Fair Information Sharing for Treasure Hunting

In a search task, a group of agents compete to be the first to find the solution. Each agent has different private information to incorporate into its search. This problem is inspired by settings such as scientific research, Bitcoin hash inversion, or hunting for some buried treasure. A social planner such as a funding agency, mining pool, or pirate captain might like to convince the agents to collaborate, share their information, and greatly reduce the cost of searching. However, this cooperation is in tension with the individuals' competitive desire to each be the first to win the search. The planner's proposal should incentivize truthful information sharing, reduce the total cost of searching, and satisfy fairness properties that preserve the spirit of the competition. We design contract-based mechanisms for information sharing without money. The planner solicits the agents' information and assigns search locations to the agents, who may then search only within their assignments. Truthful reporting of information to the mechanism maximizes an agent's chance to win the search. Epsilon-voluntary participation is satisfied for large search spaces. In order to formalize the planner's goals of fairness and reduced search cost, we propose a simplified, simulated game as a benchmark and quantify fairness and search cost relative to this benchmark scenario. The game is also used to implement our mechanisms. Finally, we extend to the case where coalitions of agents may participate in the mechanism, forming larger coalitions recursively.Engineering and Applied Science

Customer value propositions in second-hand clothing e-commerce

Abstract. Retailing started to go through an enormous change since internet offered an alternative platform for retailers to sell their products — e-commerce. Not only is the retailing changing but also customers’ set of values has started to change. Due to increasing awareness of environmental burden of fashion industry, customers are more concerned about ecological and ethical issues. That, alongside with general shift in attitudes, has made second-hand shopping increasingly popular. The purpose of this master’s thesis is to gain broader understanding of customer value propositions in second-hand clothing e-commerce context. The thesis takes into consideration customer’s perspective through customers’ motivations to buy second-hand clothes and company’s perspective through customer value propositions. Regardless that second-hand shopping is rather widely studied topic, only a little research on second-hand clothing e-commerce and on customers’ motivations to buy second-hand clothes online can be found. As both second-hand shopping and e-commerce are growing fast and gaining popularity, the topic is extremely timely. The study was conducted using quantitative research methods and it was an assignment from Finnish second-hand clothing e-commerce company Rekki. The data was collected using self-completed web questionnaire mainly among Rekki’s customers. The number of the total respondents was 561 from which 517 had bought clothes from second-hand online store. The data was first analysed using Exploratory Factor Analysis followed by Cluster Analysis. Based on the Exploratory Factor Analysis the variables measuring customers’ motivations to buy clothes from second-hand e-commerce loaded to five factors: Economic, Stimulation and treasure hunting, Nostalgic pleasure, Originality and self-expression, and Critical motivations. The factors were used as a basis of K-means Cluster Analysis. Based on the Cluster analysis five clusters were found and named descriptively: Economic treasure hunters, Economic shoppers, Other motivations, Critical shoppers, and Self-expressive nostalgia seekers. The clusters vary mostly in terms of shopping motivations but also in terms of several background variables. The implications of this thesis show that effective customer value propositions consist of customer understanding and right kind of value propositions depending on the target group. The customer understanding in second-hand clothing e-commerce context can be formed by understanding customers’ motivations to buy second-hand clothes. From managerial perspective, this thesis offers valuable information for second-hand e-commerce businesses about the importance of customer understanding from value perspective and how customer value can be effectively communicated through value propositions. In addition, this thesis broadens understanding of customers’ motivations to buy second-hand clothes online

Treasure hunting and storytelling: The role of picture research in publishing Simon Fraser University’s institutional memory

The Simon Fraser University Retirees Association (SFURA) is publishing a website and book providing a retrospective of the Centre for Communications and the Arts (CCA). As the campus arts hub during Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) radical first decade (1965–75), the CCA hosted countless flower-child “happenings” and conceptual art projects in the SFU Theatre. The program evolved into the School for the Contemporary Arts, School of Communication and SFU Galleries. This report describes the picture research methods employed to find historical images for the SFURA’s book and website, including identification, selection and clearance of 50-year-old images from archival sources. The processes, considerations – editorial, archival and legal – and the partnerships at play in curating and publishing these largely forgotten visual materials are discussed. The picture research methods explained in this report provide a practical model for the future publication of retrospective books and websites created at SFU and other organizations

The emperor’s old clothes : a consumer behaviour-based case study on second-hand clothing as a sustainable fashion consumption practice in Italy

The current fashion system known as Fast Fashion (FF) is responsible for severe environmental and social impacts. Fashion democratisation has increased consumers’ appetite for new trends, leading fashion companies to design an increasing number of collections per year. Manufacturing is outsourced to developing countries, where workers’ rights and working place regulations are hardly respected. Additionally, garments are designed with material and stylistic planned obsolescence, in order to encourage rapid disposal and replacement. The result is a considerable waste of resources, human labour and accumulation of garbage. Growing awareness of the negative impacts of FF has led to international movements, like Slow Fashion (SF), promoting a radical change in how we consume fashion and encouraging adoption of more environmentally- and ethically-aware strategies, such as use of ecological or natural material and remanufacturing. One of such alternatives is second-hand clothing (SHC) consumption, as it diverts clothes from landfills or export to developing countries by extending their life-cycle. The present thesis uses a case study approach to analyse consumers’ perceptions of SHC consumption in the Italian context. Here, the peculiar combination of sharp fashion sensitivity and the recent economic crisis has created a fertile ground for consumption of cheap FF clothing. Although clothing collection systems are in place, the majority of what is collected is directly exported to developing countries instead of being reintroduced in the national market. The aim of this thesis is to understand the reasons for this unexpressed potential of the SHC market by investigating if and what types of barriers exist at the consumer level. Semi-structured interviews with SHC shop owners and an online survey targeting Italian consumers were used to understand the motivations for and against SHC consumption and identify potential leverage points to develop it further. Results show that a sizeable percentage of consumers resort to SHC because of its economic and environmental advantages. However, misinformation concerning this practice and lack of transparency in the supply chain contribute to emphasize a rooted prejudice concerning cleanliness and negative symbolic value held by SHC. Structural issues are also identified, such as aesthetic appearance and availability of SHC channels across the Italian peninsula. Growing awareness of the wastefulness of the fashion industry, eye for quality and decreasing spending capabilities are identified as potential leverage points to popularise SHC consumption. For this to happen, however, advertisement, education and awareness raising of consumers on economic and environmental advantages of this practice are necessary steps to take.L'attuale sistema della moda, conosciuto come Fast Fashion, è responsabile di gravi porblemi di tipo ambientale ed economico. La democratizzazione della moda ha stimolato l'appetito dei consumatori per nuovi trend, inducendo le compagnie d'abbigliamento a presentare un sempre maggiore numero di collezioni ogni anno. La manifattura viene esternalizzata in paesi in via di sviluppo, dove diritti dei lavoratori e norme di sicurezza sul posto di lavoro vengono blandamente osservati. Inoltre, i capi vengono disegnati secondo un'obsolescenza materiale e stilistica programmata, che porta i consumatori a smaltire e sostituire i propri capi d'abbigliamento in maniera sempre più rapida. Il risultato è un enorme spreco di risorse e lavoro, nonchè l'accumulo di spazzatura. La crescente sensibilizzazione in merito agli impatti negativi della Fast Fashion ha portato alla nascita di movimenti a livello internazionale, come lo Slow Fashion, il quale promuove un cambiamento radicale nel consumo di abbigliamento e incoraggia l'adozione di pratiche più responsabili dal punto di vista etico ed ambientale, tra cui l'uso di abbigliamento realizzato con materiale naturale ed ecologico. Una di queste pratiche è l'utilizzo di abbigliamento di seconda mano, che permette di recuperare ed estendere il ciclo vitale di capi altrimenti destinati alla discarica o a paesi in via di sviluppo. Questa tesi si propone di analizzare la percezione dei consumatori italiani riguardo al consumo di abbigliamento di seconda mano. In Italia, infatti, la recente crisi economica, unita ad uno spiccato senso della moda, ha favorito l'espansione del mercato di abbigliamento economico e di scarsa qualità, rapidamente sostituito. Nonostante la presenza di sistemi di raccolta di rifiuti tessili, la maggior parte di quanto raccolto, sebbene in buone condizioni, viene direttamente esportato in paesi in via di sviluppo invece di essere reintrodotto nel mercato nazionale. Lo scopo di questa tesi è capire le motivazioni di questo potenziale inespresso del mercato di abbigliamento di seconda mano ed evidenziare eventuali barriere esistenti al livello dei consumatori. Metodi scelti per questo scopo sono interviste semistrutturate a titolari di negozi di abbigliamento usato e un questionario online rivolto ai consumatori italiani. I risultati mostrano che una cospicua percentuale di consumatori ricorre all'abbgliamento usato per i suoi benefici economici ed ambientali. Tuttavia, la disinformazione e la mancanza di trasparenza relativa alla filiera dell'abbigliamento usato contribuiscono ad enfatizzare il pregiudizio radicato in merito alla pulizia e al valore simbolico negativo legato all'abbigliamento di seconda mano. In aggiunta a questo pregiudizio, la scarsa attrattiva e accessibilità di canali di distribuzione di abbigliamento usato sono stati riconosciuti come problemi di tipo strutturale. Per rendere il consumo di abbiglaimento usato una pratica più diffusa, bisognerebbe fare leva sulla sensibilizzazione in aumento in merito agli sprechi legati al mondo della moda, nonchè alle capacità di spesa in declino dei consumatori italiani. Per fare ciò, è necessario potenziare l'opera di pubblicità, educazione e sensibilizzazione in merito ai vantaggi economici e ambientali dell'abbigliamento di seconda mano

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Oceanus.

v. 28, no. 1 (1985

Voices From the Congo Basin: Incorporating the Perspectives of Local Stakeholders for Improved REDD Design

Presents the concerns of the Congo Basin's local and indigenous communities, community NGOs, and parliament members over the design and implementation of Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation such as inequitable revenue distribution