Governing the Science Commons

## Governing the Science Commons J. Colliander [2i2c](https://2i2c.org) and [UBC](https://www.math.ubc.ca) [3rd Jack Eddy Symposium](https://cpaess.ucar.edu/meetings/eddy-symposium-2022) slides: [bit.ly/eddy-science-commons](https://bit.ly/eddy-science-commons) ---- 1. academus 2. science commons 3. information 4. governance 5. opportunity --- # [Academus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academus) ---- #### $A \Gamma \mbox{E} \Omega \mbox{METPHTO}\Sigma ~~ \mbox{MH}\Delta \mbox{EI} \Sigma ~~ \mbox{EI}\Sigma \mbox{IT} \Omega$ "Let none but geometers enter here" ---- <iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/embed?mid=1GVWq3X7grAhDGoAQx5RSN1p8OCTKoP0&ehbc=2E312F" width="640" height="480"></iframe> ---- ![Quackenbos](https://etc.usf.edu/clipart/19500/19501/academus_19501_lg.gif) "Grove of Academus" by Quackenbos 1882; ©2022 by the University of South Florida ---- ### Academy + pioneering social collaboration structure + Participants were "earth measurers" + "Academia" is a land acknowledgement :::info How should we name whatever we may invent here? ::: ---- ```mermaid gantt title University History section Americas UNAM : 1910-09-01, 1000d Johns Hopkins: 1877-02-22, 1000d Morill Act: 1862-01-01, 100d UPenn : 1755-09-01, 1000d William and Mary : 1639-09-01, 1000d Harvard : 1636-09-01, 1000d section Expansion Peking : 1898-01-01, 1000d Berlin/Humboldt : 1810-01-01, 1000d Edinburgh : 1582-09-01, 1000d Copenhagen : 1475-09-01,1000d Istanbul : 1453-09-01, 1000d St. Andrews : 1410-09-01, 1000d Leipzig : 1409-09-01, 1000d Vienna : 1365-09-01, 1000d Charles : 1347-09-01, 1000d section Beginnings Salamanaca : 1218-09-01, 1000d Cambridge : 1209-09-01, 1000d Oxford : 1200-09-01, 1000d Bologna :1088-09-01 , 1000d ``` --- # Science Commons ---- ## Commons + The cultural and natural resources available to all members of society. + History: Common Land Enclosure + [Tragedy](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.162.3859.1243) of the Commons is not inevitable. ([Ostrom](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/governing-the-commons/A8BB63BC4A1433A50A3FB92EDBBB97D5)) :::warning Vast literature! Excludability, Rivalry, CPRs, ... ::: ---- ### Contrasting views of human nature :::danger Humans are selfish individuals who act in response to incentives and force ::: VERSUS :::success Humans are collaborative and work together for collective benefit ::: ---- ## Science A systematic enteprise that builds and organizes human understanding of the universe with testable explanations and predictions. :::success The central activity of science is exchanging information. ::: ---- ## Science Commons + **People** in social collaboration structures (universities, agencies, societies, philanthropy, publishers, teams,...) + **Resources** (salaries, instruments, libraries, infrastructure,...) :::info Governance is the way we structure and manage social collaboration. ::: --- # Information ---- ```mermaid gantt title Bell System Timeline section Vision Information ubiquity :crit, active, 1947-01-01, 1984-01-01 Universal service: 1907-01-01, 1949-01-01 Phone in every town: 1877-01-01, 1907-04-30 section Milestones Royalty Free Patents: 1956-01-01, 1984-06-01 Transistor :crit, active, 1948-06-01, 1984-06-01 Information Theory :crit, 1947-06-01, 1984-06-01 WW2 : 1941-12-07, 1945-06-15 Transatlantic : 1927-01-07, 100d Vertical Monopoly: 1921-01-01, 1984-06-01 Transcontinental: 1915-01-25, 100d Competition: 1894-06-01, 1907-04-30 Patent : 1879-06-01, 1894-06-01 ``` ---- ### _"One Policy, One System, Universal Service"_ AT&T leadership argued phone service + is essential to human existence + will require massive R&D + must be delivered by a regulated monopoly :::info Phone service was exceptional and required a novel service delivery model. ::: ---- ## Information theory changed everything ![general-communication-system-diagram](https://i.imgur.com/9cr8Glz.jpg) [Bell System Technical Journal](https://archive.org/details/bellsystemtechni27amerrich/page/380/mode/2up) ---- + Information flows and is quantifiable ('bit') + Channel capacity can be measured + Transistor made abstractions realizable :::success Information theory created a social and technological design space. ::: ---- ## Social technological design approaches + Market-based (startups) + Commons-based (Wikipedia, Linux) :::warning Both approaches have merit. Commons-based approaches are less well-developed. Why? ::: --- # Governance ---- ### How should the science commmons be governed? + People and Resources + Information flows $\leftarrow$ exceptional like phone? ---- ### [F. Ardila](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Ardila)'s Axioms 1. Mathematical potential is distributed equally among different groups, irrespective of geographic, demographic, and economic boundaries. 2. Everyone can have joyful, meaningful, and empowering mathematical experiences. 3. Mathematics is a powerful, malleable tool that can be shaped and used differently by various communities to serve their needs. 4. Every student deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. ---- ### Guiding virtue: intellectual generosity + [W.P. Thurston: On proof and progress in mathematics](https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1994-30-02/S0273-0979-1994-00502-6/) + [R.L. Morris: Intellectual generosity and the reward structure of mathematics](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11229-020-02660-w) --- # Opportunity ---- ## Inflection Point? Y. Benkler [called for commons-based governance](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1100526) of science in 2004. It's finally happening! + Interactive computing ecosystem integration is changing information flows + Incentives toward commons-based science are emerging + [NASA TOPS](https://science.nasa.gov/open-science/transform-to-open-science) + [UNESCO Recommendation](https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379949/PDF/379949eng.pdf.multi.page=20) + [🇨🇦's Road Map to Open Science](https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/063.nsf/eng/h_97992.html) ---- ## Is there a playbook? Next steps? Features of communities that successfully manage their commons were identified by Ostrom and colleagues. [R. Safner analyzed the success of Wikipedia](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-institutional-economics/article/institutional-entrepreneurship-wikipedia-and-the-opportunity-of-the-commons/B9796AD1644066E413EB3B0AE3A6FDAE) using this framework. [Y. Panda explored wiki principles as a strategy to democratize programming](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stealing_some_of_Wikimedia%27s_Principles_to_Democratize_Programming.webm). The [history of the Open Geospatial Consortium](https://www.ogc.org/ogc/historylong) has lessons.