Commons model Canvas

Presentation of the Commons Model Canvas

The Commons Model Canvas is designed for digital commons project leaders, to help them think through and manipulate the main concepts involved in the commons approach: governance, economic issues and setting up a collaborative framework.

Content of the Commons Model Canvas

The Commons Model Canvas is designed to be modular, so you can pick and choose the elements that are most interesting to you and modify them to suit your needs.

The shared version includes :

• A guide (Booklet) to using the canvas, containing a range of resources, advice and examples to help you get started.
• A set of 3 appropriation sheets to illustrate all the issues underlying the digital commons. The cards are double-sided, so that the issues raised by each stakeholder (front) and those of the community (back) are mirrored. The aim is to switch from ‘I’ to ‘We’ for each of these cards:
  • Sheet 1 - "Presentation and Mission": provides an overview of the project and each of the parties involved;
  • Sheet 2 - "Convergence of actions": describes the contribution of each stakeholder, the resources they mobilise and the rules of governance established in the community ;
  • Sheet 3 - "Projection on a common model": an exercise in taking a step back and projecting towards pre-determined timeframes (6 months, 2 years or 5 years) by linking scenarios onto a multi-dimensional action plan.
• Two canvas that can be used to reproduce the above-mentioned elements on several dimensions: currently governance and economic. They can be completed independently of each other :
  • The "Canvas for the governance of digital commons", which summarises the rules of governance, the structure and representation of the project community, articulated by actions and indicators; ;
  • The "Canvas for the economic challenges of digital commons", which summarises the economic issues of each stakeholder, taking into account their business model in particular, and compares them with the economic model of the joint venture in which they are participating.

Commons Model Canvas history

The canvas for the governance of the digital commons

This tool is the result of a series of experiments and productions carried out over the last few years, in particular as part of a collaboration between inno³ and the Agence Nationale pour la Cohésion des Territoires (ANCT).

An initial version was used as part of a workshop entitled "Managing a community: what organisational model to use to make it work", held during the 2022 edition of Numérique en commun[s].

Commons Model Canvas kit for NEC 2023

During Numérique en Commun[s] 2023, inno³ presented this kit to digital commons stakeholders during a workshop. This was an opportunity to test this first version of the kit and identify any misunderstandings pointed out by the first testers of the tool. The kit has already been enriched by exchanges and discussions from players involved in these issues.

Next actions

In order to continually improve the Commons Model Canvas, we have drawn up a list of actions. If you'd like to take the lead on any of these issues, please don't hesitate to assign yourself a ‘topic’!

• Translate the Commons Model Canvas into English,
• Involve designers in this approach in order to gather their feedback and benefit from their expertise,
• Produce a glossary of all the terms used in the Commons Model Canvas,
• Produce summary elements that can be easily completed and used in shorter workshops,
• Present the Commons Model Canvas at conferences, seminars or workshops to raise awareness of it and to motivate new players to contribute to this work,
• At the same time as these conferences, present the Commons Model Canvas to anyone who wants to get to grips with it and reuse it later. Training courses could be developed in this area.
• Automate the completion of Canvas and sheets: make completion more fluid and simpler.

Contribution methods

The ‘Common Model Canvas’ kit is shared under a free CC-by-SA licence. So you can use it and adapt it to the specific features of your project to make it the most relevant tool possible.

You can share these modifications with us, as well as any feedback or suggestions, at the following address: commonsmodelcanvas@inno3.fr

If you complete one of the two frameworks and/or the associated sheets, don't hesitate to also share this content with us via the Gitlab so that, if you wish, it can be added to the ‘Examples’ folder.

License

The Commons Model Canvas and all related resources are available under the free [CC-by-SA 4.0] licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.fr).