This thesis provides a detailed examination of the development and implementation of a commonage management system on newly acquired municipal commonage in the Leliefontien communal area of Namaqualand, South Africa. This commonage has been acquired ostensibly for use by all of the Leliefontien's residents. A Commonage Committee made up of community members and state representatives manages this land on behalf of the municipality.

The following thesis concerns the conceptualization of openness within the open access movement. Open accesscan be understood as a phenomenon or a movement that aims at changing the current system of scholarly communication.Consequentially, the movements goals arose in relation to the escalating serials crisis in scholarly communicationand the increasing power of commercial publishers. The purpose of the thesis is to study three centralopen access declarations with the aim of uncovering the different conceptualizations of openness found withinthese texts. Leaning on the theoretical position known as actor-network theory, the declarations role within a surroundingnetwork is explored by focusing on how openness as a concept has been produced and reproduced bycentral actors. Two overarching questions frames the study: How is openness conceptualized within the declarations?And how can openness, as a concept, be understood as an effect generated by a larger network?The first part of the study focuses on the first question. In order to provide an answer I have conducted athematically structured text analysis of the declarations. The results of this part show that openness, in relation toopen access, is part of a discourse where research is considered a public good. I claim that this indicates thatopenness is related to the larger questions of information freedom and the enclosure of intellectual commons.The purpose of openness is described within the declarations as contributing to mechanisms of decentralized controlover information, which in itself generates a greater efficiency and lower costs in regards to scholarly communication.The second part of the study is concerned with the larger, overarching network and in what way the conceptualizationof openness can be seen as a network generated effect. To answer this question I deploy the theoreticaltools provided by ANT. Focus lies on how the declarations relate to each other and on how central actors havecontributed to the conceptualizations. The results show that openness and open access has shifting meanings thathave been modified in various ways. They also show that actors through a collective negotiation process defineand shape the meaning of openness by circulating ideas on electronic dissemination and distributed processes

Within a context of recent and rapid transformation in authorship and participation practices on the Internet, this thesis explores the implications of an emerging digital culture for heritage institutions, such as museums and archives. Combining insights from internet, education and museum theory it explores different experiences of participation and meaning making around digital heritage collections opened to public engagement and contribution. In particular, the investigation analyses and contrasts the online activities of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), partner in the research, with alternative approaches. The thesis applies ethnographic research methods to investigate embodied and virtual settings. Based on the empirical findings, it identifies different theoretical models of online engagement with heritage content. It then extrapolates from these models a conceptual framework that could be used by heritage institutions to analyse and re-assess their online practices, intellectual positioning and strategic ambitions in the context of the paradigm shift brought about by digitality.

In a time of climate change the Arctic region is undergoing rapid changes, and the decreasing sea ice cover is expected to draw increased commercial interests as The Arctic Ocean gets more accessible for resource exploitation. The central part of the ocean is common area, where, in theory, overfishing may result in a tragedy of the commons and related fish stocks collapse. This study aims to provide insights into how fishing in the central Arctic Ocean relates to successful collective management, and was conducted using Elinor Ostroms design principles and The Logic of Collective Action as a framework for an ideal type inspired analysis. The results show that conditions for collective fisheries management in the central Arctic Ocean are relatively good, and it’s concluded that collective fisheries management is already embraced and enacted upon by several actors. However, to attain the ideal state of collective management further improvements are required, although there are also multiple options as to how such requirements could be met and there was no indication of why collective management would be unsuccessful. / I samband med ett förändrat klimat så genomgår även den arktiska regionen snabba förändringar, där den minskande havsisen i Arktiska oceanen ger ökad tillgång till naturresurser och förväntas dra allt större kommersiella intressen. Den centrala delen av oceanen är en allmänning, vilken enligt teorin kan överfiskas och resultera i en allmänningens tragedi och relaterade kollapser av fiskbestånd. Denna studie ämnar ge en insikt i hur fisket i centrala Arktiska oceanen förhåller sig till lyckad kollektiv förvaltning, och utfördes genom att låta Elinor Ostroms designprinciper och det kollektiva handlandets logik utgöra ett ramverk för en idealtypsinspirerad analys. Resultaten visar att förutsättningarna för kollektiv förvaltning är relativt goda och att fisket i viss utsträckning redan förvaltas kollektivt. För att uppnå en idealtypisk kollektiv fiskeförvaltning framgår det dock att ytterligare insatser behövs men att det även finns flera alternativ för att möta dessa behov, och det fanns heller ingen antydan av att kollektiv förvaltning skulle misslyckas.

This dissertation contributes to the long-standing debate between those who argue that the enclosure of the commons was as a precondition to foster economic growth and those who defend common property regimes can be efficient and sustainable. Exploiting historical evidence from 19^th century and early 20^th century Spain, this research shows that the persistence of the commons in some Spanish regions was not detrimental to economic development, at least relative to the institutional arrangements they were replaced with. On the contrary, during the early stages of modern economic growth, the communal regime not only did not limit agricultural productivity growth, but indeed constituted a crucial part of the functioning of the rural economics in a number of ways. On the one hand, these collective resources complemented rural incomes and, subsequently, sustained households' consumption capacity. The reduction in life expectancy and heights in the provinces where privatisation was more intense, as well as the negative effect on literacy levels, strongly supports that the privatisation of the commons deteriorated the living standards of a relatively large part of the population. On the other hand, the communal regime also significantly contributed to financing the municipal budget. Deprived from this important source of revenue, local councils became unable to adequately fund local public goods and ended up increasing local taxes. Lastly, the social networks developed around the use and management of these collective resources facilitated the diffusion of information and the building of mutual knowledge and trust, thus constituting a vital ingredient of the social glue that hold these rural communities together. All things considered, the persistence of the commons in some regions provided peasants with cooperation mechanisms different from the market and made the transition to modern economic growth more socially sustainable.

A perennial challenge in efforts to deal with environmental issues is the question of how to simplify. As such, where and when one simplifies is often a source of conflict, but perversely also paramount to finding a solution. This thesis focuses on one long-standing environmental issue, the whaling debate. Specifically, it performs a strategically sited microethnography of Faroese whaling, grindadráp, exploring linkages between actions on local and international scales. This thesis aims to contribute to environmental sociological efforts to analyse and resolve complex socio-environmental problems. The five papers that together constitute this thesis collectively provide a description of grindadráp from the local scale of the bays where pilot whales are killed to the international forums where whaling as a whole remains an issue at the heart of an on-going, deadlocked conflict. Primarily based on three months’ fieldwork in the Faroe Islands, this thesis combines observation, interviews, media and other literature. The theoretical lenses employed are that of the ‘ontological turn’ and the ‘theory of sociocultural viability’ (cultural theory). The former utilised as a tool for ethnographic practice with the latter used to analyse how different perspectives on reality manifest throughout the whaling conflict. This thesis demonstrates that grindadráp has changed through time as a result of the interactions between actors with different views on the matter at hand. However, in contrast to the global whaling debate, this interaction has been mostly constructive, with appropriate changes in practice ensuring grindadráp’s continued popularity within the Faroe Islands. Furthermore, its continuation will likely depend on grindadráp’s continued ability to balance different perspectives. This thesis thus echoes environmental sociological calls for improved dialogue in the framing and resolution of environmental disputes, suggesting that cultural theory provides a tool that balances relativism and pragmatism in dealing with complex environmental problems.

De Lents Semencements est une thèse de création en arts visuels. Conformément au principe du doctorat SACRe (Science, Arts, Création, Recherche), la thèse se compose d’œuvres, dont certaines seront présentées en exposition lors de la soutenance, et d’un écrit qui retrace et problématise le parcours.Le mémoire présenté ici se compose de quatre carnets de dimensions différentes, d’une notice d’exposition et d’un support numérique. Numérotés de 1 à 4, les carnets peuvent être lus de manière aléatoire. Les fichiers numériques sont des vidéos auxquelles les carnets renvoient.La recherche porte sur la notion de contrôle : le contrôle, la maîtrise, l’obsession de maîtrise, que les hommes et la science entendent avoir sur les phénomènes naturels, dont la manipulation du monde.Précisément, on s’est attaché à capturer et cultiver les substances qui forment ce qui est défini dans une acception large comme l’atmosphère (ou les atmosphères), que celles-ci soient physiques (l’air qui nous entoure, les nuages) ou, par glissement pour la démarche présentée dans le dernier carnet, psychologiques : on dira par licence artistique, al/chimiques.Les œuvres qu’on découvrira dans ces carnets, et les recherches qui y ont conduit, se sont d’abord inspirées très précisément des processus scientifiques qui ont été observés dans un laboratoire de physique du CNRS , le laboratoire de Physique et Mécanique des Milieux Hétérogènes (UMR 7636, ESPCI Paris). Le questionnement ou l’un des questionnements de la thèse, outre la thématique du contrôle, scientifique comme matériau d’artiste. Cette thèse fait apparaître que la démarche esthétique dévie et éventuellement détourne – voire pervertit - les finalités du laboratoire. Le protocole scientifique a alors été utilisé comme métaphore ou procès poétique, associé à une forme d’enquête épistémologique, notamment sur la réception de la science par le public (attractivité, confiance, et incompréhension – donc foi et crédulité).Les quatre carnets décrivent chronologiquement l’évolution de la recherche doctorale. Le premier prend la mesure d’un travail en laboratoire. Le deuxième rassemble une série de travaux qui concernent tous les efforts de contrôle et de représentations de l’atmosphère au sens physique – en l’occurrence il s’agit de travailler avec les nuages. Le troisième est une installation en forme de volière une performance réalisée avec des mouches, dans le cadre d’une exposition s’articulant autour de l’épigénétique. Le quatrième carnet reflète la tentation d’échapper à la rigueur de la science pour explorer les possibilités de réception confiantes du public, autour d’un protocole consistant à mesurer ou sembler mesurer, les composantes chimiques d’une atmosphère psychologique. / De Lents Semencements (« Slow Seedings ») is a thesis in visual arts creation. In accordance with the principals laid out by the SACRe doctoral programme (Science, Arts, Creation, Research), the thesis is comprised of a number of pieces, some of which will be exhibited during the viva, as well as a written component that retraces and questions the process.The thesis presented here is made up of four notebooks of varying dimensions, an explanatory notice concerning the exhibition and a digital file of work. Numbered 1 to 4, the notebooks can be read in random order. The digital files contain videos to which the notebooks refer.This research is based on the notion of control: control, mastery, the obsession with dominion, for which men and science contend over natural phenomena, including the manipulation of the world.Thus, we have tried to capture and cultivate the substances which make up that which, in its broadest sense, is called the atmosphere (or atmospheres), be they physical (the air which surrounds us, or clouds) or psychological, a shift in the meaning adopted in the approach of the final notebook. By creative licence, the latter substances are referred to as al-chemical.The pieces presented in the notebooks, and the research that led to them, were first of all inspired precisely by scientific methods observed in a physics laboratory of the CNRS, the laboratory of Physics and Mechanics of Heterogeneous Environments (UMR 7636, ESPCI Paris). This thesis reveals that the aesthetic process deviates and sometimes diverts (even perverts) the goals of the laboratory. Scientific protocol was thus used as a metaphor or a poetic process associated with a sort of epistemological survey, especially regarding the public’s reception of science (attractiveness, confidence and incomprehension; in short, faith and gullibility).The four notebooks describe the evolution of the doctoral research in chronological order. The first takes stock of work in the laboratory. The second gathers together a series of projects all relating to efforts to control and represent the atmosphere in a physical way – in this instance the work has to do with clouds. The third is an installation in the form of an aviary, a performance realised with flies, as part of an exhibition surrounding questions of epigenetics. The fourth notebook reflects the temptation to escape scientific rigour in order to explore the possibilities of a confident reception by the public, centred on a protocol that consists in measuring the chemical components of a psychological atmosphere.

Free (libre) and open source software (FLOSS) emerged in the 1980s as a radical alternative to proprietary software. Fighting back against what FLOSS enthusiasts viewed as overly restrictive intellectual property protections placed on proprietary software, FLOSS was designed with the intent of granting users the right to study, modify, adapt, or otherwise tinker with the source code of software. As such, FLOSS users were able to collaborate in producing software that could be distributed freely and widely to others, who could, in turn, make changes to the software. As FLOSS projects grew in popularity, the productive process was spread throughout a broad network of distributed users, all of whom could work on the code. The result of this process was the creation of robust, effective, and efficient forms of software that could compete with those offered by large software companies. Increasingly, however, some of those large software companies became involved in the development of FLOSS projects. On its face, this may seem to be a contradiction of interests. Why would a for-profit company invest in the development of software that is made freely available for others to use? This is the contradiction that lies at the heart of this research project. More specifically, this project looks at the dynamics that exist between communities of FLOSS developers and the corporations that are involved in or make use of their projects. Working from a critical political economy perspective, this study complicates theories of the commons and commons-based peer production by illustrating how FLOSS processes and products are being incorporated into broader corporate structures and strategies. The three case studies presented - Red Hat, Microsoft, and Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems - exemplify different elements of this dynamic. Red Hat provides an example of how a company that relies exclusively on free software can be turned into a profitable business. The Microsoft case demonstrates why the company has undergone a transition from vehement opposition to FLOSS toward a more supportive position. Finally, Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems demonstrates how FLOSS communities cope with changing ownership structures and unwanted corporate interference into their projects.

The study examinesthe variety of interaction and motivation practices to participate in the sharing initiative as well as pinpointing key elements of member-driven organization functioning;in the case of Stockholm Makerspace– a community of non-professional makers.  The Current scholarship on sharing is mostly focused on the large-scale platform businesses in a North American context, thus evidence from grassroots small-scale initiatives is lacking. This paper aims to fill this gap by providing the empirically grounded sociological study of the operation of sharing initiative in Sweden. Data including 1) 11 in-depth interviews conducted with active members of the community and experts, 2) ethnographic observation in situations of planned workshops and everyday life of the Makerspace, 3) systematic online observation (in the role of observer as participant) (Gold, 1958). Therefore, this study employs mixed ethnography and digital methodology – studying sharing economy communities both online and in situto provide a ‘thick’ description of community building. The results revealed that members of the Stockholm Makerspace, acted as prosumers, and attempted to benefit not only from the community understudy, but also contributed to the societal development at large, by creating a public good. Shared access to tools and common “know-how” democratized production of knowledge and its spreading, thus contributing to informal learning, which complemented formal education institutions. The main incentives of sharing, vocalized by participants in the study were open-ended socializing and community commitment, as well as self-expression and belonging.

Cette thèse utilise le concept de bien public comme fil conducteur herméneutique permettant d’explorer la théorie et l’histoire de l’économie politique. Située à l'intersection de la philosophie politique et de l'histoire de la pensée économique moderne, cette thèse examine la question de recherche suivante: quels sont le rôle et le potentiel que peuvent avoir les biens publics pour favoriser plutôt qu’empêcher la capacité d’action individuelle et collective en politique et dans la vie sociale ? En réponse à cette question, la thèse soutient la primauté des biens publics de deux manières. Premièrement, puisque les biens publics pluriels constituent l’infrastructure essentielle de la vie sociale et des relations humaines, ils sont prioritaires par rapport aux deux autres modes, privé et commun, d’approvisionnement et de jouissance des biens. Deuxièmement, dans la mesure où ils reposent sur la coordination et la contrainte gouvernementales au sein de relations d’autorité politique inévitables et inéluctables, les biens publics priment également sur le bien commun conçu dans son acceptation moniste. / This dissertation takes up the concept of public goods as a hermeneutical thread with which to explore the theory and history of political economy. Situated at the intersection between political philosophy and the history of modern economic thought, this dissertation examines the following main research question: what is the role and potential of public goods to foster rather than disable individual and collective agency in politics and social life? In response to this question, the dissertation articulates the primacy of public goods in two senses: first, since plural public goods constitute the indispensable infrastructure of social life and human relationships, they have primacy over both private and common modes of providing and enjoying goods. Second, since they rely on governmental coordination and compulsion in inescapable and ineluctable relationships of political authority, public goods also have primacy over the common good in its monist conception.