“It is evident, at least to environmentalists, that people are going to have to learn to share again, and modify their needs and interests, (and even behaviour) in the light of wider concerns and goals.” Ken Warpole
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What’s Curious about Sharing? Sharing is an idea that is instilled in us from a young age as we are all encouraged by our parents to share our toys and ‘play nicely’. However although we grow up with an understanding of the importance of sharing and the need not to be too selfish we, as adults, do not share our ‘toys’ in the same manner. This change is due to consumerism’s suggestion that we are measured by what we own and not by what we share. Plus the idea of communal living has a rather dated ‘beatnik’ quality to it that doesn’t seem to fit with modern society. Consequently it can be seen that the idea of sharing that we all understand is being undermined by the consumer orientated society that we live in. Sharing breaks the connection between product and ownership and as it saves you the consumer money it is not heavily advertised. However the economy seems to be faltering and so perhaps this is the time for sharing to take centre stage. It is clear that the idea of sharing has not been completely undermined from the success of online information sharing systems. Most people have a Facebook account where they can share photos, information and ideas. Wikipedia or TripAdvisor also allow people from across the globe to share information. The platform of the internet has made the sharing of information online a very modern and very viable method of sharing with the online community. It also has none of the stigmatism of commune to it.
I for one have certainly noticed the creeping rise of the cost of living and the need to ‘do more for less’ is very much a poignant one. The stage for me, and for many others, has essentially been set for a new approach to finance and consumerism. ‘Collaborative consumption’ is the solution that as Time Magazine suggests will change the market place as we know it. It is a relatively new term that describes the return to traditional market ideas such as such as swapping, trading and bartering that have been reinvented through online technology and networking systems. Geographical boundaries and ownership issues between people and assets are being broken down by online sharing and collaboration and a new online ‘community’ has been created. An increased level of information about these new types of collaboration and sharing schemes can also be found with one of the most prolific writers on the subject being Rachel Botsman. Rachel’s passsion for the subject shows through in her writing on the subject where she breaks down the wealth of schemes into three distinct types:
Redistribution Markets Redistribute used or pre-owned goods from where they are not needed to where they are; essentially a swapping platforms. E-bay and Freecycle are two hugely successful examples of a redistribution markets.
“One potential advantage of collaborative consumption is that, by bringing people and assets together in new ways, it enables one benefit to feed into another across a network, making the cumulative impact more widespread.� Rachel Botsman
Collaborative Lifestyles: This system is based on people with similar needs or interests banding together to share and exchange less-tangible assets such as time, space, skills, and money. Couch Surfing and ParkAtMyHouse are examples of innovative collaborative space sharing systems.
Product Service Systems: These are services that enable people to pay for the benefit of using a product without the need to on it outright. For example car-shares or schemes that share toys, textbooks, clothing. Schemes have also been set up that incorporate more than one of these aspects of sharing. For example Your Square Mile is an online project where the idea of your local community has been reinvented. It profiles people in your local area and allows you to match up needs with wants. For example the need for a little home help with a local who has spare time and the necessary skills and tools to help out. There are also more radical alternative market systems being developed that utilise the idea of a local community that works for itself. For example the creation of a local currency. Although finance does not immediately appear as something that belongs to the public it does in fact have a public function, the issue and circulation of money.
“The Big Society involves moving an unsustainable super-tanker economy in a new direction, so that we are defined not by what we consume but by what we contribute.” Rachel Botsman
It therefore follows that the public should have a choice where their money goes. Local currency creation such as the Stroud Pound and the German chiemgauer allow the public to ensure that their money stays local and doesn’t disappear into the global economy thus aiding the whole local community economy. One of the biggest challenges to collaborative consumption is the issue of trust. How do you build trust between strangers who have the anonymity of the whole of the world wide web to hide in? This is a simpler hurdle to leap than it would at first seem. Checks and balances exist in all of the online schemes that allow for good practice to be rewarded and dishonesty to be highlighted and consequently avoided. Sharing and collaboration are not new ideas they just have a new platform to operate in. Our failing consumer driven capitalist economy has a new challenger one that is slightly less self involved and that celebrates ideas of community and sharing. Collaboration has been reinvented from a hippy cliche into a viable modern living system.