Governing knowledge commons in Caribbean disaster management: A comparative institutional analysis

This paper is based on research conducted as an initiative under the Open and Collaborative Science in Development Network (OCSDNet) to explore new innovative mechanisms that can enhance collaborative disaster recovery planning, knowledge management, and learning in the Caribbean. The need for enhanced knowledge management to mitigate disaster risk through the sharing of information and knowledge is a strategic imperative of the Caribbean Disaster Management community. The devastation of the 2017 Hurricane season was a stark reminder of the Caribbean’ vulnerability to natural disasters and underscores the urgency for Collective Action in the common challenge to mitigate the effects of these disasters and to preserve the sustainability and livelihoods of the region and it’s citizens. We employ a preliminary conceptual application of the Knowledge Commons/IAD Framework to illustrate how this kind of institutional analytic process can illuminate and inform strategy, governance and desirable collective action, as well as the merits of alternative enabling technologies. The study contributes to arguments challenging the neutrality of infrastructure for collective action. It highlights the importance, and perhaps imperative, of an institutional approach to the design and implementation of socio-technical systems.