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Process Description... to develop authoritative domains based on competition, collaboration and explicit incentives. The ProblemThe norm of paper based distribution based on intensive pre-publication efforts culminating in approval and then distribution of unchangeable documents still prevails, even though the Internet makes simultaneous update possible. The software commonly used for collaborative work lacks important features such as accounting for credits and debits, annotation, and support for multiple owners. The SolutionCommunities of practice/interest need knowledge economies based on the fungible currency of their domains, whether professional fees, academic credit, or political votes. Whether reading a document, watching video or listening to audio, users should be able to augment the piece by indicating a context. Contributors would then assign a specific type, such as question, disputation, re-statement of the context, or simple corroboration to their piece (annotation), and set a suggested price or credit. If subsequent reader/viewer/listener decides that a piece is incorrectly valued, or in a political system that the position taken is incorrect, he may adjust or reverse the credit. These events are tracked to normalize the final debits/credits by means of periodic adjustments (to prevent free-riding and adjust for over-payment), and to personalize each piece's prominence based on individual wants and needs. These credits will be drawn from an account funded by the user or his employer (e.g. subscription, membership, tuition), or by a right, such as the right to vote. In the case of much knowledge work, cash accounts will be: 1) the means to compensate substantive contributions, 2) the most reliable way to prevent contributors from unduly awarding themselves (when amounts paid out by a user cannot exceed what they have paid in). The credits flow to lightweight corporate like entities with fully automated accounting. The author of the piece will most often be its sole owner and manager. However, he may negotiate compensation in the prevailing currency to incorporate improvements or, in the case of disputes, to include the resolution in the originating piece. Such currency may paid out, kept on the books as a debt, or be converted to stock in the piece. Investors may also commission pieces before they are written (otherwise known as an "advance"). The manager(s) of the piece would most usually be one person elected by the majority shareholder, or an editor designated by such an owner. But where there exists a large effort resting on a highly valuable keystone piece, the governance and management structure will more closely resemble a formally incorporated entity. Corporations, foundations and governmental funding sources may buy rights to limited distribution or full rights (buy-out). Such capital may also fund editors who manage the evolution of domain specific sites by acquiring appropriate seed materials, adjudicating disputes (e.g. over copying) and maintaining orderly structure.
© 2003 Terms of Use. Revision HistoryCreated 2/6/2003 at Learning International Network Consortium (LINC)
Inaugural Workshop
Document Manager
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