Sharing economy vs sharing cultures? Designing for social, economic and environmental good

This paper explores the story behind a crowdfunding service as an example of sharing technology. Research in a small neighborhood of London showed how locally-developed initiatives can differ in tone, scale, ambition and practice to those getting attention in the so-called sharing economy. In local accounts, we see an emphasis on organizing together to create shared spaces for collaborative use of resources and joint ownership of projects and places. Whereas, many global business models feature significant elements of renting, leasing and hiring and focus only on resource management, sometimes at the expense of community growth. The service we discuss is based in the area we studied and has a collective model of sharing, but hopes to be part of the new global movement. We use this hybridity to problematize issues of culture, place and scalability in developing sharing resources and addressing sustainability concerns. We relate this to the motivation, rhetoric and design choices of other local sharing enterprises and other global sharing economy initiatives, arguing, in conclusion, that there is no sharing economy, but a variety of new cultures being fostered

Platforms, scales and networks: meshing a local sustainable sharing economy

The “sharing economy” has promised more sustainable use of the world’s finite resources, exploiting latency and promoting renting rather than ownership through digital networks. But do the digital brokers that use networks at global scale offer the same care for the planet as more traditional forms of sharing? We contrast the sustainability of managing idle capacity with the merits of collective local agency bred by caring-based sharing in a locality. Drawing on two studies of neighbourhood sharing in London and analysis of the meshing of local sharing initiatives, we ask how ‘relational assets’ form and build up over time in a neighbourhood, and how a platform of platforms might act as local socio-technical infrastructure to sustain alternative economies and different models of trust to those found in the scaling sharing economy. We close by proposing digital networks of support for local solidarity and resourcefulness, showing how CSCW knowledge on coordination and collaboration has a role in achieving these ends

Keeping in touch: A handbook for digital inclusionthrough socially engaged practice

This handbook is intended to be a useful introduction to things to think about when developing a ‘socially engaged’ project that uses digital media or mobile technologies in some way. It is written for as wide an audience as possible,including neighbourhood partnerships, community activists, voluntary organisations and statutory agencies. It includes guidelines for increasing digital inclusion through socially engaged practice, with case study examples of good-practice projects and some useful practical tips.The handbook begins by clarifying what we mean by ‘socially engaged practice’ and ‘digital inclusion’. It then explains the benefits of such practice and goes on to outline nine key elements of socially engaged practice for successfullynurturing greater digital inclusion, using Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC) projects as examples.This content has been developed through ongoing evaluation of projects at KWMC and the ‘Keeping in Touch’ project

Keeping in touch

This discussion paper summarises the key themes from Keeping In Touch, a collaborative research project for Connected Communities

Making time for storytelling; the challenges of community building and activism in a rural locale

The uneven projection of voices from or within a community can be addressed, in part, by methods such as digital storytelling in a technology and media-savvy society. Whilst the use of digital storytelling to facilitate constructive dialogue has proved successful for those who participate, instilling a sense of motivation to become involved at the outset can pose a challenge. Members of different types of community groups, whether geo-physical or practice-based, will not necessarily be drawn to involvement in social action through group workshops without prior personal engagement. This paper considers which other participatory media techniques can be employed to encourage involvement in community digital storytelling workshops to inspire activism, and examines barriers to participation, with emphasis on the necessity of mandate, for project success. To help answer these issues, one particular workshop in a case study in North Yorkshire, UK will be used to identify the importance of place and incorporation of methods when undertaking community digital storytelling

An evaluation of the L8r Pilot A study of an interactive drama resource for teenagers

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Locating Story:

This paper considers located media production as a means for self representation and storytelling in local community settings. We present a pilot set of workshops in a local neighbourhood in Bristol, UK. Through a consideration of the workshop process and the resulting `mediascapes' (located sound and images) we highlight a number of observations and questions which have emerged regarding the relationship of story to place in collaboratively produced located media