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April 16, 2006

Sharer! The community object sharing service

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Design Project Promoting Shared Objects

Our project researches into interpersonal limitations and possibilities of sharing of objects. What types of objects people are willing to share. Which with social circles are people willing to share with. How peoples relationships change with objects when the history of the object changes, that is will people feel uncomfortable when they do not know how the object is used when they are not around it.

Read more about Sharer on Vinay Venkatraman's web site, or on we make money not art.

We started our investigation by studying existing recycling systems, The "Kabadiwalla" or junk man in India, the "Garage Sale" system in the U.S and the Storage space concept in some urban scenarios.

In the process we conducted user studies under simulated conditions, Ran a mockup service, resolved logistical issues, Prepared a business Plan and revenue model and worked on several touch points and the interactions involved in the same.

The systems seeks to develop an collaborative object sharing system, users can upload pictures, give description and browser other people object through a website. The system works in collaboration with the postal system and the postman is the point of contact to the lender. A series of secure electronic lockers are the transit point for the object and the borrower picks up the object and deposits it back there after the loan period is up.

Each module of the service works within a postal code to build better trust and simplify logistics. But the service by itself is scalable to any geographic size and object volume.

From Vinay Venkatraman's web site.

Posted by jesse at April 16, 2006 09:41 PM

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