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, commonsbased 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.

中文翻译：

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将帮助理解为公地

在线社区有助于编织互联网的社会结构。实践，规范和治理安排源于个人行为和互动。本文在Elionor Ostrom最初提出的公共池资源（CPR）核心设计原则的框架内分析了计算机介导的互助社区的情况。首先，我们建议将帮助的概念概念化为可以在社区中享用的人类生产的，基于公共资源的资源。第二，我们介绍u-Help，这是一个支持社交网络互助的移动应用程序。第三，我们研究了Ostrom的设计原则，并评估了u-Help与它们的契合程度。然后，我们将核心原则转换为对计算机工具的要求，该计算机工具可用于支持CPR组（例如时间银行或易货社区）。最后，我们概述了未来的开发计划，以使该应用程序完全符合Ostrom的设计原则。