Peer production seems to be a way that can allow everyone to be equal and of the same level. The authority and ownership are more or less ignored since everyone can have an opportunity to produce, share, remix, or participate. Peer production can save time and the cost for production, which can benefit many people and workers from working overtime or doing tasks that some people may not enjoy. The ability for customers to contribute in businesses through open source can also bring more value into products, and even let people gain more experience or exposure to jobs.
Production before depended on markets or firms to produce goods since they had the machinery and services to make the products, which were at higher costs. Now people can self-produce things such as posters, CDs, newspapers, or any other item that can be made with digital aid at lower costs. Just like how Tapscott and Williams note that “people around the planet can cooperate to make just about anything that requires human creativity, a computer, and an Internet connection” (68). The power of collaboration allows people to produce things in larger quantities and higher qualities. Wikipedia shows how much information can be gathered and produced by individuals to make a space that contains fast growing numbers of articles. The quality and value of the space increase as more pages of info are added or edited. It would have been unthinkable for past markets or firms to create such a large and worldwide encyclopedia.
By taking the collaborating method used in Wikipedia and applying it to some jobs or businesses may be a good way for work to become more enjoyable and less stressful for workers. Since people would voluntarily work on a project they enjoy (such as writing/editing articles on Wikipedia). This would be a great way to appoint the right person to the right task. Work can also be less stressful by breaking tasks into ‘bite-sized pieces’ through collaboration. The example of The California Source Textbook shows how education can be developed and easily accessed through open source materials so that everyone can have a chance to learn. An interesting site (which also has a Creative Commons license) that provides free software and resources is a good example for aid in open source education through collaboration. I believe that it serves as a resourceful place for people and students to obtain tools that can aid in the production of projects with no cost of buying various programs.
One of the obvious downsides to peer production and open source is that “anybody can claim to be an expert on any subject” (74), which can become vandalism by creating false information such as in Wikipedia. But there would always be inaccuracy and rumors in many things such as the television, news, books, magazines…etc. that are not self-published. People would always have to face the fact that filtering the information presented in any form would be needed.
Peer production can also let people gain more experience for jobs or skills. Many people like me learned the basics of design through information on the web, such as image/photo manipulation, computer graphics, or web design. For example, there are many tutorials that people can follow and study upon to become more skillful and experienced in areas such as design, cooking, or even fixing items. These knowledge provided by other people can be beneficial to one’s future goal in a study or job. Thanks to the many people that provided Photoshop tutorials, it was able to help me learn the usage of the program faster.
