More Info
Privacy Concerns
Many people have concerns with posting details of things they have to lend out, because they are worried that someone might then come to their house or shed and steal those things.
The main answer to this problem is that your address is not listed on the site - unless you decide to put it up there. If someone emails you wanting to borrow your electric drill say, you can either respond by agreeing to drop it off at their address or meet up elsewhere, or you can decline, saying that you don't know them so you'd rather not. In our experience so far, people won't ask to borrow things until after they've gotten to know you anyway.
Internet Accessibility
It is important to cater for neighbours who don't have computers or the internet and/or are not computer literate. You can do this in two ways:
Firstly, find somewhere local where people can go to use the internet for free like a library or a community centre/neighbourhood house. These spaces often offer computer literacy classes as well. Or you can always sit down with neighbours yourself and go through the basics. Many people are reasonably computer literate but would still appreciate being shown through the site before they'll venture into it on their own.
Secondly, don't rely solely on the website. Put up a public noticeboard somewhere central in your area that people can add to themselves, and where you can also post printouts from the website. Or print out a directory of neighbours' profiles from the site and deliver it to people who don't use the internet. Organise a phone tree for events, send text messages, etc.
People used to organise communities without the internet; the Sharehood website is just there to help facilitate that community. In a way, the less reliant you are on the website, the better. The advantage of the Sharehood's web infrastructure is just increased communication.
Givers and Takers
Unfortunately we don't live in utopia yet, and there are people out there who might use a welcoming community to take advantage of individuals. In order to counter this, a lawyer from the first hood, created a Terms of Agreement document that all neighbours must agree to when they join the site. This states amongst other things that all borrowed goods must be returned in the same or better condition.
Additionally, we have created a local currency, called Samaras, for use in trading goods or skills/time. This is largely there for the larger trades, and ensures that people are able to get back from the community as much as they give. There is a lot more information about the trading system which you may like to familiarise yourself with.
If you have any questions that are not answered by what you've read either on this page or the letterboxing page, please email us and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks for reading...
