Read The Report - The Sharing Project

Research & Engagement Report
The Sharing Project was a research and
The Sharing Tour and this report were a
engagement project that started in January
collaboration between Lead Researcher
of 2013.
Chris Diplock and Lead Facilitator Charlie
Easton.
Our project has involved interviews, focus
groups, an open survey, a random panel
Thanks to the Chief Sponsors of our
survey and a community engagement tour
research: Vancity, The City of Vancouver,
(“The Sharing Tour”).
The Vancouver Foundation and Modo the
Car Co-op.
We released The Sharing Project report in
October of 2013 and it can be found online
at www.thesharingproject.ca
This document outlines the impact of our
report and The Sharing Tour and offers
some future opportunities we see for Vancouver’s sharing economy.
Thanks to the generous support of
the Vancouver Foundation and to our
community partner The Cedar Cottage
Neighbourhood House for helping make The
Sharing Tour happen.
Lastly, thanks to the seven community
partners and countless volunteers that
helped make our community engagement
such a success.
Project Overview
I. Research
II. Community
Engagement
III. Supporting New
Initiatives
The Sharing Project Impact Summary
Throughout all of our work over the past 14 months we have engaged with thousands of Vancouverites.
Whether it was through our presentation, social media or media coverage we have been able to raise
awareness about Vancouver’s sharing economy and our research findings.
Presentations
Since the release of The Sharing Project
report in October 2013 we have had the
pleasure of engaging with over 250 people
through presentations and meetings about
our work. Here are some figures from our
engagement:
Social Media
Media Coverage
Throughout the 14 months our project has
been active, we have used various social media outlets to engage Vancouverites about
our project, crowdfunding, and the findings
of our research. Here are some figures that
describe our social media development:
(Since our report launch/Overall)
We have had an amazing amount of media
coverage throughout our research and the
tour. This coverage has helped bring the
sharing economy to peoples’ attention as
well as helped get our report in peoples’
hands. Below is a summary of the coverage
we have received:
• Report launch event (40 attendees)
• Groundswell presentation (20 attendees)
• Laboratory of Housing Alternatives presentation (35 attendees)
• UBC School of Architecture and Regional
Planning symposium (30 attendees)
• April Rinne tour (80 attendees)
• The Sharing Tour (Seven events, 91
attendees)
Print articles:
Facebook
• Likes (59/563)
• The National Post, April 2013
• The Province, November 2013
• Posts (22/176)
• Reach (~2000/~4000)
Online articles:
• CBC, April 2013
Twitter
• The Tyee, April 2013
• Tweets (32/282)
• North Share News, November 2013
• Followers (346)
• Shareable.net, November 2013
• Following (4/176)
Radio
Website
• CKNW, Bill Good, November 2013
• Unique visitors (1616/3496)
• Cooperative Radio, February 2014
• Newsletter sign-ups (98/140)
• CBC, The Current, March 2014
Phase I - Research
Research Summary
This was a multi-staged research project carried out over seven months. Through our interviews and focus groups we explored what sharing means to
people and why they share. We then used our survey to confirm findings from the focus groups and to measure current activities and future interests.
The full report and the findings were released in October of 2013, and can be found at www.thesharingproject.ca
1. Interviews
2. Focus Groups
3. Open Survey
4. Closed Survey
January - February
February - March
April - June
June - July
Ten one-hour interviews were
conducted with leaders of
Vancouver’s sharing economy.
Four ninety-minute focus groups
were conducted with both
Sharers (members of a sharing
organization created in the past
10 years) and Non-Sharers.
All residents in Vancouver
were invited to participate in
The Sharing Project’s online
survey. These data are not
currently being reported on
but are being used to drive
further research.
A second online survey was
conducted using a random
sample of an online panel.
N=505 completed surveys
Phase II - Community Engagement
The Sharing Tour - Overview
In this phase of the Sharing Project our team worked on the ground to engage Vancouverites in the results of our Phase I research and began to
support the development of the sharing economy.
In collaboration with neighbourhood organizations and groups (i.e. Neighbourhood Houses, Village Vancouver), we held Sharing Project events in
seven neighbourhoods across Vancouver. These events took place from January to March of 2014. The goal of these events were to: share the results
of Phase I research, understand some of the unique ways communities currently share, and identify the support and resources that would be needed
for these initiatives to flourish.
Neighbourhoods (# of Attendees)
1. Kensington/Cedar Cottage (15)
5. Kerrisdale/Oakridge (12)
• Community partner: Cedar
Cottage Neighbourhood House
• Community partner: Unitarian
Church
• Event Type: Clothing Swap
• Event Type: Seed Swap
2. Strathcona/Hastings (16)
6. Point Grey/Kitsilano (17)
• Community partner:
Groundswell
• Community partner: Kitsilano
Neighbourhood House
• Event Type: Clothing Swap
• Event Type: Stuff Swap
3. Mount Pleasant (8)
7. South Cambie/Riley Park (24)
• Community partner: Heartwood
Community Cafe
• Community partner: Little
Mountain Neighbourhood House
• Event Type: Clothing Swap
• Event Type: Potluck
4. Downtown (14)
• Community partner: Gordon
Neighbourhood House
• Event Type: Clothing Swap
Phase II - Community Engagement
The Sharing Tour - Swaps & Presentation
Wanting to center our events around sharing, we worked with all of our different community partners to host different types of swaps. These events
usually started off with a swap of some sort, followed by a presentation on our research findings and finished with some discussion around sharing in
the local neighbourhood.
The Swap
In total we held four different types of swaps: clothings swaps (4), a stuff
swap (1), a seed swap (1) and a potluck (1). The swaps allowed attendees
to bring underutilized and idle goods out to share with their neighbours.
We have summarized observations about the swap below:
• Many attendees saw the swap as a way to donate
• The more people talked the more they swapped. Having an
initiative to get them talking improved the event dramatically
• Between 25 - 40% of attendees actually lived in the neighbourhood
where the event was held
The Presentation
After our swap we would give a 20-25 minute presentation on the findings of our Phase I research. We have summarized observations about the
presentation below:
• Only a small amount of attendees had actually read the report before
hand and those that had found it beneficial to see the presentation
• The presentation was well received, usually preceding a great question
period
• There was a good amount of interest in learning more
Phase II - Community Engagement
The Sharing Tour - Ideas
As part of The Sharing Tour events, we spent time exploring the unique ways that the neighbourhoods share. We heard about how people are currently
sharing as well as ideas about how they’d like to be sharing. Looking to derive some scalable ideas or models from our interactions, we have categorized the ideas below.
Peer-to-Peer Sharing
Peer-to-peer sharing offers people an opportunity to share idle assets
and connect with community members. We heard from various
people about how they currently share with peers and also new ideas
about peer-to-peer sharing. We think that peer-to-peer sharing could
be facilitated by both online and offline networks and programs.
Current Peer-To-Peer Sharing
Directly with peers: Power washer, washer and dryer, pressure canner,
clothes, food & food prep, textbooks, children’s stuff, pet sharing, music,
garden sharing, plates and cups, chairs, crocheting
Community list-serves: Parents on The Drive, Dickens community listserve, Facebook, Kinjo, FreeCycle, Craigslist, Amazon, Spinlisters
Donations: Swap at a free centre at a school, sharing corner for people to
drop stuff on in their neighbourhood, book lending in condos and hospitals,
recycling drop offs, drop spots for food scraps, free stuff in the stairwell
Ideas for Peer-To-Peer Sharing
Directly With Peers: Kitchen equipment, clothes, music and instruments, furniture, Halloween costumes, toys, sports equipment, tools,
food, share dinner with friends, shoes and purses/accessories, wifi, swapping recipes, books and bags
Community List-serves: Community list-serves with neighbours to know
what each other have in their home to share
Donations: A free store for university students to donate and pick up
from, a recycling receptacle with the option to donate
Phase II - Community Engagement Continued
The Sharing Tour - Ideas
Peer-to-Organization Sharing
Community organizations in Vancouver represent a significant
force that is driving our sharing economy. We heard about new
organizations starting up and existing organizations looking to
pilot new projects and better utilize space in Vancouver.
Current Peer-To-Organization Sharing
Directly with organizations: Cars, space, tools and housing
Community spaces: Poetry dropbox, community chess and checkers board,
little libraries, shared community gardens, Vancity community spaces
Programs/meet ups: Paid staff from the City bring things out to a local
park (Brewers Park) for kids to play with, seed libraries through Village
Vancouver, monthly potlucks at neighbourhood houses and group meet
ups at the Grind Café that trade feedback on writing
Ideas for Peer-To-Organization Sharing
Directly with Organizations: Toy lending at community centres and children’s goods for families visiting Vancouver
Underutilized Community Spaces: Space to share together, cook and
create together. Underutilized spaces mentioned: churches, social housing, schools, parking spaces, apartments and offices, laundry rooms/lobbies. One idea was to label a space as a sharing space, anticipating that
this designation would help initiate sharing
Programs/Meet Ups: N/A
Phase III - Supporting New Initiatives
In April 2014, Shareable.net (the leading online publication about sharing) will be launching their Shareable Cities Network. This network connects sharing initiatives from around the world to share resources and ideas. Here in Vancouver, The Sharing Project’s lead researcher Chris Diplock has convened
a working group of local sharing organizations working collectively to raise awareness and expand the capacity for sharing locally. This working group,
called “Share Vancouver”, has met several time since Summer 2013 and is a community of sharers working collectively to raise awareness and expand the
capacity for sharing locally.
Working with Shareable.net, this group has been building a webpage for local initiatives, where people can connect to Vancouver’s Sharing Economy.
The page may be accessed at: http://www.shareable.net/blog/join-the-sharing-cities-network. Share Vancouver’s page on Shareable will be populated
with the local initiatives and resources that we discovered throughout The Sharing Tour, as well as The Sharing Project report. The webpage is crowdsourced and therefore will also act as a platform for people to post new ideas and initiatives.
Share Vancouver
Draft Goal: Through sharing, we
seek a more robust, resilient local
economy that fosters stronger,
more connected communities and
lowers the region-wide environmental impact.
Currently involved: Modo, The Vancouver Tool Library, The Vancouver
Hack Space, Vancouver Community
Laboratory, The Hive Vancouver,
Part-Time Pooch, Pogoride and Vancouver Trade School.
Next Steps: Formalize the working
group, launch an event and develop
a robust presence online.