https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Peer_Production
= People cooperate voluntarily on an equal footing (as peers) in order to reach a common goal. [1]
"When costs of participation are low enough, any motivation may be sufficient to lead to a contribution."
1. [3]
Commons-based peer production is a term coined by Harvard Law School professor Yochai Benkler. It describes a new model of socioeconomic production in which large numbers of people work cooperatively (usually over the Internet). Commons-based projects generally have less rigid hierarchical structures than those under more traditional business models. Often—but not always—commons-based projects are designed without a need for financial compensation for contributors.
The term is often used interchangeably with the term social production.
(Wikipedia:Commons-based peer production – see also Wikipedia:Peer production)
2. Jose Ramos:
" Peer to peer production describes a peer based production of goods and services. While inter-related, it is different to crowd sourcing in that the locus of control in the production of goods and services is not exercised by a firm, government or a particular institution for its benefit, but rather the production of goods and services is a collaborative affair among individuals in an emergent community. Michel Bauwens, founder of the Peer-to-peer Foundation, has documented the emergence of a peer-to-peer culture globally. He argues that fundamental p2p shifts include:
A New Mode of Production – Peer-to-peer systems “produce use-value through the free cooperation of producers who have access to distributed capital: this is the P2P production mode, a 'third mode of production' different from for-profit or public production by state-owned enterprises. Its product is not exchange value for a market, but use-value for a community of users.”
A New Mode of Governance - Peer-to-peer systems “are governed by the community of producers themselves, and not by market allocation or corporate hierarchy: this is the P2P governance mode, or 'third mode of governance.’”
A New Mode of Distribution - Peer-to-peer systems “make use-value freely accessible on a universal basis, through new common property regimes. This is its distribution or 'peer property mode': a 'third mode of ownership,' different from private property or public (state) property.“ Bauwens (2006) (http://dev.services2020.net/node/1322)
Source: Bauwens, M. (2006). The Political Economy of Peer Production. Post-Autistic Economics Review (37).
3. George Dafermos:
Peer production "projects produce a good that is free to use, modify and redistribute (the 'commons' part) and, on the other, their development process is based on the self-selection of tasks by their developers, while (important) decisions are being made collectively on the basis of consensus (the 'peer' aspect). In short, in pure peer production there's no distinction between those who work and those who manage.
So, by using these two criteria as the crucial dimensions (the commons and peer part), hybrid peer production models can be understood as those that, to some extent, detract from the common property regime and the collective decision making model characteristic of pure peer production. More specifically, they produce something that is free to use and modify, but not to redistribute, as the 'parent company' decides and controls what goes into the official distribution. Such 'hybrid' undertakings are typically part of a company's business model (e.g. 'give away the razor, sell the blades') – that is to say, it's a mode of production directed to market exchange. In parallel, though this model encourages outside contributions and opens up participation in the product development process to a wider number of participants than traditional business models, the governance of these projects is always subject to some degree of centralised, top-down control. Examples I'd include in this category are openoffice, Mozilla (especially in the years before 2005) and a plethora of small companies making and selling a FOSS product like MySQL and Canonical (Ubuntu)." (email, January 2012)