🤖 AI Summary
This study investigates effective governance approaches for negative common-pool resources—such as electronic waste and malicious code—generated throughout computational lifecycles to mitigate their adverse societal and environmental impacts. It innovatively adapts Ostrom’s eight design principles for governing positive common-pool resources to the context of negative commons, applying them systematically for the first time. Through qualitative analysis of two illustrative cases—the global e-waste trade and the Linux kernel community—the research demonstrates that successful governance regimes for negative commons consistently embody these eight principles. Notably, clearly defined boundaries and nested institutional arrangements emerge as particularly critical. The findings offer both theoretical grounding and practical design guidance for governing negative common-pool resources in digital and environmental domains.
📝 Abstract
Computing is accompanied by both positive and negative commons throughout its lifecycle of creation, execution, and disposal. We examine two governance systems situated within this lifecycle -- global e-waste trade and the Linux kernel community -- to evaluate whether Elinor Ostrom's eight design principles for common-pool resource (CPR) governance extend to the management of negative common-pool resources (NCPRs). Unlike traditional CPRs where communities work to preserve a finite resource (i.e. clean water), NCPR governance seeks to collectively reduce a negative shared stock. In our two cases, e-waste governance aims to reduce the volume of mismanaged waste and illicit trade, while the Linux community aims to reduce the number of error-prone or malicious contributions that reach the main branch and, in turn, extend the life of existing hardware. Through qualitative analysis of primary sources from each domain, we find that the same eight principles by Ostrom that aid positive commons governance tend to appear in successful negative commons governance systems. We argue that future NCPR governance design should prioritize Ostrom's principles, particularly clearly defined boundaries and well-functioning nested structures.