Document Type
Book Chapter
Book Authors/Editors
Brett M. Frischmann, Michael J. Madison and Katherine J. Strandburg, eds.
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Publication Date
2014
Abstract
The knowledge commons research framework is applied to a case of commons governance grounded in research in modern astronomy. The case, Galaxy Zoo, is a leading example of at least three different contemporary phenomena. In the first place Galaxy Zoo is a global citizen science project, in which volunteer non-scientists have been recruited to participate in large-scale data analysis via the Internet. In the second place Galaxy Zoo is a highly successful example of peer production, sometimes known colloquially as crowdsourcing, by which data are gathered, supplied, and/or analyzed by very large numbers of anonymous and pseudonymous contributors to an enterprise that is centrally coordinated or managed. In the third place Galaxy Zoo is a highly visible example of data-intensive science, sometimes referred to as e-science or Big Data science, by which scientific researchers develop methods to grapple with the massive volumes of digital data now available to them via modern sensing and imaging technologies. This chapter synthesizes these three perspectives on Galaxy Zoo via the knowledge commons framework.
Recommended Citation
Michael J. Madison,
Commons at the Intersection of Peer Production, Citizen Science, and Big Data: Galaxy Zoo,
Governing Knowledge Commons
(2014).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.pitt.edu/fac_book-chapters/12
Included in
Databases and Information Systems Commons, Data Science Commons, Intellectual Property Law Commons, Internet Law Commons, Law and Economics Commons, Law and Society Commons, Organization Development Commons, Political Economy Commons, Property Law and Real Estate Commons, Public Law and Legal Theory Commons, Public Policy Commons, Rule of Law Commons, Science and Technology Studies Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Theory, Knowledge and Science Commons