Explore the Core Focus Areas of Our Research Network
CCRN’s foundational research themes emphasize digital commons infrastructure, labor dynamics, governance, and the politics underlying shared digital knowledge.
Research Areas
Digital Commons Infrastructure
Infrastructural analysis of the digital commons
Infrastructure is famously “stuff you can kick,” but it is also “stuff you can click.” Research in this area often explores the present-but-nearly-invisible nature of the systems, standards, and software that govern who can create, access, and edit the commons.
Commons-Based Labor and Value
Political economy value dynamics
The commons are not created just by designating an area of collective use, but also through the labor, maintenance, and attachment of symbolic value. Each of these processes demand an attention to the politics of labor organization and the economics of nonmarket production.
Policy Studies and Governance
Policy studies & governance of the digital commons
Codes, laws, policies, and guidelines form the institutional and infrastructural guardrails that ensure longevity and viability of the commons. Research in this area emphasizes regulation, coordination, and norms.
Critical Digital Public Knowledge
Critical approaches to digital public knowledge
Contemporary digital knowledge relies on Wikimedia projects, social media platforms, and AI. These spaces are not simply sources of data to be collected. They are sites of power that require humanistic approaches to understand bias, inequality, and the cultural specificity of knowledge production.
We maintain a Zotero database of Critical Commons Research. Click here to view.