Creative Communities

While we might use these spaces, open communities have particular needs. They are formed not from shared identity but from entwined attention and collaborative work on shared resources. They thrive on diversity and so require the creation of an environment that is proactively inclusive and welcoming. They need fluidity, iterativity, and a self-orga... See more

openness is about more than access to and use of assets. It is about how we build and maintain our communities. The second challenge, then, and one that is just as important, is to re-examine how we create a community in the digital world .

First, there is the ownership and control over the use of assets created on and by these platforms. In most cases, the terms and conditions that we agree to when using digital platforms – or indeed the licences that we adopt – grant both platform owners and third parties permission to reuse our assets in ways that may technically meet licensing con... See more

the way in which TikTok enables creativity and community building by supporting the reuse of soundtracks, stitching, and dueting, leading to cultural phenomena founded on collaboration

Alongside technical tools, we need ways of defining and explaining social norms and expectations about contribution and value sharing. We need collective mechanisms for decision-making about shared assets, that make people feel heard while recognising the limitations, constraints and realities of their maintenance. We need people and organisations ... See more

Shallow models of openness are distant, uni-directional, and based on generosity. A creator chooses to make a resource they own and control open to others to reuse. A reuser takes that resource and does something with it. The creator may not even be aware that their resource has been used by someone else.

Deeper models of openness are close, bi-dire... See more

But if our fundamental goal is to create more relationships with each other, to build trust, enable collaboration and unlock creativity, we need to think more widely about the kinds of openness we need. We also need to consider the kinds of technological platforms, legal mechanisms and organisational structures that are necessary to support it.

This link between openness and our relationships works in both directions: being more open strengthens our relationships, but stronger relationships and communities – ones built on trust, recognition and shared purpose – also help us to be more open. It is a positively reinforcing loop, but one that is hard to enter. Whether in personal relationshi... See more

Why do we care about openness? The reasons I hear given for being open can be grouped into three categories:

• openness and transparency support accountability – it enables us to delve inside the workings of an organisation or a piece of code to understand it better, detect where things are going wrong, and do something about it;


• openness removes frict

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