[p2p-research] Fwd: The New Sharing Economy - Study Sketch

Sun Mar 14 19:04:45 CET 2010

Full pdf file on the below is available from Neal in cc,

Michel

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Neal Gorenflo <neal at shareable.net>
Date: Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 3:27 AM
Subject: The New Sharing Economy - Study Sketch
To: Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>

Michel, here's the study sketch in text.  Much thanks for sending it to your
list!  Neal

-- 

Shareable is collaborating with Latitude Research to gauge awareness,
disposition toward use, and actual use of sharing services (like carsharing,
etc.).

We'd like to help catalyze more talent and investment flowing into the
sharing industry.  We're exploring presenting in October at SOCAP10, the
largest gathering of social entrepreneurs and investors I know of.  And the
findings will be published in Shareable's Work & Enterprise channel.

We're currently designing the survey.  I would really appreciate your
feedback on the study design which is outlined below.  We're looking to have
all feedback by COB Tuesday next week.

I look forward to your suggestions!

Thank you,

Neal

####
*
*
*The Latitude 42s: An Innovation Series*

*Our Initiatives*

Latitude sponsors internally-run projects within the media and technology
spheres to investigate emerging themes related to connected living. They are
designed to generate actionable insights for forward-thinking
businesses—and, ultimately, to foster the enhancement of individual and
organizational lives as well as the common, social good.

Latitude uses collective idea generation (“the wisdom of many”) to distill
problems—user needs or desires—and to discover new opportunities spaces
around them, through next-generation content, software, and technology
conception.

Opportunity spaces are created when:

• an existing solution is applied to a new category of problem

• existing solutions are combined in novel ways

• an entirely new solution is conceived

With an emphasis on generative user input and interaction, Latitude’s
*42* studies
may involve innovation games, collaborative social platforms, and the
aggregation and intelligent display of highly visual contributor content—as
viable and telling forms of data.

*Recent 42 studies include:*

*Food, Connected* employs narrative analysis to assess user desires in the
context of food and the food-shopping experiences, seeking to pinpoint
problems with information access, transparency, organization, and
socialization—and to generate solutions which fuse online and offline
information-seeking and purchasing more elegantly.

*Nature, Connected* explores ways in which digital technology—foregrounding
mobile devices—

can be better integrated with individuals’ experiences of natural
environments—or used to augment them via smart sensors, information access,
interactive learning, and seamless sharing functionalities.

*Upcoming 42s:* Understanding Lead Users, The Future of Shopping: Social
E-Retail.

*Shareable / Latitude 42: “The New Sharing Economy”*

*Sharing Needs Innovating:*

*“It’s true that sharing is a relatively simple concept and a basic part of
human life. What’s new is that people are applying sharing in innovative and
far-reaching ways, many of which require complex planning, new ways of
thinking and organizing, and new technologies. In short, people are taking
sharing to new levels, ranging from relatively simple applications of
sharing to community-wide sharing initiatives — and beyond.”  —Janelle Orsi,
“Four Degrees of Sharing” (**
http://shareable.net/blog/four-degrees-of-sharing*<http://shareable.net/blog/four-degrees-of-sharing>
*)*

*Problem Exploration: User-Centric*

• *What are the new opportunity spaces for shared services?*

What do people currently share? What objects, spaces, and content are people
are willing to share, but *don’t* *currently? *What things do people know
they’d *like* to share, but *can’t* currently? *(ref:**
http://shareable.net/blog/what-things-need-to-be-more-shareable*<http://shareable.net/blog/what-things-need-to-be-more-shareable>
*)*

• *How far does a person’s “sharing community” extend comfortably? How does
this differ across various object/service categories?  *

What are people willing to share—*and with whom? *Close friends? Friends of
friends? Others with similar demographic profiles? Complete strangers?

• *How do sharing attitudes and behaviors differ across generations?*

Is Gen Y Web-culture reflected in this demographic’s offline
decision-making? Are there any marked differences in attitude towards /
adoption of peer-to-peer versus more centralized shared services?

• *What are the greatest barriers to shared service adoption?*

Lack of trust / concerns about safety or damage to personal property, sheer
unfamiliarity with shared service experiences, limited access to
information, absence of established service/infrastructure to fill an
existent need… ?

• *What are the greatest incentives of shared service adoption?*

Personal monetary, convenience, ease of use / transparent process, social
good (helping others), environmental benefit, peer involvement, forging new
social connections, becoming a part of “shared culture” at large, intrinsic
attitude…?

*Study Framework*

The proposed study design consisted of one 2-part questionnaire:

1. Online quantitative/qualitative survey to assess sharing attitudes and
behaviors across two primary demographics: “lead sharers” (who are
car-sharers) and more representative sharers (who are car-owners).

2. Online user idea generation activity to identify new opportunity areas
for shared services.

*(Part 1) Methodological Approach: Online Qual/Quant*

A brief online survey will assess sharing behaviors and attitudes for both
“lead sharers” (mix of P2P & traditional, fleet-based car-sharers) and
demographically-matched, typical car owners.* (See slide 7 for key areas of
exploration.) Additionally, the questionnaire will capture basic
demographics and profile current sharing behavior.

Other key topics might include “tech-forwardness” (ex. smartphone adoption),
which may have implications for future sharing innovations, and help to
inform better the psychology and evolution of “sharing culture.”

*Narrative Component for Car-sharers*

Car-sharers will be asked to think back to the moment they made the personal
decision to car-share (or a memorable experience leading up to it which
played a significant role). Analysis of responses will shed light on key
motivators and any environmental factors involved in the psychology of
sharing “conversion.”

**Additionally, we might explore the option of asking car-owners to project
about circumstances in which they would consider “converting,” or to
envision how a day in their current life would be if they shared, rather
than owned, a car.*

*(Part 2) Methodological Approach: Online Qual/Quant*

“What kinds of things (objects, physical spaces, etc.) would you be willing
to share with others, but don’t (or can’t) *currently*?”

Using our interactive, Web-based Kaleidoscope* platform, both sets of
participants will upload images that, ultimately, best exemplify possible
areas of expansion for shared services—along with a brief rationale for
their choice, with *whom* they’d be willing to share (i.e. under what
conditions), and what they would perceive the benefits of sharing to be.

**Kaleidoscope is an interactive, generative research tool that allows
participants to respond to directed research questions by uploading images
and providing textual explanations regarding their choices.  Furthermore,
respondents can interact with the entire set of uploaded images, providing
behavioral data via number of clicks. Kaleidoscope harnesses the rich, vivid
quality of visual imagery to uncover underlying preferences and beliefs.*

*Solution & Opportunity Generation*

   - Establish benchmarks for the emerging sharing economy—including sharing
   attitudes and current engagement behaviors, with special attention to
   differences across generations.

   - Pinpoint existent or latent user needs/desires that are not being met
   by current offerings—via collective idea generation; identify applied
   opportunities to fill these gaps.

   - Inform and innovate on current and emergent shared service models.

   - Understand good design and implementation of shared service
   infrastructures from both an individual user standpoint and within the
   broader opportunity landscape; inform positioning of sharing-based
   businesses with the goal of increasing initial “conversions” and extending
   adoption across shared service categories.

*Latitude is a research-fueled consultancy. We help media and technology
companies discover opportunities for next-generation content, software, and
communications tools using a combination of web-based applications and
innovative research methods. We provide clients with direction for long-term
growth and expansion through the identification and development of these new
opportunity spaces.*

*Brand site: **http://www.latd.com*

* <http://www.latd.com/>Content site: http://www.life-connected.com*

*Email: **kgaskins at latd.com* <krgaskins at latd.com>* (Kim Gaskins, Director of
Content Development)*

*Twitter: @latddotcom*

-- 
Work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University - Think thank:
http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI

P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net

Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss:
http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/p2presearch_listcultures.org

Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens;
http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens
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