Comments on: Framework for reinventing classifieds

By: Jackie Hai | Convergence Commons | Reframing Convergence: The Presentation

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:10:54 +0000

[...] Three – The converged community (starts at 00:19:33) 00:25:25 – Framework for reinventing classifieds 00:27:32 – Twitter Used by J-Students to Track Handicapped Spots (correction: the students [...]

By: Micro-currency extrapolation - Daniel Bachhuber

Micro-currency extrapolation - Daniel Bachhuber — Wed, 20 May 2009 22:59:42 +0000

[...] Let’s take this one step further. In addition to allowing the community to pitch assignments, they should obviously be able to use a currency to vote on which reporting projects actually move forward. It doesn’t need to be an “official” currency, however; the money that the community uses to green-light journalism assignments could be the same that they use for economic transactions within the local geo-space. [...]

By: Nathan Ketsdever

Nathan Ketsdever — Tue, 19 May 2009 01:52:46 +0000

Great idea! I listened to his talk about a month ago–great insight.

I’m curious how social capital (ie “Whuffie” or “Whuffie dollars” might be used to help create an exchange system away from the dollar.

I was part of making a Facebook app that allows people to share goods with friends + friends of friends. It never took off..but I think its cool none-the-less. I think if we promote it in Freegan communities it might get some traction.

By: DJ Strouse

DJ Strouse — Wed, 13 May 2009 07:38:46 +0000

Though you pitch the idea as a “local” microcurrency, this concept of quantifiable trustworthiness would be very useful for the web at-large. Right now, I might be able to generate some clout at Ebay, Amazon, or Wikipedia, but my clout doesn’t carry between sites. I envision tying these “reputation points” to a central profile, perhaps an OpenID. Individual sites could define and award their points differently but by applying some sort of relative scaling factors (perhaps weighted by how frequently each site gives out points), these points could be combined at your central profile. Those checking in to your background would be able to see a breakdown of where your reputation points came from as well (that way, they can exercise necessary suspicion if all of Daniel’s clout comes from http://www.danielbachhuber.com!).

Would you consider expanding this idea for the web at-large and talking to the folks at OpenID?

By: Daniel Bachhuber

Daniel Bachhuber — Tue, 12 May 2009 05:50:02 +0000

Ha, I don’t think that I’d necessarily call them experience points, but you get the idea As it turns out, Eric Eldon at Venture Beat had a story today that Facebook is going to test a payment system in the near future. While this is for virtual goods and services, I think that most newspapers are in unique positions to establish currencies for real-world local goods and services. The idea is there for someone to experiment with.

By: Richard Caesar

Richard Caesar — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:43:01 +0000

Nice. I think this has potential. You have a system where you basically give Exp points for doing things in real life, including citizen news coverage. The ability to cash them in on the virtual marketplace holds it together.
As Jackie eluded to, with the prevalence of the MMORPG and Alternate Reality Game crowd, this idea may catch on really well.

By: Jackie Hai

Jackie Hai — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:04:10 +0000

I like this. The idea of micro-currencies isn’t nearly as far-fetched as it once was, especially with MMORPGs like Second Life and WoW generating virtual economies that rival the real ones of some small countries. And with the U.S. economy in the tank and people looking for ways to save cash, the time is absolutely ripe for something like this to catch on.

By: Daniel Bachhuber

Daniel Bachhuber — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:51:49 +0000

I think the idea has a lot of potential because, although introducing alternative currencies is somewhat of a culture shift, the technology platforms to manage transactions are almost to saturation point. If I’m loaning out my kayak paddle to my friend, I can record the first half of that transaction with my iPhone (I update my profile to indicate that he currently has the paddle and he accepts that update) as well as the second half of the transaction (that he has returned my paddle in good condition).

By: Don Gilmore

Don Gilmore — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:46:38 +0000

I’ve been waiting for this to happen ever since reading Mark S. Miller and K. Eric Drexler’s “agoric open systems” paper in late 1980′s. Maybe the time is finally ripe?