Decentralized autonomous organization design for the commons and the common good

The current internet economy is characterised by a historically unprecedented bundling of private sector power over infrastructures. This situation is harmful for overcoming problems where collective action is needed, such as for governing digital commons. Organisations that run on collectively owne...

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Main Authors: Paul Van Vulpen, Slinger Jansen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-12-01
Series:Frontiers in Blockchain
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbloc.2023.1287249/full
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author Paul Van Vulpen
Paul Van Vulpen
Slinger Jansen
author_facet Paul Van Vulpen
Paul Van Vulpen
Slinger Jansen
author_sort Paul Van Vulpen
collection DOAJ
description The current internet economy is characterised by a historically unprecedented bundling of private sector power over infrastructures. This situation is harmful for overcoming problems where collective action is needed, such as for governing digital commons. Organisations that run on collectively owned decentralised infrastructure are able to overcome this centralisation of power. These common decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) could help in fostering digitally enabled collective action. However, currently we have no clear view of how a DAO designed for commons governance would operate and be governed. By creating a conceptual prototype of a DAO governing a common, we provide a clear path of how common DAOs should mature and which tools are needed to create them. In this research, we created a governance framework for common DAOs by combining 16 works on technology for commons governance. The framework reveals that common DAO governance consists of three areas: 1) Governance structure, 2) Enabling technology, and 3) Community governance. We provide governance mechanisms that together describe an implementation of Ostrom’s common governance principles in a DAO. This work is a synthesis of previous research on technology for collective action. The proposed framework aids in standardising DAO governance for the common good and may contribute to a large scale roll-out of commons DAOs.
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spelling doaj.art-8038bd9996684ca7adda44315d9b75032023-12-07T09:17:43ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Blockchain2624-78522023-12-01610.3389/fbloc.2023.12872491287249Decentralized autonomous organization design for the commons and the common goodPaul Van Vulpen0Paul Van Vulpen1Slinger Jansen2Department of Information and Computer Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, NetherlandsPublic Sector Solutions, Centric, Gouda, NetherlandsDepartment of Information and Computer Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, NetherlandsThe current internet economy is characterised by a historically unprecedented bundling of private sector power over infrastructures. This situation is harmful for overcoming problems where collective action is needed, such as for governing digital commons. Organisations that run on collectively owned decentralised infrastructure are able to overcome this centralisation of power. These common decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) could help in fostering digitally enabled collective action. However, currently we have no clear view of how a DAO designed for commons governance would operate and be governed. By creating a conceptual prototype of a DAO governing a common, we provide a clear path of how common DAOs should mature and which tools are needed to create them. In this research, we created a governance framework for common DAOs by combining 16 works on technology for commons governance. The framework reveals that common DAO governance consists of three areas: 1) Governance structure, 2) Enabling technology, and 3) Community governance. We provide governance mechanisms that together describe an implementation of Ostrom’s common governance principles in a DAO. This work is a synthesis of previous research on technology for collective action. The proposed framework aids in standardising DAO governance for the common good and may contribute to a large scale roll-out of commons DAOs.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbloc.2023.1287249/fulldecentralized autonomous organizationblockchainsmart contractscommons governanceOstromconstitution
spellingShingle Paul Van Vulpen
Paul Van Vulpen
Slinger Jansen
Decentralized autonomous organization design for the commons and the common good
Frontiers in Blockchain
decentralized autonomous organization
blockchain
smart contracts
commons governance
Ostrom
constitution
title Decentralized autonomous organization design for the commons and the common good
title_full Decentralized autonomous organization design for the commons and the common good
title_fullStr Decentralized autonomous organization design for the commons and the common good
title_full_unstemmed Decentralized autonomous organization design for the commons and the common good
title_short Decentralized autonomous organization design for the commons and the common good
title_sort decentralized autonomous organization design for the commons and the common good
topic decentralized autonomous organization
blockchain
smart contracts
commons governance
Ostrom
constitution
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbloc.2023.1287249/full
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