At the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea show during the Salone del Mobile, Vinay Venkatraman gave me some explanations about Sharer!, a very interesting project of service he had developed with James Tichenor.

Sharer! connects borrowers and lenders in a same neighbourhood and allows them to earn money by securely renting out objects they seldom use to others in their area. Users can upload pictures, give description and browser other people object through a website. The system works in collaboration with the postal system and the postman is the point of contact to the lender. A series of secure electronic lockers are the transit point for the object and the borrower picks up the object and deposits it back there after the loan period is up. Besides, as each item lent has been fitted with an RFID tag, the owner can follow on a website the use of the object.

After looking at the type of objects people are willing to share, the project investigates interpersonal limitations and the possibility of sharing of objects within a local community.

Video scenario on the website.

At the Fabbrica del Vapore, via Procaccini, 4 Milano.
The show runs until April 21st (noon-5pm). Closed: April 16-17.