Understanding Help as a Commons

Online communities contribute to weave the social fabric of the Internet. Practices, norms, and governance arrangements emerge out of individual behaviours and interactions. This paper analyses the case of computer-mediated communities of mutual help within the framework of the core design principles of common-pool resources (CPR) as initially proposed by Elionor Ostrom. First, we suggest conceptualising the notion of help as a human-produced, commons-based resource that can be enjoyed within a community. Second, we present u-Help, a mobile application supporting mutual help for social networks. Third, we examine Ostrom’s design principles and assess the extent to which u-Help aligns with them. We then transform the core principles into requirements for a computer tool that can be used to support CPR groups such as time banks or bartering communities. Finally, we conclude by outlining future development plans to make the application fully aligned with Ostrom’s design principles.