Mutual Accountability Methods
What it was. A statement of how the community practiced mutual accountability — the fourth of Elinor Ostrom’s principles for governing a commons — through participatory monitoring rather than top-down enforcement.
Who it was for. The whole participatory community; it described collective, peer-to-peer monitoring practices everyone took part in.
What it looked like. A short methods document tying the Covenant and Code of Conduct to concrete practices: recording and publishing community calls for transparency, volunteer note/recording rotations, shared activity tracking, and peer accountability around commitments. It framed monitoring as a communal, mutual activity — a way of keeping the commons healthy and legible.
Find the original. The full, de-identified document is in the archive’s data repository under Policy & process: browse the folder or the full document bundle. See For Researchers.
Related: Community Covenant · Ostrom and the Cultural Build · Code of Conduct · Governance