Community and the Commons

As usual, David Jakes has me thinking. His post on the Tragedy of the Commons (which has 59 comments on it as of this publishing!) has led me to take some time to consider classrooms and how knowledge is constructed and shared; who makes it, who benefits, and how a knowledge economy and ecology functions in a classroom. David's post first explains the tragedy of the commons:

"Basically, it’s about the exploitation of a commonly shared resource. When all who share the resource play by the rules and share equally all benefit, while the resource generally remains intact and capable of sustaining future use. However, given human nature, a single member (or more) may eventually consume more of his/her share of the resource, prompting all to be more aggressive and utilize more, in an escalating pattern of consumption. Gradually, through this process the resource, or “The Commons,” is destroyed."

Physical resources are finite and can be used up. When all of the fish from a lake have been overused and overfished, outside resources need to be brought in to bear on the problem in order to solve it. If caught in time, if the resource has not been overused to a tipping point, there is still hope. When dealing with physical resources such as pastureland or a watersystem, the danger is immediately apparent. Greed ruins it for everyone.

But what about with resources that are not physical such as information or knowledge? Does the same danger apply?  I think it does.

Knowledge in a classroom is a communal resource. Together and over time, students gather and aggregate information, repackaging, repurposing, and rereleasing it for others in their network in many different ways. They may also create completely new information or create new resources which benefits everyone in the classroom or in their learning network. But just as with a physical resource, it must be used wisely. It must be shared freely and used freely. If only some members of a network  are contributing and creating, and others mainly consuming, this strikes an imbalance in the information ecology of the classroom. A careful balancing act must be recognised and struck by the teacher to manage an information commons they are supporting and helping to emerge.

In any network, some people contribute more new ideas and original content, while others consume and build upon what the first group has made. Giving them the freedome to do these things allows students to be individuals. But for teachers interested in creating spaces where there is some balance in the community and the knowledge it holds in common, this is an important idea to consider. The entire concept of a healthy information network and community in classrooms is a challenge. How does this change our role? What structures can we bring in to our classrooms to help this develop? What tools do we have available to us to measure the health of our communities? The importance of "community" and all that brings with it (helping others, being present for others when needed, rising to a challenge, chipping in to help out) is just as vital for knowledge based spaces as for those based on natural resources. A challenge for us as educators in this time.

 Image: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/117/276344173_0232998484.jpg

Tags: DavidJakes, community, commons, knowledge

Comments

[Chris Craft]

Hi Clarence,

Just curious, would you mind explaining what you mean when you say, "They may also create completely new information"? I'm not clear on that. Could you offer a concrete example of how that's happened? I ask out of genuine interest.

Thanks so much!

Chris

[Clarence Fisher]

Hi Chris - no problem at all for asking. When I think of kids creating new information it may take new forms - a synthesis of several things that already exist to come to a new understanding for example, to me this would be new information. But as well, if kids, for example, undertake a water or soil study of a pond or a place that has not been done before, this would be completely new information. They would actually be taking part in something original that has never been done.