The Covid-19 pandemic has spurred what’s often called an infodemic, or the alarming spread of harmful information online. But this narrative misses the ways in which the Covid-19 crisis is simultaneously driving groups and individuals to collaboratively generate huge amounts of useful, public knowledge.
In a race to create and share resources to weather the pandemic’s challenges, communities have ushered in a golden age of a little-known economic concept: the knowledge commons. Popularized by political economist Elinor Ostrom and researcher Charlotte Hess, the term refers to an accessible repository of knowledge, usually focused on specific topics, that is collectively owned and governed by a community for mutual gain. Many knowledge commons, such as Wikipedia, GitHub, and SSRN, existed before the pandemic. But in the last ten weeks, the creation and use of knowledge commons has exploded.
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Natalie Chyi is a fellow with New America’s Future of Property Rights program and a fellow at the Internet Law and Policy Foundry.
Neighborhoods are creating Slack groups and communities are coming up with mutual aid spreadsheets to coordinate aid and support each other. Neighbors share information about nearby resources like food pantries, stores or restaurants still open, strategies for negotiating or deferring rent, and help to match individuals in need to individuals that can assist with errands or donations.
Local geographies have been reconstructed in online spaces, most notably as students are rebuilding their universities within Minecraft. By preserving their personal memories into digital histories, these spaces act both as a way for students to “process the sudden loss of an on-campus community,” and as a way of sharing cultural knowledge.
Grassroots efforts are emerging to collaboratively create tools and information in aid of larger Covid-related disruptions and aid efforts.
