Paying the Cost of Making Things Free

The Economies of the Commons conference (Nov 12 & 13) will critically examine the economics of on-line public domain and open access cultural resources, also known as the digital commons. While proponents praise these resources for their low-cost barriers, accessibility and collaborative structures, critics claim they undermine established (proprietary) production without offering a viable business strategy of their own.

Because the sustainability of open content resources remains unclear, this conference explores alternative revenue models and novel institutional structures that can fund and safeguard these materials. What new hybrid solutions for archiving, preserving and retrieval can both create viable markets and serve the public interest in a competitive global 21st century information economy? How should we restructure the economic frameworks in which content producers and cultural archives operate?

This event seeks to connect researchers, theorists, economists and activists in order to analyze the political economy of open content and its consequences for the cultural sector.