[p2p-research] Michel; A question

[Matt Boggs]

But first, a little bit about me:

 

I live in downtown Denver Colorado and have just recently secured a decent
sized warehouse with a 15,000 sq. /ft. lot suitable for growing. My partners
at this space include very talented hardware engineers, a Horticulturist,
specialized tradesmen (welder, fabrication, etc.) and myself. I put this
group together to explore various sustainability studies, engineering and
reengineering ideas. The 'soul' of these studies is rooted in the P2P
Foundation and the betterment of my community. My first goal is to focus on
a small group of members (300-500) of 'mostly' people I know to be
sympathetic to what I'm doing (I am not new to community building). Before
the group gets too big, I would create another 'chapter'. Each chapter would
be free\encouraged to communicate\exchange with each other. To start, our
first production studies will include; a large greenhouse, a biodiesel
facility, a walk-in cooler for EG (Excessive Goods that are not for resale).
We will also set up educational workshops on these topics and their
associated components. Future near term projects include solar, algae
production, byproducts from biodiesel\greenhouse, micro gardening, open
source hardware modules and a good deal of hacking items into other things.

 

And now my question; I would like to accomplish these tasks with a minimal
amount of money. There will always be 'hard costs' but I feel this project
will be incomplete without the inclusion of some sort of organized system
like LETS, which I know you are familiar with. Why does the P2P Foundation
not start a non-money system? God knows, I've seen some great ideas shared
on the P2P list over the years. Here is what I envision: A social network (I
know you dislike that word) like MySpace, but includes a person's social
currency value. That value, in the form of; what I can do and what I've done
for the community would be displayed as a graph. I would also throw in a
little bit of Craigslist as well for good measure while keeping the concept
of federal dollars out and social\time dollars in. I believe the fastest way
to educate the people on P2P (bottom up) is getting them comfortable with a
system that is familiar but different enough to subtly change their mindset.

 

Anyway, Michel, I've wanted to write this note for some time. I figured now
was the best, as I've put both feet into this new project.

 

 

 

Matt

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