The Virtual Commons is a research initiative devoted to the use experiments for the study of collective action and the commons, such as fisheries, forests, knowledge systems like Wikipedia and public health. In many circumstances, the ability to create effective institutional arrangements has helped avoid the tragedy of the commons. Controlled experiments have been instrumental in increasing our understanding of how humans organize themselves in cooperative arrangements to govern common resources.
We share on this site a variety of protocols, software and results of laboratory and field experiments. The laboratory experiments make use of advanced computational techniques via a combination of real-time and web-based experiments for small to large groups. The field experiments are mainly pencil and paper based experiments with participants who depend on the use of common resources.
Read [publications] related to the virtual commons.