Tag Archive for 'couchsurfing'

Something new is possible for the first time in thousands of years

Published
by
Kasper Souren
on 2008-12-29
in United States, hospitality exchange, open life and social networks
. 1 Comment

It always makes me happy to hear from Joe.  He wrote something new: How mobile phones can replace a broken economy: The Mobile Manifesto:

When we talk about trouble with the economy, we’ve been overlooking an astounding opportunity. Something new is possible for the first time in thousands of years. If you care about the planet, if you care about your kids, if you care about other people, this is something to pay attention to.

While we continue to argue about capitalism and socialism, for the first time a third option is really possible. We can build a more sophisticated, dynamic, distributed approach to organizing labor and resources than has ever been attempted before.

It’s bold and sensible. It has made sense for the past couple of years, when it became clear to me that the deeper ideas behind the sharing of free software and free information are applicable to the real world, the real economy. It was no wonder I met Joe 2 years ago at the CouchSurfing Collective in New Zealand; it was amazing experience to work with him.  His analysis of modern life is razor sharp and combined with his desire for change we could start seeing “actual people, in vicinity to one another, thinking about each others’ needs, and helping each other, in person and on the ground“.

Unlike existing networks based on short messaging (twitter, broadtexter, brightkite, etc), Groundcrew focuses on finding and coordinating like-minded strangers rather than friends. Groups form based on common beliefs, needs, and interests. Broad groups exist for those interested in good deeds, adventures, exchanges, and more.

Another differentiating factor is that Groundcrew aggregates information about members’ immediate availability for action, together with agents’ passions and dreams. This is opposed to other services (twitter, facebook) which work more generally with status updates and feeds.

Citizen Logistics

Published
by
Kasper Souren
on 2007-10-29
in hospitality exchange, open life and trust metrics
. 0 Comments

Together, Joe Edelman and I were the dynamic duo of the CouchSurfing Collective in New Zealand. Joe came with fantastic ideas, that were unfortunately not realized in Nelson. Fortunately he also improved the infrastructure of CS in such a profound way that his work there is probably the main reason that the website is still up. It was great working with him and we had many magic moments, where we really thought were about to make stuff happen that would change the world in a profound way.

When I saw a glimpse of James’ headline, Swarming people to work, I had a faint hint that some of the most important of Joe’s ideas were being realized by elsewhere. My online situation at the time is not great, so I sent Joe a text without even checking Joi Ito’s post. The next time I came online I was happy to see that Joe accelerated. From CitizenLogistics.com:

Television and computer games provide expertly designed entertainment and fun… but when we have to deal with our real lives, we’re all alone. When will participating in the real world and dealing with real issues be just as adventurous, easy, collaborative, and fun?

Very soon! We’re developing new game-like ways of working, volunteering, having a good time, and finding assistance. Anyone can play, and you get points for making other people’s dreams come true. Our software lets you find cool things to do, build teams, and connect people with jobs and resources, all via text messaging and geolocation in the real world.

My favorite part of the teaser website is about Open Life:

Our technology will transform everyday life by bringing a new opportunities for teamwork, community, and adventure to everyone involved. We offer a real-time, map-based interface for finding and mobilizing available people out in the world via their cell phones. For mobile users, we have a txt-based interface for declaring your availability and finding opportunities near wherever you are. Combining geolocation, text messaging, trust metrics, sophisticated permissions, and a structure for social incentives, we integrate with many other websites and platforms, and offer a web-wide API for aggregating real world availability and trust.

Related reading:

One Million Forgotten Moments

Published
by
Kasper Souren
on 2007-09-14
in United States, hospitality exchange and trust metrics
. 0 Comments

amylin cut off her dreadlocks last night. Today she is frantically trying to comb out the remains of her dreads. Last night we also went to a great theater show, we were in an audience of 20, sitting inside, watching tens of “actors” performing on the sidewalk and on the street, mingling with omunexpecting by-passers. Very entertaining!

This week was also great for dumpster diving. It’s just too easy in New York. I also got some work done on TrustLet and spent too much time writing stuff about the CouchSurfing Leadership Team. Fortunately I also booked some progress with getting other people hacking on the BeWelcome code. I can’t wait till it’s finally released under the GPL, so that I can just add a link to the one-file BW Rox for Windows I’m working on.

So, now I hope that my dreadless dear will fix me a new layout for this blog  some time soon.

Addendum, October 2007

I mostly fixed the layout myself, but at least she just sent me this picture.

amylin and me watching million forgotten moments

Wikivoyage

Published
by
Kasper Souren
on 2007-09-03
in guaka, travel and wiki
. 3 Comments

I have been a contributor on Wikitravel for a long time now. I was not too worried when Wikitravel was bought by Internet Brands (which has already shown interest in buying CouchSurfing). But I have been annoyed by the lack of database dumps at Wikitravel for a long time now. So I was very happy to stumble upon an alternative: Wikivoyage.

The project was set up by disgruntled admins of the German version of Wikitravel. I haven’t gone into the gory details, but it could be more than  the lack of database dumps. My wild guess is that there was a cultural misunderstanding between Wikitravel, that was founded with an SF Bay Area Burning Man culture, and the Europeans dealing with policies created by them. It’s funny to see some more parallels here with CouchSurfing but ortunately Wikitravel was already a lot more open (using Creative Commons and mostly open means of communication) than CS so forking was quite easy.

Now let’s see if a little bit more pressure will induce Internet Brands to make the dumps available.

Weak links

Published
by
Kasper Souren
on 2007-08-28
in books, hospitality exchange and trust metrics
. 0 Comments

Yesterday I started reading Barabasi’s “Linked: The New Science of Networks”. It’s inspiring, in many ways. It makes me realize how different my life is, compared to most nodes in the social network of human connections. I have many connections, but compared to most people, most of my links are weak. I met so many people in so many places, mostly for very brief periods - i.e. a ride in their car, staying one night at someone’s home. Or just meeting someone randomly in the street.

Besides these realizations, the book is also giving me more energy to move TrustLet forward. Last month I was a bit pre-occupied with the way CouchSurfing is organized. I hope there will be an announcement, that CS is just a service from now on, and that many occurrences of “participation” and “participate” will be removed from the website. Anyway, there will be a big campaign to attract volunteers and members to BeWelcome in October.