Mr Wet Underpants in 1989

The Pop Miwsig good-causes staff on a Shareable.net / Latitude sharing project

Shareable.net is a nonprofit online magazine that covers the people, places, and projects that are bringing a shareable world to life, sharing tools and tips to help make a shareable world more accessible, whether through clothing swaps, childcare coops, potlucks, car-sharing, community gardening, or cohousing (a type of intentional community composed of private homes with full kitchens, supplemented by extensive common facilities, planned, owned and managed by the residents: groups of people who want more interaction with their neighbours).

Shareable work on the ethos that sharing frees up time and money for the important things in life, and when we share, not only is a better life possible, but so is a better world.

Latitude Research is an international research consultancy dedicated to helping clients envision and create the future through web-based innovation. In coalition, Shareable and Latitude want you to take part in a survey to further understand how people might be thinking about sharing differently in the modern world, and simultaneously generate new insights and potential around the future of sharing. They dangle before you the carrot of a $10 Amazon gift card for participating.

“The study will assess individuals’ awareness of current shared offerings, their attitudes about sharing and trust, and their engagement with sharing across a variety of contexts. Participants will be contributing to a relatively new and increasingly important knowledge base. Moreover, they will be playing a critical role in helping to generate new ideas and opportunities for the future of sharing. (Results will be shared on both Shareable.net and Latitude’s life-connected.com in the coming weeks.)”

After taking the survey you can choose to pocket your prize as an Amazon gift card or, preferably donate the cash towards the Creative Commons Catalyst Campaign to raise money for their Catalyst Grants program. Creative Commons is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others, consistent with the rules of copyright, providing free licenses and other legal tools to mark creative work with the freedom the creator wants it to carry, so others can share, remix, use commercially, and their Catalyst Grants program seeks to make it possible for individuals and organizations to harness the power of Creative Commons.

“A grant might enable a group in a developing country to research how Open Educational Resources can positively impact its community. Another could support a study of entrepreneurs using Creative Commons licenses to create a new class of socially responsible businesses.”

The Creative Commons goal is to raise $100,000 from supporters to fund the grants that will make all this possible, and help spread the mission of openness and innovation across all cultural and national boundaries. A worthy cause I sure you'll agree, so you can take the Shareable survey here and help them out.

Neil Jones