type

Filed Study

method

Qualitative Interviews
Contextual Observations
Design Ethnography

period

2019-2020

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Many non-profit peer-to-peer exchange arrangements and profit-driven marketplaces leverage underutilized resources, such as tools, to optimize their use to capacity. They often rely on a digital platform in pursuit of their social aspirations and/or economic objectives. I led a field study in Zurich of Pumpipumpe, a local sharing community that employs a set of stickers illustrating different household items, typically placed on community members' mailboxes, along with complementary digital tools. The stickers are used to communicate the availability of resources among neighbors to facilitate social encounters and to encourage sustainable use and re-use of shared resources. Through in-depth qualitative interviews with sixteen participants, I outlined the opportunities and limitations of this approach to peer-to-peer exchange. I also offer insights for designers of resource sharing communities into facilitating face-to-face encounters and the online interactions needed to support them.

The key learning points for designers of resource sharing community platforms are formulated across two considerations: 

1. Foster Willingness for Interpersonal Encounters. Specifically, the designers may want to Attend to Social Barriers (e.g., barriers of approaching strangers, fears of being a burden, account for the discomfort of indebtedness), Encourage Incremental Involvement (e.g., opt-in for progressive self-disclosure mechanisms), and Build on Shared Interests (e.g., accentuate common interests of the users’). 

2. Leverage Online Information to Promote Continued Participation in the Community. In particular, the designers should Signal Community Activity and Attend to Inactivity (e.g., display interactions among members and members’ activities on a digital map or using an activity log, mitigate disengagement through proximity notifications), Allow for Rich Descriptions and Storytelling (e.g., capture stories of the borrowed items), and Trigger Reflective Practices with Physical Possessions (e.g., illustrate provenance, the longevity of use, opportunities for the repurposing of objects).

Project in collaboration with Nathalie Torrent, Marjan Shabani, Fanny Zucchinetti from the University of Zurich (Switzerland), Airi Lampinen from Stockholm University (Sweden), Will Odom from Simon Fraser University (Canada), and Elaine Huang from the University of Zurich (Switzerland).