Governing Digital Public Infrastructure as a Commons

Abstract

Building upon the G20 New Delhi Leaders' Declaration commitment to improving access to digital services through digital public infrastructure (DPI), this policy brief discusses the potential of governing DPI as a commons, drawing from the governance of data/digital ecosystems and practices of commoning and co-creation from the open movement. A commons approach to governing DPI can help scale and localise DPI exchanges, increase transparency and accountability, accelerate their impact, reduce governance complexities, data and localisation frictions, and secure community engagement beyond the governments and companies involved. Important public goods as diverse as Wikipedia and Linux constituted and governed as digital commons, offer valuable lessons in digital governance. Rigorous research on Knowledge Commons, building on the Nobel prize-winning work of Elinor Ostrom, provides conceptual and practical resources to ensure that DPI increases equality as it addresses marginalisation. The G20 Summit in Brazil promises to address transversal issues related to citizen participation, democratic governance, and urgent action to reduce poverty and tackle the climate crisis. The Commons-based governance structure proposed for DPI, enables cooperation by multiple actors, including the public sector, commercial providers and civil society, even across borders. The brief recommends developing and adopting a digital commons governance model for DPI to accelerate its adoption and increase the public benefits of technology deployed at scale while safeguarding the rights and digital sovereignty of countries and communities within them.

Keywords: digital governance, digital public goods, digital commons, cooperation, digital public infrastructure, data governance, democratic participation