Mark 2526 ICDE 2 (1)
The paper investigates how blockchain governance mechanisms—smart contracts, DAOs, and token‑based voting—can address persistent governance shortcomings in digital commons (e.g., Wikipedia, GitHub, Poly Haven) and platform cooperatives (e.g., Up & Go, Stocksy United). It first outlines the governance challenges faced by these two movements, such as bureaucratic drift, participation fatigue, and power concentration. The authors then map the governance features of each case study onto Elinor Ostrom’s eight design principles, revealing gaps in boundary definition, collective‑choice arrangements, monitoring, and conflict resolution. A detailed case study of MakerDAO (now Sky) illustrates both the promise and the paradox of decentralised governance, highlighting token centralisation, technical complexity, and the risk of oligarchy. Building on these analyses, the paper proposes a synergistic hybrid model in which blockchain provides transparent, programmable enforcement of Ostrom‑aligned rules, while digital‑commons norms and cooperative decision‑making practices humanise blockchain governance. The authors outline concrete mechanisms—reputation‑weighted review, quadratic or contribution‑weighted voting, liquid‑democracy delegation, automated profit‑sharing, and modular DAO frameworks—to mitigate plutocracy and participation fatigue. Finally, they present a research and policy agenda, calling for empirical pilots, user‑friendly governance interfaces, modular plug‑and‑play DAO toolkits, and legal frameworks that grant DAOs cooperative status while protecting democratic values. The overarching claim is that only by co‑designing blockchain infrastructure with the social practices of commons and cooperatives can truly democratic, scalable digital ecosystems be realized.
Topics
Governance Challenges in Digital Commons and Platform Cooperatives
Identifies core problems such as bureaucratic drift, participation fatigue, power concentration, and misaligned incentives that hinder democratic governance in Wikipedia, GitHub, Poly Haven, Up & Go, Stocksy United, and similar initiatives.
Blockchain Governance: Tools, Opportunities, and Inherent Risks
Explains smart contracts, DAOs, token‑based voting, and on‑chain transparency, while acknowledging vulnerabilities like code bugs, token centralisation, and technocratic elitism.
Mapping Digital Commons Governance to Ostrom’s Design Principles
Systematically evaluates each case study against Ostrom’s eight principles, highlighting where digital commons succeed or fall short and where blockchain can fill gaps.
Case Studies of Governance Spectrums: Wikipedia, GitHub, and Poly Haven
Compares three digital‑commons models—from highly decentralized community‑driven (Wikipedia) to corporate‑hosted hybrid (GitHub) to centrally curated (Poly Haven)—and extracts lessons for blockchain integration.
Platform Cooperatives Overview and Governance Issues
Describes the cooperative model, its democratic aims, and concrete governance frictions observed in Up & Go, Stocksy United, and other cooperatives.