Lucy Bernholz reflects on the Share Conference

Sharing companies with robust digital platforms have really interesting digital data that could be of use to researchers, policy makers and government officials. Want information on current transporation patterns (Lyft, Uber, Car share, bikeshare)? Want information on tourism patterns (Airbnb, Homeaway)? Want to look at structural racism, affordable housing or daycare, or gender and safety issues? (analyze use patterns from any of the aforementioned). Will these companies hold the data back and fight subpoenas from AGs offices? Will they negotiate with users to release data for public use? Are these data sets part of the "public benefit" potential of these companies and will they argue such when the inevitable battles between nonprofit and for-profit versions of home or car sharing services arise? Can cities and sharing companies strike pro-active data sharing deals that protect users privacy, inform public policy, and benefit communities - without going to court?

The basic reading list.

Reflections from Lucy Bernholz who has been tracking the sharing economy for a long time and offers some great insights.

• Everything old is new again - and that's good and bad. Rebranding co-ops as #Tcorporations (they're managed under section T of the tax code) will make them sexy to social entrepreneurs and that's OK. What's really interesting is not how iPhones are rejuvenating a 500 year old business model, but how the confluence of this phenomenon, along with crowdfunding, MIGHT lead to the growth of mutually beneficial workplaces and worked owned governance structures (e.g. coops) - (the MIGHT is intentional, I've only drunk a small bit of the crowdfunding and sharing kool aid)

• Real attention to creating new ownership models and new finance structures - that might distribute wealth in new ways - is exciting. And there's lots of innovation in the sharing space.

• Sharing and mutual aid are longstanding traditions, often used by the marginalized who can't get access to mainstream systems of finance, credit, or asset growth. So far, most digital sharing platform companies seem to be, as one participant noted, "helping skilled workers with assets in the developed world get more." The response - "It doesn't have to be that way." OK - I'll but that, it doesn't have to be that way - but it's not magically going to be anything else unless we work to make it something else. Who and how is that going to happen?

We enable you to eliminate hunger and malnutrition in your own community.

AmpleHarvest.org connects 40+ million Americans with excess food in their garden and local food pantries.

Garden by garden, home & community gardeners and other growers are fighting hunger and malnutrition in America.