First of all, I would like to remember some key points in Benkler’s work. He understands that the collaboration between individuals in the common space (or networked public sphere, in some assumptions) can result in public goods. This is a generous idea, but it is also real and economic-based, as he demonstrated rigorously in his book. The Benkler’s perspective recognizes that human beings generally act motived by capital or material gains, but at same time he believes that human beings act by psychological and sociological gratification.
Benkler identifies some criticisms addressed to collaboration in online platforms, but he argues that the Internet is revolutionary compared to mass media. There is some limitations in the internet landscape, but this media is the most open ever. Anyone can engage in complex and huge projects, with small or big contributions according to skills and motivation, which can result in meaningful goods to everyone.
Remembering the collaboration conception in this terms is important, because this approach is more demanding than collaboration in private workplace. In this view, collaboration is more than to do something with someone, it is do something with someone else oriented to common interest.
Colab – https://colab.interlegis.leg.br/ci/
Once we quote some important topics of the Benkler’s view, I would like to report two cases of collaboration which are trying to address challenges inside the public sector. First, Colab is a platform to Brazilian public servants discuss common problems and exchange codes. The platform is open and everyone may participate. Using this platform to exchange solutions, the governmental team spends less time and money, as strongly recommended by Tim O’Reilly.
But the collaboration inside the government is not just a good strategy because it save resources, but also because diversity of skills and perspective improve the quality of the web pages and others applications. Notwithstanding the platform be used by Brazilian coders, Colab is open to everyone everywhere. Who wants to create something like the Brazilian projects may uses the codes for free.
Secondly, I want to talk about Poplus, a platform founded by MySociety and CiudadanoInteligente.org, define themselves as “an international community of activists, citizens and developers” that intend to create “standardized, internationalized, interoperable, open-source components, to make it easier to build websites that empower citizens, no matter where you are based”.
Poplus – http://poplus.org/
The simple and helpful idea is to offer codes of applications that can be used by governs to engage citizens. Once civic media has frequently the same functions, they created at least five modules which may be adapted to specific needs (see here). So everyone may reuse codes written by someone else, thus resources have been saved. The access to code is open and everyone may join the Poplus Google Group to ask informations and report its experience.
To conclude this post, I want to remember some O’Reilly tips: open standards and open development of solutions have an extraordinary power to engage citizens in searching solutions to public problems. People worldwide can work together collaboratively to help to strengthen the relation between governments and citizens.