OurGoods

Schumpeter: The business of sharing | The Economist

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 14:41:32 -0400

Schumpeter: The business of sharing | The Economist:

But the sharing stampede is nevertheless gathering pace. Zipcar has imitators in more than a thousand cities. Every week sees the birth of a business describing itself as the Netflix of this or that. Collective consumption is also disrupting established business models based on built-in obsolescence. The internet may be synonymous with novelty, but by encouraging people to reuse the same objects rather than buy new ones, it may revive the old virtue of building products that last.

RSA Animate - Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates...

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 22:20:56 -0400

RSA Animate - Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us (via theRSAorg) Dank Pink’s research shows that Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose (more than monetary reward) drive great performance at work.

Yochai Benkler: After Selfishness - Wikipedia 1, Hobbes 0 at...

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:23:42 -0400

Yochai Benkler: After Selfishness - Wikipedia 1, Hobbes 0 at Half Time (via BerkmanCenter)

RSA Animate - Crises of Capitalism (via theRSAorg)

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 11:26:10 -0400

RSA Animate - Crises of Capitalism (via theRSAorg)

TEDxBerlin - Bernard Lietaer - 11/30/09 (via TEDxTalks)

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:16:38 -0400

TEDxBerlin - Bernard Lietaer - 11/30/09 (via TEDxTalks)

Is Social Media Catalyzing an Offline Sharing Economy?

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 13:26:00 -0400

The results of Latitude Research and Shareable Magazine’s The New Sharing Economy study released today indicate that online sharing does indeed seem to encourage people to share offline resources such as cars and bikes, largely because they are learning to trust each other online. And they’re not just sharing to save money - an equal number of people say they share to make the world a better place.

The research was prompted by a recent surge in sharing startups driven by social technology, a generational shift, and new consumption patterns brought on by economic and environmental crisis. Two new books, What’s Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption and The Mesh, argue that this trend is part of a fundamental shift from an ownership to an access economy. They document the rapid growth of the sector and its reach into an increasing number categories of shared use including office space, travel accommodations, textbooks, kids clothes, parking spaces, garden plots, private planes, camera lenses, luxury handbags, boats, household items, and more.

These new services offer citizens use of an asset without the burden of ownership. With a sharing economy comes the promise of cost savings, stronger communities, environmental conservation, broader access to resources, and higher quality products made for sharing. Sharing addresses many problems at once - an appropriate solution for an era of interconnected crises.

Latitude and Shareable’s The New Sharing Economy is an early if not the first survey of changing attitudes and behaviors driving this trend. There are a number of helpful findings for sharing entrepreneurs including:

Sharing online content is a good predictor that someone is likely to share offline too. 78% of participants felt that experiences they’ve had interacting with people online have made them more open to the idea of sharing with strangers. In fact, every study participant who shared content online also shared various things offline. Sharing entrepreneurs are already taking advantage of this by seeding their services in contextually relevant online communities. For instance, online kids clothing exchange thredUP build relationships with prominent mommy bloggers to speed their launch.

75% of participants predicted that their offline sharing will increase in the next 5 years. While fast growing, this new sector has lots of unmet demand. More than half of all participants either shared vehicles casually or expressed interest in doing so. Similarly, 62% of participants either share household items casually or expressed interest in doing so. There’s also high interest in sharing of physical spaces for travel, storage, and work - even with complete strangers.

The most popular perceived benefits of sharing (67% each) were “saving money” and being “good for society,” echoing the “me+we” mentality popular amongst Millennials and offering insight on how to brand sharing services. People increasingly expect that saving money needn’t come at the expense of doing good, so gravitate to solutions like sharing that enable them to do both. In addition, two thirds of participants said they were more likely to share their belongings if they could make money from it. Brands should align with this “doing well by doing good” world view.

Car sharers share across significantly more categories than non-car sharers – 11 versus 8 categories. Ironically, the very thing that catalyzed consumer culture may be the vehicle into the sharing economy. Carsharing preceded the recent surge in sharing startups, and apparently car sharers are leading the behavior shift into a sharing economy. The finding suggests that once someone tries a sharing service they’re more likely to begin sharing in other areas of their life. With this in mind, sharing enterprises would do well to seek partnerships with carsharing and like services, seek out users of other sharing services as new customers, and begin offering other items to share once established in a category.

These and other key findings are covered more fully in the below report. The survey of over 500 web users was designed to uncover actionable insight to help sharing entrepreneurs grow their social enterprises. Latitude and Shareable will be sharing more about the study in three more posts over the next week. Stay tuned.

The New Sharing Economy

from http://shareable.net/blog/is-social-media-catalyzing-new-sharing-economy

This is a panel of the people/projects (OurGoods.org included)...

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 11:13:00 -0400

This is a panel of the people/projects (OurGoods.org included) that got funding from The Field: http://economicrevitalization.blogspot.com/ If you want to hear me talk, go to minute 12:15-14:30 and 25:15-27:15.

BARTER REPORT: Idea party helps writer mount a show in an ambulence!

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 23:44:00 -0400

This from Stacey Gottlieb, a writer who attended an Idea Party at Trade School that shifted her plans from cafe art to ambulance pop-up gallery in 10 minutes… and connected her to someone with an ambulance to make it happen!

http://www.nyfa.org/nyfa_current_detail.asp?id=17&fid=1&curid=844

…“Idea Party” seminar, where students harboring exhibition dreams were granted 10 minutes apiece to share their budding concept and have it vetted by the rest of the room.

Artist and curator Erin Marie Sickler was in charge of the two-hour round-robin and ran the event with remarkable aplomb. She also, upon hearing the story of the story-gone-off-the-rails-hoping-to-make-good-by-exhibiting-its-mural-map—possibly inside a rented U-Haul, alongside artist-made first-aid kits and other resuscitation-related goods—said something like: “I know a guy who knows a guy who’s got this ambulance…” and voila!,Team Member #2 was unwittingly born.

Team Member #2—aka Doctor A.—gets ready to start his shift in the therapist’s chair, in the belly of the ambulette.

Point of fact: the man with the ambulance-van was also an art-welder extraordinaire who, when contacted by Team Member #1 with less than one week to spare, was still wholly game for giving it a go. Under similar circumstances, the vehicle and percolating plan proved bait enough to bring gifted video-artist and graphic designer, Team Member #3, on board. And then, just one day (and one tube of reflective-lettering paint later): doctoral candidate and practicing clinician, Team Member #4, agreed to donate a few hours’ break from her Psych-E.R. rotation for The Cause. In sum: things were chugging along.

And then? Well, then the story proceeds quite well—starting with the decision to scrap all exhibition plans and let the clinic’s operation(s) speak for itself; novel therapies and a probing intake protocol quickly taking shape in its stead.

At the same time, the ambulance-owning art-welder toiled tirelessly to ensure the rusting ride would run; the A/V-guru assembled technologies old and new with which to document aired needs; and Team Member #3, the veritable clinician, fluffed her A-game for the off-the-clock rounds: arriving rarin’ to query the masses about how the day was making them feel. And then it was time.

Maker Faire: making for the sake of making (...and a story about $2 bills)

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 11:47:00 -0400

It’s incredibly strange that Maker Faire HASN’T been in NYC before. With a table connected to Alpha1Labs, we finally got to meet more makers than we knew existed in New York. I hope it happens again, and for more than a weekend.

One person I met on the subway back tipped a musician with a $2 bill. I said, “Wow, that’s worth a lot more than two dollars.” And he goes, “no, I get all my money in $2 denominations.” He then proved it by showing me the contents of his wallet.

It turns out that $2 bills ARE in circulation, but most people think that they are antiques with uncertain value. I want to use $2 bills from now on. As both a medium of exchange and a conversation starter, reactions to $2 bills reveal a basic requirement of money: collective trust. What else could be collectively trusted? What other things might be reliably valuable for artists, designers, and craftspeople? I’d bet on web design over a $2 bill.

BARTER REPORT from Caroline Woolard: swap-meet at TradeUP

Sun, 26 Sep 2010 23:26:00 -0400

This Saturday I went to TradeUP, a Brooklyn Based foodie swap and online raffle. Each person brought as many food related items as they could and took as many food related items as they wanted.

I brought jam and took a jam collander (Colin’s been looking for one all summer). I also took knives from Allison of Brooklyn Based (her husband is a butcher) and agreed to bring her something at a later date. There was A LOT of great stuff. We should do this for art supplies!

WHERE should Trade School re-open?

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 10:48:36 -0400

Vote here: http://tradeschool.ourgoods.org/2011/

Trade School will open again in early 2011. We are still looking for the perfect space, so let us know if you have any leads. We had generous offers from New Work City, Hester Street Collaborative, and Fork and Pencil, but we’ve decided to look for more space and time than those organizations could offer. As we continue our search, we want to hear your thoughts on the ideal location.

BARTER REPORT from Caroline Woolard: material (leather) for skills (leather bag making)

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:09:00 -0400

I met Will Lisak at Trade School in February. He said he found Trade School online and was excited to connect to people who respect craft in NYC. The summer passed before I ran into him (this time at Brooklyn Kitchen). I remembered the leather bags, and that I had a stack of leather from Build it Green that hadn’t been used for a year, so I proposed a barter: teach me how to make bags in exchange for all my leather.

Last week, he showed me the tools and techniques and we both worked on bags. He made a book bag that fits on his belt and I made a jewelery-selling bag that fits on my belt. I watched how he worked and asked for help when I got stuck. We worked all day, from 11-7, and shifted from focused silence to lively discussion about communal lifestyles/business models and the dignity of work.

Later that night, still satisfied and energized with my new skill and product to prove it, I read this moving writing from his website:

“Our attention has not gone into ornament or surface appeal. Our concern is with the spirit and constitution of the thing. Our devotion is in consideration of how our products live with the movements of a life, and how our industry allows our lives to move.”

I hope anyone who wants a bag gets Will to make one! I also think he should host a day-long workshop.

More from his site:

“ETWAS the company, like a bicycle, requires nothing but the human hand to function.

We apply modern reductionist functionality to a craft system. Our bags are made using a portable workbox that contains all the supplies and tools needed for the bag. This system is halfway between bespoke and mass production, and has many of the benefits of each.

We have no buildings and no offices. We use neither electricity nor water nor plastic. We are light. We are mobile. All of our materials are durable, natural and low impact. From our wooden benches, to our steel tools, to our copper rivets- the patina of age and the scars of use will only add richness, texture, and the comfort of familiarity and use. We design everything to be repairable- because things that get ruined are no good. That said, we also believe objects should fade gracefully. The truly well designed thing will last forever if cared for, but if left in the field will rot away quietly and respectfully. That mix of robustness and sensitivity is pleasing. There is poetry in the act of caring for or fixing a thing that you know will be with you forever, if only you love it enough.”

Will’s bag project heads towards a larger business plan for communal living, the draft of which he shared with me:

thoughts on living with others
or, the constitution of the collective house.

This is particularly applicable to youth, transient people.

It is difficult to live together without fellowship. Who is responsible for the maintenance of a place? We all keep our private things in our rooms and are always wanting for larger infrastructure, but will not invest in it as individuals because we would not find sufficient use, I would like to can some beets, but I will not buy a canner because I am only need it for a day and it is too big to justify storing and carrying on my moves. many people in the house may feel this way.

I will not buy a projector, because I do not have a wall, and I am not going to spend a thousand dollars on a place where I will only live for a few months.

Collective houses run in this atomized way will always waste resources and fail to be as strong of a resource in themselves as they could be.

A house must see itself as an independent thing, and that consciousness must arise from fellowship of the inhabitants, talking and thinking together. They must speak, they must have meetings and delegate tasks that benefit the house. The house that provides more must also demand more.

Who should pay for these resources? Certainly not the transient, there for a year or under who just happens to arrive at the time of an expensive purchase. I have seen so many times a house filled with the unemployed, each seeking separate, private low paying jobs. A good house must have a kind of cottage industry, it should be able to pay for it’s own materials an be able to provide for it’s inhabitants to an extent as well.
Houses have space, kitchens, they can store, ship, and produce simple products of all kinds, from soap to hand-woven textiles, to paper. They can serve as the base for a moving, repair or landscaping company, an underground bakery or a bulk food buying co-op.

The income from these can buy projectors, good cookware, sewing machines, canning jars, linens, all the sundries a house needs to properly function, and in return for these added benefits the house must demand discipline and maintaining labor from it’s inhabitants. There must be cleaning and cooking schedules, time to oil wooden counters, to sharpen kitchen knives, to put food by, to wash communal linens, to paint and repair and carry out larger maintenance tasks.

A house run in this way is more comfortable, more efficient, cleaner, costs the inhabitants less, and takes care of it’s own concerns. It can be a powerful resource rather than a tedious and useless expense.

On the few occasions I have seen houses run in this way, they have been truely remarkable and beautiful places, some of the most graceful and thoughtful things I have seen man create.

the house must also interface with the public, it must host. It should be equipped to host travelers, meals, and events. It should run relevant programing, and it should be able to meet the needs of musicians and diners. “

After reading Will’s statements of conviction, I decided to draft a mission statement for OurGoods. Here it goes:

OurGoods runs on mutual respect.

OurGoods.org exists so that creative people can help each other produce independent projects. More work gets done in networks of shared respect and shared resources than in competitive isolation. By honoring agreements and working hard, members of OurGoods.org will build lasting ties in a community of enormous potential.

OurGoods launches in a month!

Sun, 19 Sep 2010 09:02:00 -0400

On October 15th, we’ll open OurGoods to you! I wrote a grant to partially fund this idea in November of 2008. By November 2009, the group of founders (Carl Tashian, Louise Ma, Rich Watts, Jen Abrams and myself) had coalesced and produced the alpha site. We began getting feedback from our peers (called alpha testers). Now, after nearly two years of research and development, the site is about to open up to you! We have a bunch of events coming up (see OurGoods.org) and it’d be nice to see you there.

With the launch of OurGoods a month away, I’m going to post barter stories and other examples of the sharing economy here. To start, we are profiled in this amazing book.

WHAT’S MINE IS YOURS from rachel botsman on Vimeo.

Trade School table @ KS Film Fest

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:51:00 -0400

From 6-11pm tonight, we’ll be hosting a Trade School table at a festival of films funded through Kickstarter. Come share your barter stories with us in exchange for basic medical advice from physician Saul Melman, design help from Louise Ma, and foraging advice from me (Caroline Woolard). We’ll take your barter wonders and barter woes at The Old American Can Factory.

Tuesday June 29th: Idea Party at 106th Street

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 22:00:11 -0400

Taller Boricua asked us to do an event this upcoming week, and Erin Marie Sickler agreed to help out with an Idea Party. She held two at Trade School, and they were really dynamic brainstorming events. You can sign up here.

WHAT IS AN IDEA PARTY?
An Idea Party works like this: We’ll set up groups of up to 10 participants who will present their ideas in the following fashion:

“This is what I want to do:_________; here is my obstacle:_________.”
For example: “I want to have a block party; but I don’t know what the procedures are.” Next, the group will brainstorm solutions and offer information. Each participant presents an idea and shares advice with others.

Who? Have you ever had an idea? Good, you are eligible.
How? Enrollment is limited. Please RSVP with your idea/goal and obstacle by June 25th.

This event is co-presented by The Field & Taller Boricua, with support from Senator José Serrano, as part of The Field’s program Economic Revitalization for Performing Artists.

We reached our goal on Kickstarter!

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:56:00 -0400

WOW. Thanks to all 239 of you!

We’ll let you know what’s next soon…

Can we make $1,410 in 7 days?

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 11:33:16 -0400

The image above is from a beautiful artwork by Germain Koh. We promise to make Trade School great if we get the chance.

We’ve been humbled again and again by the generosity and hope we’ve received for Trade School. Nearly 200 people were able to donate money so far, and we’ve reached 85% of our goal. The only problem is, we need $1,410 by June 26th to make good on all the pledges! Please help us reach our goal by spreading the word this week about reopening Trade School. If we can make $1,410 or more this week, we’ll begin planning classes!

In case anyone’s wondering what we do as the OurGoods...

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:57:00 -0400

In case anyone’s wondering what we do as the OurGoods team, I thought I (Caroline Woolard) should start reporting back. What have I been doing? In the past week, I’ve spent way more time talking about OurGoods than developing the website or bartering with people. I was asked to talk about OurGoods.org at The Walker Arts Center, The Renegade Craft Fair, and The Feast on Good Salon for Internet Week. I used laser pointers for a collective drawing and talked about the power of becoming available at The Walker, bartered with people for a Work Dress at Renegade Craft Fair, and told a story about my path from public art projects to OurGoods at Feast Salon. Thursday: (Minneapolis) The Walker is running a summer long program about The Commons, so I talked about OurGoods as a tool to enrich our cultural commons. I had people make a drawing together with laser pointers to simulate coordinated action. I focused on the potential for diverse connection across disciplines on OurGoods, where barter partners see themselves in relationship to a larger ecology of creative production. They have a video of the whole night online, and you can see me at the 54 minute mark. Saturday and Sunday: (McCarren Park, Brooklyn) At Renegade Craft Fair, we shared a booth with Burdastyle, a website that offers downloadable sewing patterns. Every other booth at the fair was selling objects, so most people were surprised that we offered sewing tutorials and Work Dresses for barter. Louise and I stood by a Work Dress and talked to curious people about barter. It was hard to get people in shopping mode to slow down and sew! I think Trade School is a nice real-time engagement because everyone who shows up wants to be there, but it was nice to meet some DIY crafters at Renegade. Monday: (SoHo) The Feast on Good conference is all about social innovation, but The Feast Salon I spoke at focused on internet start-ups like FourSquare and Catchafire. I decided to trace my interest in OurGoods back to public projects I did like making public seating and subway swings, engaging the tech world in projects that act as excuses for interaction and conversation in public space. I think this approach was the most moving because it’s a personal story with physical objects- it’s not too abstract. Tuesday: (South Brooklyn) We had a 4 hour brunch meeting/eating about re-opening Trade School! Rich, Louise, and I are really lucky because Saul Melman is joining us to help organize Trade School for the fall. If we don’t get enough Kickstarter money, we’re thinking of looking for sponsors so we can pay for insurance, some materials, and 10-30% of our labor. We’d love to get small sums from local businesses, but we’re also going to approach Home Depot and Whole Foods. I’ll let you know what works!

Walker Open Field I’m in Minneapolis telling people about...

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:17:00 -0400

Walker Open Field

I’m in Minneapolis telling people about OurGoods today. They asked us to come kick off a summer long program called The Open Field.

We're the project of the day!

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:16:00 -0400

In 24 hours, Trade School supporters pledged over $1,000! We still need $8,000 by the end of June, but I’m hopeful. Do you think we should re-open Trade School? If 5,000 people donate any amount or if we raise $9,000 or more, we’ll do it. Vote for us here.