This semester has been one heck of a roller coaster of self discovery and trying to understand our own position within the world of the Sharing Economy. During those twelve - thirteen weeks I've been keeping track of my weekly thoughts and reflections towards the Sharing Economy.
Overall it has been quite eye-opening and it is intimidating to think that these issues really affect the way we work act and live overall.
For this series I will most likely split them over in three to four parts since some entries are rather long. Overall it is a documentation of my progress over the twelve weeks.
Can We Share This?
When we were children - we were taught to share.
When we become adults - we are told that this can be a cruel and superficial (or selfish) world.
And then we must make money to survive.
And now because there is this large imbalance of social hierarchy, we are now pressing our creative mindsets to make profit.
So we share.
But what is sharing really? We are spending each week constantly trying to find the accurate definition of sharing.
Perhaps sharing is just an innuendo for borrowing, lending, giving, taking.
There is ownership involved though. But who?
Too many questions facing us - and desperation is rising. But one thing I know for sure... Our morals are somehow twisted and is only an idealistic desire...
28th February 2018 – We are sharing sweetheart, just not the way you’d like
I never really understood the term ‘sharing economy’, on top of that I’ve never really understood how the economy truly works. Every day I would be listening to my dad explaining the rise and falls of the share markets and my best friend calling me over the phone venting out the issues of the stakeholders – it is quite intimidating really to be confronted what controls most of our everyday lives, and running away from it doesn’t solve the issue.
In all honesty, I was hardly aware of the ‘sharing economy’ until it was brought to our attention back in third year of my architectural studies. Stopping in front of the Barbican or the Golden Lane Estate, I was puzzled by the reasons why we had to draw the spatial arrangements of certain rooms that were listed on AirBnB. It was only until we started to do an in-depth reading of each of the listings of the rooms that I realised the sucker-punching consequences this ‘sharing’ system has. Moreover, it is quite sad to see how something that was built on good intentions can evolve into an economy – though marketed as society doing a good deed could make majority of us vulnerable.
In other words – when people’s hunger for more wealth creeps in, the good will intentions becomes a disposable comment.
On the other hand, the concept and existence of sharing economy is beyond AirBnB, rather it is also the complications of the term ‘sharing’ that can be manipulated into multiple meanings also affect how people function in the society. Questions arise: is the library a sharing system? Is sharing a piece of cake with someone really sharing? Are op shops considered sharing? Soon, we would start to dive into the merits of peoples’ business and actions – and the increasing levels (or dare I say decreasing if morals don’t align) becomes the main currency within the society or economy today. But that can be discussed for another matter.
So after powering through a few YouTube videos (thank you Crash Course and One Minute Economics) and TED’s playlist about the Sharing Economy (which made me feel highly stupid and naïve that we can trust ratings and reviews from strangers so easily – hello eBay and Colourpop) – I am now questioning how society really works, or rather whether this is a reflection of our own internal conflict: we all want to do well by the community yet we all still want to look out for ourselves. There is uncertainty in the term ‘sharing’ now, coupled with the ongoing issue of people forgetting that there are others who may not have the same opportunity as them to be involved in this kind of economy – it is hard to know where society’s values lie.
“But hunny, you’d be naïve to think there are morals in economy”
As much as I hate to admit what my friend say is true, as the idiotic optimistic idealist – I’d like to believe that one day we can reach a point where we could create a system that has moral ethics attached to it. Even there are times where I become highly aware of my own greed to make profit whenever I can however, is this a side effect of my worries for my future? Or am I catching on the paranoia of not obtaining enough wealth to sustain myself.
Either way – my hopes are simply wishful thinking.
7th March 2018 – Lovers first or Family first?
If you ask a class of people what they consider sharing is, even looking it up on Wikipedia.org or Dictionary.com, you are still entering a battlefield of people’s attachment to their beliefs.
Well, at least that was the atmosphere I felt when I was transcribing down the great debate of what programs occur in prescribed rooms. From bedroom to study to kitchen to living room – we started allocate furniture, items and even movements for each space while debating whether we really need those spaces at all. On top of it all, the argument of whether you’d share your personal items between partners or family members and their hierarchy puzzled me the most (I think it would’ve helped if I have had the experience of being in a relationship). However, I’m starting to see sharing as the shield for borrowing, gifting, paying forward, exchanging. From looking at everyone’s opinion – I felt like we can really ‘share’ something if we place the term within our actions. How we word our actions ultimately affects and reflects our personality. Spatially speaking though, to be able to be so willing to give up a little bit of our privacy with others somehow fits the idea of sharing. Regardless there is also the extent of who we share with. On the other hand, how we are raised and the cultural perception of sharing that has been taught to us also affect our view of sharing. Namely, the infamous bar soap scenario – are you willing to share this bar of soap that has been on someone else’s body? Does the relationship between you and the last person who used the bar of soap affects your decision on whether it’d be used or not?
But if you look at it from another perspective, we can argue that sharing is taking turns at having responsibility for a certain matter. However, what we are sharing now are only physical objects and not the intangible. And while this is an architecture studio – what are the intangible qualities of space? Furthermore, how do we decide if it is sharable or not? We share furniture, but can we share feelings?
Bring on the debates.
14th March 2018 – You Share, I Share, We All Bloody Share
I have a bad habit of overanalysing and remembering past conversations and criticising the things I said.
The most I’d be asking to borrow back my own pencil when I forgot that it was mine originally. It’s similar to the cake sharing situation – is it really sharing when something disappears from you?
Currently, we know that sharing involves ownership, or at least taking responsibility, in addition there are different types of sharing in terms of subjects and spatial qualities:
- Reciprocal (swap)
- Portional (small part)
- Economical – Efficient (beneficial)
- Temporal (time managed)
- Concurrent (at the same time)
- Redistribution (spread)
- Communal/ Co-ownership
From the following list, reciprocal and portional sharing appears to be the most common type of sharing within the sharing economy, whereas the other kinds of sharing are more evident in the smaller spaces – that is temporal sharing in hotel rooms, concurrent sharing with furniture and redistribution of bikes.