A Scholia-based Document Model for Commons-based Peer Production

Commons-based peer production is a term that describes authorship of shared information resources. In this article we examine the technical aspects of writing-in-common. We begin with a simple model: that of text and commentary. This scholia-based model emphasizes ownership of speech and freedom of speech. We then consider what happens when the freedom to create derivative versions is added to the mix. The resulting model proves to be quite sophisticated, and flexible enough to describe many different commons-based peer production systems. We provide an overview of our implementation of this model, and suggest some ideas for subsequent work. We conclude by discussing the implications of our model for distributed authorship and writing.