Building an Open Commons Region

Some cities have open data platforms and application contests to boost innovation, some have a strong open source industry or libraries that make their artifacts available via open archives, and others have universities that support the open courseware movement. These are all notable initiatives, but they are often scattered and therefore fail to gain momentum and have a broader impact. What would happen if all these efforts could be coordinated on a local level? I interviewed two advocates for an “Open Commons Region” in my hometown of Linz, Austria to help provide an answer to this question.

In 1979, Linz became a place for experimenting with digital culture by creating the “Ars Electronica.” The initiative is part avant-garde festival, part competition, part ongoing showcase for excellence in digital art, and part media art lab providing artistic expertise for R&D projects.
The Festival Ars Electronica attracts an international audience and the Prix Ars Electronica, started in 1987, has been called “the Oscar of computer art.”

The question for city councillor Christian Forsterleitner was how to transfer the knowledge and ideas of the Ars Electronica to city politics. In a session of the city council in October 2008, Forsterleitner put forward a motion that the City of Linz should conduct a study on how to support digital culture and the principles of openness via public policy initiatives. The study was presented to the public in 2010, and introduced the “Open Commons Region Linz.” Johann Mayr, a member of the local government, summarized in a press conference the potential of a thriving public-private ecosystem driven by the initiative: “This project does not only serve the interest of the public and society. The Open Commons Region Linz will boost the economic development of our city.”

The City of Linz started small by addressing basic accessibility with the Hotspot Initiative (Free Wi-Fi at public squares) and has expanded the scope of open government with initiatives such as the Public Space Server (Free web space for every citizen), the Creative Commons Subsidy Model, and the first steps towards open data. The next phase of the journey is to develop a sustainable process for integrating the web as part of local public policy initiatives. To accomplish this, The City of Linz has developed a framework for the first Open Commons Region in Austria. “The foundations of an Open Commons Region are the tangible and intangible freely accessible public goods of a society. That means open source software, open data, open street maps, open educational resources, and freely accessible creative works in the areas of film, music, and photography,” explains Christian Forsterleitner. The goal is not to build a repository for government information, but rather a platform that supports a vibrant public-private ecosystem.

Leonhard Dobusch, editor of the German-language book “Free Networks. Free Knowledge” emphasizes again the significance of the local level: “Free knowledge depends on individuals and organizations sharing their works with others. Ironically, it is precisely the global architecture of the world wide web which pushes the importance of local initiatives to contribute to an every growing commons of knowledge. So much valuable knowledge is locally produced but underutilized because it is not freely shared. Local governments should thus contribute to this digital knowledge commons simply because it is the right thing to do. Not only will others reciprocate, but along the way, pioneering regions will profit from greater visibility and innovation.”

Linz is already implementing many of the suggestions of the Open Commons Study. Building an open commons region and coordinate numerous stakeholders (citizens, community groups, NGO’s and enterprises) with different interests is not an easy task. I hope this initiative will be successful and it is worth observing the development of this project.