• Provide a platform by which people can connect and build community around the idea of the Gift Economy
• Facilitate the spread of surplus goods in areas of abundance
• Build trust and accountability within local communities

Like many, I was first introduced to gift economy through the Burning Man festival, but its implementation didn't make complete sense to me, so I read more about it. Looking further into the ideas behind gift economy I learned that, in areas of abundance such as ours, it is more about creating a voluntary local community and connecting with like-minded people than staging a movement against commerce. So I joined two online gift economy forums for my area (Portland, Oregon).

These communities stumble over the same challenges over and over --

• How can I ensure my stuff gets to someone who will make good use of it?
• How can I find people who are reliable and trustworthy?
• How can I establish meaningful connections with others who are passionate about giving?
• How can I ensure those who have limited mobility can still participate?

I watch a lot of good-hearted people offer up their goods to an open community and have to navigate problems around transportation, communication and flakey recipients. Things like surplus produce go to waste when those who commit to picking them up never show up.

After a lot of thought, I was sure that these questions and stumbling blocks could at least alleviated by software. Hackbright gave me an opportunity to truly think through these challenges and how I might go about addressing them in a web application.

So.. In a world of Craigslist and Freecycle, how do you provide a great vehicle for people to give stuff away?

Accountability is a big problem in an online gift economy forum, and even worse when trolling Craigslist and Freecycle. It's easy to raise a hand promtply when you want something, and then fail to follow up if it becomes inconvenient to make arrangements to pick it up.

Step one: Introduce trust

I wrote my user management system so that it would integrate with Facebook's login system. User profile pages show the Facebook friends you have in common with the user, as well as another batch of their friends, with profile pictures and clickable links back to Facebook. This brings its own challenges -- people who intend to participate must have access to a computer and an internet connection -- but I have thought through ways to help reduce that barrier to entry such as introducing centrally located "depots" and people who are on-point to represent the needs of local communities. Meanwhile, this gets us 90% of the way there.

Step two: Increase accountability

Operating on the idea that people will naturally be more accountable when they are being watched, I decided that posts and replies, history and reputation would all be publically visible in the Gift Economy Engine and would link back to each involved end user. This also affords me the ability to catch spammers, re-sellers and over-posters through the BI I can gather from the system.

Users have the ablity to leave a "score" for people they have connected with. By building in the potential for consequences, such as amassing enough data to suggest someone has a pattern of being unreliable, people will be more conscientious overall when voicing interest and the intent to follow-through on it.

Step three: Lower barriers

Access to free goods isn't always easy to obtain. People with mobility or scheduling challenges find it hard to compete for free items with those who have a car, a bicycle, a lot of spare time to accommodate the gifter. At the same time, someone involved in a Gift Economy who is passing through town might not mind carrying another parcel or two on their way, to get it where it needs to go.

I built in the role of a "helper" -- someone who can assist an item in getting where it needs to go -- to help facilitate community, connection and free exchange. I also built in zip codes and bus system information to help community members determine whether or not they could get to the item easily.

Step four: Make it easy to participate

Users who log in can browse local listings for items they're interested in or can help transport. Basic details about availability and location are also a part of each post and response. The status of a connection or transaction becomes obvious based on visual cues -- changes to a page when a poster selects a recipient.