Peer Production

Introduction

Yahoo is a search engine with a few hundred employees, who constantly are employed in searching websites and updating their directory. Benkler (2005) notes that the Open Directory Project made up of over 6,000 collaborating volunteers managed to replace Yahoo and its paid employees as “the human-edited directory of record” (p. 2). What these thousands of volunteers managed to do is effectively compete against the rather successful Yahoo, all while showcasing their passion for specific subjects of choice, by spending limited time each week, improving their various subjects of interest (Benkler 2005). Benkler (2005) uses this example to demonstrate that in today’s interconnected, global, and digital world the information economy has never been stronger, as a result of the ever-increasing pool of human knowledge, interest, talent, and experience, creating a critical change in the realm of social production, based less on property and more on the concept of commons. This...