Prosuming Alone or Together: A Bisectoral Approach to Conceptualizing the Commons Prosumer

The aim of this study was to combine the concept of prosumerism with the theory of the commons to develop the concept of commons prosumer (co-prosumer) in distinction to private prosumer (p-prosumer). While the p-prosumer prosumes for himself, the co-prosumer creates a social environment for social capital. We use energy and agriculture as two cases in point to illustrate that the concept of the prosumer‘s role appears in different contexts with varying attributes such as self-efficacy, sufficiency, or autarchy. However, independence and socially fragmented structures might lead to less resilience, whereas dependence structures could confer collective benefits. We propose a building block to fill the gap in the prosumer setting and balance individual and collective interests. By positioning the p-prosumer on a commons-based foundation, we make more explicit the dependence structures that build communities or networks to showcase possibilities that pave the way for shared and socially innovative structures of self-empowerment for infrastructure decision-making at different levels

The use of and obstacles to social learning in climate change adaptation initiatives in South Africa

Global environmental change will have major impacts on ecosystems and human livelihoods while challenging the adaptive capacity of individuals and communities. Social learning, an ongoing adaptive process of knowledge generation, reflection and synthesis, may enhance people’s awareness about climate change and its impacts, with positive outcomes for their adaptive capacity. The objectives of this study were to assess the prevalence of factors promoting social learning in climate change adaptation initiatives in South Africa. An online survey was used to obtain the views of decision makers in government and non-governmental organisations about the presence of personal factors and organisational factors that promote social learning. Descriptive analysis was used to assess these issues. The findings provide some evidence of social learning in climate change adaptation projects in South Africa, with the majority of respondents indicating that personal social learning indicators were present. Mechanisms for improved conflict resolution were, however, less prevalent. The organisational and governance-related barriers to implementation also presented significant challenges. Some of the main organisational barriers were short timeframes for implementing projects, inadequate financial resources, political interference, shortcomings in governance systems and lack of knowledge and expertise in organisations. There is a need for organisations to promote social learning by ensuring that their organisational environment and governance structures are conducive for their employees to embrace social learning. This will help contribute to the overall success of climate change adaptation initiatives.ISSN:1996-1421ISSN:2072-845

Supplementarische Informationen zum DiDaT Weißbuch

Digitalisation is leading to a fundamental change in all areas of life. This has advantages, but also undesirable side effects. The project "DiDaT - Digital Data as the Subject of a Transdisciplinary Process" deals with unintended side effects or "unseens" of the digital transformation. In this transdisciplinary process, more than 150 experts from science and practice have developed examples, identified relevant undesirable consequences of the use of digital data and developed socially robust orientations for dealing with them, for the areas of - mobility, - health, - agriculture, - the future of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the - Use of social media The results of DiDaT are summarised in this white paper.illustratorDie Digitalisierung führt zu einem grundlegenden Wandel aller Lebensbereiche. Das hat Vorteile, aber auch unerwünschte Nebenwirkungen. Mit unbeabsichtigten Nebenwirkungen oder „Unseens“ der digitalen Transformation beschäftigt sich das Projekt „DiDaT – Digitale Daten als Gegenstand eines transdisziplinären Prozesses“. In diesem transdisziplinären Prozess haben über 150 Fachleute aus Wissenschaft und Praxis exemplarisch für die Bereiche • Mobilität, • Gesundheit, • Landwirtschaft, • Zukunft kleiner und mittlerer Unternehmen (KMU) sowie • Nutzung Sozialer Medien relevante unerwünschte Folgen der Nutzung digitaler Daten identifiziert und sozial robuste Orientierungen für den Umgang damit entwickelt. Die Ergebnisse von DiDaT sind in diesem Weißbuch zusammengefasst