It’s getting serious. It’s time for THESIS. It might change radically, but right now I think I want to investigate the idea of ownership. I will explore our urge to own, and which factors need to be present to enable sharing. So. Here is my thesis proposal v.1.0:

To achieve full freedom in life, you must never own more than seven things – or else, they will own you.

I remember this opening line from a TV-commercial from my childhood (see video). A Hindu takes a break from his meditation to tell us this, and he seems at total peace with his life and his seven possessions. Then the scene shifts from serenity to his busy everyday, and he can tell us that everything else in his life, like his flat-screen TV, his fancy fridge, washing machine etcetera, they were all leased from a leasing company called THORN.

With a humorous approach, the commercial told us that we all actually really need these items – even a Hindu with a holy cow as a treasured possession can’t really get by in life without a flat-screen TV. So the commercial sold the dream of luxury and the freedom to choose the latest models. But I remember that this Hindu’s first sentence really resonated more with me than the craving for a fancy flat-screen TV. I don’t think I ever will have only seven possessions, but I dream of a future where we all can get closer to it through using services for sharing, swapping, streaming etc.

For my thesis I want to explore the idea of ownership. What makes us feel like we need to own something, rather than just having access to it? Which factors need to be present for us to be willing to give up our ownership? What characterizes a successful collaborative consumption service, and what is the cultural and business context it lives in? How is the community around the service organized and moderated? How might collaborative consumption, like the use of CouchSurfing or ZipCar, change the people involved? What does a world of products based around access rather than ownership look like?

I believe that the right kind of services can make people think differently about their own life, their neighbors, and the world we live in. They can make us feel more connected to one another, which again can inspire trust, optimism and positive actions. Providing well-designed frameworks for sharing and collaboration could very well lead to behavioral change not only within the frames of the service, but beyond the focus of the service itself.

I would like to research different services that enable sharing and collaborative consumption, explore and compare their models, their communities, and their users. I will choose at least six services from the “Snapshot of examples”-list on the Collaborative Consumption website, and make sure they represent the different categories defined (product service systems, redistribution markets, collaborative lifestyles). Based on the research, I hope to come up with an idea of my own for a service in this area, where I can apply the insights I get from my research.

And when it comes to research, there’s a lot to get through this summer. This list is a start:

BOOKS TO READ

• What’s mine is yours by Rachel Botsman, Roo Rogers
• The Mesh: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing by Lisa Gansky
• Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky

EXAMPLES
Examples of services for renting, sharing, swapping, or trading of physical goods, time, skills etc:

• Snapshot of examples at CollaborativeConsumption.com http://www.collaborativeconsumption.com/the-movement/snapshot-of-examples.php
• Airbnb http://www.airbnb.com/
• Bartercard http://www.bartercard.com/
• Neighborgoods http://neighborgoods.net/
• Swap http://www.swap.com/
• thredUP http://www.thredup.com/
• WebEx http://www.webex.com/
• WhipCar http://www.whipcar.com/
• Ziok http://us.zilok.com/
• Zipcar http://www.zipcar.com/
• Zopa http://uk.zopa.com/ZopaWeb/

VARIOUS LINKS

• Chris Jordan pictures some shocking stats http://www.ted.com/talks/chris_jordan_pictures_some_shocking_stats.html
• Collaborative Services for sustainability http://www.sustainable-everyday.net/main/?page_id=26%3Cbr%20/%3E
• Sustainable Everyday http://www.sustainable-everyday.net
• “Why our design festival has no things in it,” John Thackara http://www.doorsofperception.com/archives/2007/10/why_our_design.php
• “What should design critics write about?,” John Thackara http://www.doorsofperception.com/archives/2010/05/post_54.php
• “Use, not own” chapter, from John Thackara’s In The Bubble
• http://www.doorsofperception.com/
• http://www.worldchanging.com/
• http://www.collaborativeconsumption.com/

For some reason, all students feel so “special” that they don’t think they can find the answer to their particular question at the Lånekassen web site, and then they pick up the phone. But actually, all their questions are very generic. We just need to make sure they look through the FAQs where all answers are provided. If the students would just see this, a lot of calls would be prevented.

And now that I am back as a student dealing with Lånekassen, I keep these phrases in the back of my mind while browsing through a bunch of FAQs voluntarily, trying to be my former colleagues dream user. Believe me, I have no inner desire to make a transatlantic call, waiting in line for 45 minutes. I never even had that inner desire to call when I lived in Norway.

However, after my efforts trying to fit my question into one of the generic boxes by combing through lanekassen.no, I realize something. I really am special. I need to contact the people with the money to get this sorted. I giggle a little when I try to navigate to the contact form to ask my question, when I’m forced to once more read through the same freaking FAQs that I now know by heart. No, I’m sorry, it seems I’m still oh so special. My question, or anything even close to my question simply is not there.

So I write. These are not my words exactly, but a creative translation of my more polite and official Norwegian version:

Nov 9th 2010

Hello dear provider of money – the key to my future knowledge.

I am currently studying at School of Visual Arts in the U.S. I have to pay $ 17,000 by December 1st to get to continue my education at SVA in the Spring semester. Considering that you already have accepted my application for funding the whole first school year, I guess this means that the money for the Spring semester would be just around the corner. However, I am not sure exactly how this works and when I can expect them. Do I have to sign something (like a new promissory note) to get the money transferred to my account even though I did sign something back in August? If so, can I expect that this note arrives at my Norwegian or my American address? And when?

Best regards,
Kristin Breivik

As I had waited for the reply for more than the promised 2/3 working days, I was all excited when I finally got an email about the fact that I had got an email in the Lånekassen mail system. To figure out exactly how they would make my money troubles seem far away, I logged in to the Lånekassen My site to read the following enlightening note:

Nov 16th 2010

Hi

The promissory notes for Spring 2011 will be sent from us mid December.

Best regards
Jane Doe
Lånekassen

Right. Ehm. WHAT? Hello, Jane “FAQ Robot” Doe. No brain and no empathy what so ever. I am trying to decipher this message in the best possible way. Maybe she did not understand that I am studying abroad. Surely they have to handle the students abroad differently than the Norwegian students, right? Most schools are free in Norway, but they do know that students abroad have to pay tuition and that this is generally due early. But either way. This answer is lacking so much in so many ways.

My plan B* is partly activated, but I am not giving up on Lånekassen completely. I need the money, and sooner rather than later. So I navigate through their annoying FAQs once more, to send this email their way:

Nov 17th 2010

[Explaining my situation once more, referring to the reference number etc.]

[Quoting the reply I got from Jane Doe]

So does this reply basically tell me that I will not be able to pay my tuition on time? Am I the only student abroad with Spring semester tuition due in December?

Hoping to get a quick reply, considering that this is kind of urgent now :)

Best regards,

Kristin Breivik

So yesterday I got this new email from Lånekassen.

Nov 22th 2010

[…]

Your application has been processed. A letter reply is sent to [my address in the U.S.].

How much do you get?
Log in to the Lånekassen My site to check the amount of money.

[…]

Best regards
Lånekassen

Is this a reply to my email? Were my last question considered to be an application of some sort? I thought I applied sometime before the summer? And my application for the whole school year was accepted, so I wasn’t really wondering how much money I get. I thought we had reached an agreement on that matter a long time ago. Really. I just wonder WHEN I will get the money Lånekassen so kindly offers to lend me, and WHAT (if anything), I can do to make it arrive in my account asap.

I am sure my case is rather generic. But after going through all the generic FAQs without finding my answer, I expect to be treated as an individual when I approach customer service. Yes, I actually expect to be treated as if I’m special in a way. At least throw in a hint of human empathy before you FAQ-spam me, so I can trust that you have read my story. This automatic-robot-approach is certainly not doing anyone any good.

In my cybernetics class, we are expected to make a model of a conversation this week – trying to depict different participants actions and underlying goals, and how we all struggle to get an understanding of each others goals when in a conversation. We constantly create and revise our mental model of what the other person really wants, based on the actions this person takes. In dialogs, we often attempt to reach an agreement of some sort, aiming towards aligning our goals as much as possible. Had I only understood what Lånekassen’s goal is in my dialog with them, I could use this case for my assignment. The sad part is that Lånekassen is not actually participating in this conversation at all. This ends up being a conversation I have with myself about what they could possibly mean by these random blurbs of FAQ emails. I struggle to apply meaning to what seems to be meaningless actions. Maybe the Lånekassen employees have a clear mental model of their inner workings, but they are simply terrible at communicating this to me to help me act so that I reach my goal.

*It’s obvious that this is not gonna go my way within the tuition bill due date. As mentioned, my plan B is activated. Plan B = parents with some money to spare. Thank God that I am one of those students that have a plan B. Lucky me!

So I shared the museum app concept I made with my wonderful group last week. I can now add that all the concepts my classmates made are published here at the course website — with presentations and all. We are now in the process of making another app. Individual assignments this time. Am I excited about creating yet another iPhone app? Not really. But I do like my working title on this project; That’s NOT trash! It’s an app supposed to help New York citizens recycle, deal with special waste and so on. I might come back to you when I have more than some silly OmniGraffle icons.

And don’t get me wrong. Recycling is important, and I’m sure(?) apps can help change the world. But right now I feel I’m more in a reading/reflecting/researching mode. And it’s Friday night and I simply have to PRODUCE. Gah. I totally forgot what being a student really means. No real weekend, that is.

So. I might come back to you when I have more than some silly OmniGraffle icons — and hopefully I’ll also be in a better mood :/

And I made an excuse
You found another way to tell the truth
I put no one else above us
We’ll still be best friends when all turns to dust
Excuses by The Morning Benders

A quote from the song I keep on repeat at the moment, Excuses by The Morning Benders. It’s so nice walking around in the sunny spring weather humming to the tune. Check out the video from the recording of the song below, where one big happy San Fran-family sing and play in the studio. You can download the mp3 of Excuses for free from the band site, www.themorningsbenders.com, and you can purchase their wonderful album Bic Echo there too :)

Tonight I am going to a live album recording concert session here in Oslo with Heartfelt & The Music Population Orchestra. Hopefully it will be just as magical!

There’s actually no rules against the pants – but there probably will be after this…

I couldn’t care less about the Olympic Games and I was planning to stay away from all TV-sports the next weeks. Until I remembered that curling is a part of it. I discovered this weird sport when zapping through the channels back in 2002. Equipped with teflon shoes and brooms Norway swept their way to the final in the 2002 Olympics, and ended up bringing the gold medal back home from Salt Lake City by beating Canada in the final.

Norway met Canada again yesterday in their first match. This time the Norwegian team was armed with more than shiny shoes and brooms. They were dressed in clown-like pants, designed to draw everyone’s attention away from rocks and brooms, and onto disturbing red, blue and white argyle pattern. Why? WHY?! Would anyone comment on the huge elephant in the room? Had I missed out on a sarcastic remark by the commentator? Or did everyone else find this outfit perfectly normal? My questions were many, and although the race between Norway and Canada was quite close, I could not really pay attention to the game until I got my answers.

The elephant has been noticed. The Norwegian Olympic Curling Team’s Pants fan page at Facebook has reached 30.000 fans – and the pants made their public debut on the TV-screen just about 30 hours ago! I found the WHY there:

It’s just that it’s Norwegian colours and our shirts weren’t that bright so we just figured we would spice it up a little bit with some colours. It’s really nice fabric! [...] There’s actually no rules against the pants – but there probably will be after this.
Christoffer Svae, The Norwegian Olympic Curling Team member

Do you want some fancy pants too? Buy them online!

—
UPDATE (Feb 28th 2010):
The fan page on Facebook has now 545.116 fans! The pants made it to the final where they met Canada once again. Unfortunately the magic pants’ power wasn’t enough to bring the gold medal home to Norway. But we like silver. It does match the argyle pattern much better anyway.

1) Books You Mean To Read But There Are Others You Must Read First

2) Books You’ve Always Pretended To Have Read And Now It’s Time To Sit Down And Really Read Them

3) Books That If You Had More Than One Life You Would Certainly Also Read But Unfortunately Your Days Are Numbered

Italo Calvino, If on a winter’s night a traveler

I am still reading about the detective Harry Hole, but I have started to think about what to digest when Harry has solved his last murder case. This process made me remember a quote I once heard on the radio. It was about how books can be classified, and I find it rather amusing. When googling it, I just found the next thing to add to my reading list – Italo Calvino’s “If on a winter’s night a traveler”. The quote is actually selected parts of a quite long passage about different types of books to find in the bookstore, and belongs to the first chapter of Calvino’s novel. After reading that chapter online (here it is), I really look forward to the rest of it! I have read some other stuff by Calvino before, but in Italian. However, I feel I should make it fun and less of a learning experience this time. Unless I want it to end up in the pile of Books I’ve Been Planning To Read For Ages!