Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T11:35:44.009Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Self-organization and social networks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2011

Christopher T. Marsden
Affiliation:
University of Essex
Get access

Summary

This first substantive case study chapter begins with forms of self-organization that have not yet become self-regulation. Prior to self-regulation, there is a step that is essentially the relationships within a community, policed by that community. For instance, clubs elect executives and create constitutions (rules) for that club. With the increasing consumer-citizen use of the Internet, new services and new business models have been created for those users. There are many user-created environments in which bottom-up rules have claimed to be set, but I focus on three specific UGC case studies, which were in early 2007 the poster children of self-organization: virtual-world Second Life, copyright reforming Creative Commons and social network Bebo. The first has since declined in popularity and its co-founder has departed, the last has seen sale, decline relative to behemoth Facebook, and resale, but Creative Commons continues to support its functions and has been officially recognized by several governments as a type of copyright licensing system that can support open data sharing. I represent these early-stage organization schemes in the table below, acknowledging that their regulatory effect is voluntary and not supported or recognized by government, the closest approach being ‘acknowledgement’ that they exist, neither a vote of support nor a condemnation.

Type
Chapter
Information
Internet Co-Regulation
European Law, Regulatory Governance and Legitimacy in Cyberspace
, pp. 71 - 100
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×