Experts loathe them, spectators oppose them, owners belittle them, yet users abide… though not by the rules. Users and the use that they make — which together we refer to as usership — form a kind of atmosphere, in both the most literal and most figurative sense. Unlike ownership, usership is not a fiction bolstered and legitimated by institutions, but a collective subjectivity comprised of all the agents — human and other-than-human — who make use of a given territory or environment, ensuring the oxygen exchange of the atmosphere. Indeed, as users they are the artisans of that environment, the landscapers and artists of the atmosphere that sustains it. What would it mean, though, for public institutions to foster an atmosphere of usership?
Description (en)
Experts loathe them, spectators oppose them, owners belittle them, yet users abide… though not by the rules. Users and the use that they make — which together we refer to as usership — form a kind of atmosphere, in both the most literal and most figurative sense. Unlike ownership, usership is not a fiction bolstered and legitimated by institutions, but a collective subjectivity comprised of all the agents — human and other-than-human — who make use of a given territory or environment, ensuring the oxygen exchange of the atmosphere. Indeed, as users they are the artisans of that environment, the landscapers and artists of the atmosphere that sustains it. What would it mean, though, for public institutions to foster an atmosphere of usership?