Setting the stage (adapted from the Madrid workshop)
The scholarly system has vanished. The forms of communication that were valid just a moment ago are now part of history. The contracts (international and individual) have ceased to exist. All the universities, publications and job titles are no longer in effect. The good news is that this is not an end: We have gathered this very group here to restart the whole system, and this is a chance to do it better. You can use the same technology that there was before, but use it better or create something new. Another good news is that your intelligence, knowledge and creativity have not vanished. We will need those qualities now. We are happy you have made it to this group.
Rules of engagement
As a worldwide collective of peers, we are responsible to find, design, or build the technologies and infrastructures that will enable the culture we desire for the Scholarly Commons. In order to do this, we will need to find the answers to the questions that undergird the very foundations of scholarship.
As a member of this collective, you are welcome to go anywhere or use any device in your possession to find answers that could help in this monumental task. To start with, you are encouraged to look over the thoughts of those who have preceded you , a few of which can be found within the following information resources (though don't feel bounded by these few links that have been shared, by any means):
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Ostrom's design principles and Institutional Analysis and Development Framework (IAD)
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the principles, annotations, and operationalizations that evolved from the Madrid workshop
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Who's Utopia? The Need for Meaningful Diversity and Human-Centred Design When Imagining a "Scholarly Commons" by Lorraine Chuen
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Doable pathways to the Scholarly Commons from the San Diego workshop
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Commoning as a Transformative Social Paradigm by David Bollier
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Putting the Pieces Together: Technology by Chris Chapman
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Notes on the Synthesis of Form by Christopher Alexander
To ensure that everything fits, we will be going over everything piece by piece. The fact that something existed or was widely used in the previous system is not reason enough to perpetuate it in this new culture.
We are using this group to bootstrap the conversation, but you are welcome to carry on the discussion wherever and however you think is best (bearing in mind the FORCE11 code of conduct, of course), as long as the conversation will stay connected and cohesive somehow.
Even though we are taking an open and inclusive approach here, the end goal is not to have a bunch of parallel systems or approaches to scholarship, but to use the insights and understandings that we gain through this process to converge on a cohesive and complementary set of requirements and technical standards and approaches that will enable the culture of the Scholarly Commons to thrive.
Your task, should you choose to accept it
Find answers to these questions using the very systems that will enable this culture. At its core, this task is a broad-reaching, multi-faceted exploratory research process, and we need technologies and infrastructures that can keep it all together. If something doesn't exist, build it. By so doing, we will bring this new system into existence.
