EAGER: Strengthening Communities Through ICT-Enabled Indirect Resource Exchange

本研究将结合联合收割机以用户为中心的设计，硬件和软件的开发，以及定量和定性的方法来收集经验数据和用户的反馈，通过一个新的间接资源交换（IRE）系统的实验部署。城市环境中的社区，特别是得不到充分服务的社区，可以受益于通过资源的间接交换所带来的积极的经济和社会成果，在这种交换中，个人为他人提供利益，但并不获得直接的回报。IRE服务有可能为当地社区，特别是城市环境中服务不足的社区提供直接和间接的好处，通过减少开支和浪费来支持经济活力，建立更大的社区意识，改善邻居之间的社会联系，并为更具弹性的社区做出贡献。虽然之前有许多尝试来创建成功的IRE服务，但没有一个被广泛采用或成功扩展。然而，信息和通信技术（ICT）的最新进展，包括低资源计算，3D打印和激光切割的出现，使得构建和部署低成本硬件和软件系统成为可能，这些系统可以改变IRE服务的格局。为了实现这一潜力，我们需要了解并克服一系列复杂的技术、社会、行为和心理挑战，这些挑战最终将决定社区对这些服务的采用和使用。通过一个新的IRE系统，我们在纽约市欠发达的社区开发的实验部署，这项研究将解决与IRE相关的三个主要挑战：（1）理解和克服与信任和社会摩擦相关的挑战;（2）学习协调个人之间的资源交换的最佳方式;（3）调查如何激励使用和激励参与。该系统将作为一个开源平台和一套指导方针打包和发布，使社区能够构建和部署自己的IRE服务。这项工作的智力贡献包括：（1）设计和构建新的硬件和软件技术，成功地在各种社区协调IRE;（2）开发和测试一系列跨学科-社会，行为和心理-影响IRE服务的使用和采用的机制;（3）从实验性部署中汲取见解和经验教训，揭示不同背景下的信息、工程和环境评估的好处和挑战;以及（4）贡献经验数据、设计指南和具体的软件和硬件工件，这将有助于推进学术研究和当地社区。

This research will combine user-centered design, hardware and software development, and a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods to collect empirical data and user feedback through experimental deployments of a novel indirect resource exchange (IRE) system. Communities in urban environments, particularly underserved communities, could benefit from the positive economic and social outcomes offered via indirect exchange of resources, where individuals provide benefits to others but do not receive direct benefits in return. IRE services have the potential to provide direct and indirect benefits for local communities, particularly underserved communities in urban settings, by supporting economic vitality through reducing expenses and waste, building a greater sense of community, improving social connections between neighbors, and contributing to more resilient communities. Although there have been many prior attempts to create successful IRE services, none have been widely adopted or successfully scaled. However, recent advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), including the advent of low-resource computing, 3D printing, and laser-cutting, make it feasible to build and deploy low-cost hardware and software systems that could transform the landscape of IRE services. For this potential to be realized, we need to understand and overcome a complex set of technical, social, behavioral, and psychological challenges that will ultimately determine the adoption and use of these services by communities. Through experimental deployments of a novel IRE system that we develop with underserved communities in New York City, this research will address three major challenges associated with IRE: (1) understanding and overcoming challenges associated with trust and social friction; (2) learning the best way to coordinate the exchange of resources between individuals; and (3) investigating how to motivate use and incentivize participation. The system will be packaged and released as an open-source platform and set of guidelines that enable communities to construct and deploy their own IRE services. The intellectual contributions of this work include: (1) designing and building novel hardware and software technologies that successfully coordinate IRE in a variety of communities; (2) developing and testing a range of interdisciplinary - social, behavioral, and psychological - mechanisms that influence use and adoption of IRE services; (3) distilling insights and lessons learned from experimental deployments that reveal the benefits and challenges of IRE in different contexts; and (4) contributing empirical data, design guidelines, and concrete software and hardware artifacts that will be useful for advancing both academic research and local communities.