. And for free. What would that world be like?
The internet is exactly this kind of machine. All you have to do is upload a bit of writing, or an image, or a video - anything that can be represented and stored as bits - and the machine can make an infinite number of perfect copies for anyone who asks. And it can make those copies instantaneously. And for free. And send them anywhere around the world at the speed of light. What is our world currently like? What could it be like if we leveraged this technology to its potential?
“Copy Notices” by Jimmy Jim Jim Shabadoo licensed under CC-BY-SA
Learning Outcomes
- Provide examples of physical and digital commons
- Compare scarce (physical) vs. non-scarce (digital) resources
- Explain non-rivalrous goods
Personal Reflection / Why it Matters to You
Why do we have the internet - perhaps the perfect machine for the free and open sharing of content - but not a copy machine for food? What are some of the differences between physical things like food and digital things like videos and web pages? How do these differences change the way you engage in commons centered on digital resources?
Acquiring Essential Knowledge
Physical and Digital Commons
“Digital Versus Analog” by Derek Bruff is licensed under CC-BY-NC
There are some significant differences between physical and digital commons. The brief video Why Open Education Matters provides a high-level overview of these differences in the context of education.
“Why Open Education Matters” by David Blake licensed under CC-BY
For more detail on the differences between physical and digital commons, we have to look more closely at the nature of the resources around which these commons are organized. To do this with clarity, we’ll need to employ some concepts from introductory economics. First, we need to understand Rivalry and Excludability.
A resource is said to be rivalrous when one person’s use of the resource interferes with another person’s use of the resource. For example, if you eat a sandwich, I can’t eat the sandwich - this makes the sandwich a rivalrous resource. By contrast, if you watch a YouTube video that doesn’t prevent me (or a million other people) from watching that same video at the same time - this makes the video is a nonrivalrous resource. Read more about Rivalry from Wikipedia.
A resource is said to be excludable if people can be prevented from accessing it. For example, when a television show is broadcast over the air it is a nonexcludable resource because there is no way to prevent an individual with a television from watching it. By contrast, when the same television show is broadcast by satellite it is encrypted so that only people who have the right equipment and a current subscription can watch it, making the show broadcast by satellite an excludable resource.
We can build a table of rivalrous, nonrivalrous, excludable, and nonexcludable resources like the following one from Wikipedia:
| Excludable | Non-excludable | |
|---|---|---|
| Rivalrous | Private goods food, clothing, cars, parking spaces |
Common-pool resources fish stocks, timber, coal |
| Nonrivalrous | Club goods cinemas, private parks, satellite television |
Public goods free-to-air television, air, national defense |
Take some time to explore the articles on Common-pool resources and Public goods linked in the table above.
Once you understand these concepts, you will see that physical commons form around common-pool resources and digital commons form around public goods. The difference between rivalrous resources and nonrivalrous resources lies at the heart of the difference between physical and digital commons.
Application of Learning
Learner Toolkit
Select two or three resources directly relevant to your personal or work-related CC needs from the Acquiring Essential Knowledge content and add them to your personal Creative Commons toolkit. Adding them to your toolkit makes them easy to find and use when the need arises, and makes it easy for you to pass on resources you consider important to others. Annotate the resources with notes explaining why they are relevant and important for you and your work.
Community - Collaboration, Appreciation, Recognition, Gratitude
In the CC Certificate social forum post some examples of private goods, club goods, common-pool resources, or public goods. Read some of the examples provided by others and see if you agree or disagree with how they have classified their examples and provide constructive, supportive feedback.
Applied Practice
Complete one or more following activities in the Quest Bank:
- From Physical to Digital Analyze resources that were once only available physically but are now available in both physical and digital formats.
- Aspects of Physical and Digital Sharing What are the differences and related issues of sharing a physical object (like a book, recorded music, or a piece of art) versus digital versions.
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Creative Commons Certificates have been created with the kind support of Creative Commons, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.