Criterias

Background

The Smart Map wants to show the local sharing economy that most people don’t know about. On The Smart Map you can find what otherwise often goes unnoticed.

The criterias was originally developed by the civic non-profit organisation Collaborative Economy Sweden (in Swedish Kollaborativ Ekonomi Sverige) in collaboration with the City of Gothenburg with inspiration from Procommons Collaborative Economy Analytical Framework.

The Criterias

Version 4.0 (Last updated January 28, 2022)

1. To facilitate access over ownership

The aim of the criterias is to show the things we can rent, share, swap, borrow, give/take — and not what we can buy and sell. In some geographic areas second hand shop and places where you can get your things repaired, this is decided by the local editors.

On the map you will not find initiatives where you buy services such as dog walking or the assembling of furniture. However we do show some initiatives that have both buy and sell and access over ownership, for example businesses where you can both rent and sell clothes, but in those cases it’s the rental part that is being highlighted.

When it comes to immaterial resources such as time and knowledge, we will only show the initiatives and activities where the focus is the exchange of knowledge between its participants. The content should however also fit the overall theme of The Smart Map — the sharing economy.

Public, common and shared spaces are only displayed if they offer access to functions or things out of the ordinary — that otherwise would come with a cost.

2. Open to everyone

This criteria is meant to promote social inclusion and stop discrimination.

Open to everyone means open regardless of sex, ethnic belonging, sexual preference, physical or mental disabilities, religion or other beliefs.

However, a gender-separated activity is ok. The same goes for age, for instance an activity for children.

The Smart Map doesn’t show initiatives that are only open to people living in the same block or house, since this is too excluding and the value of putting it on the map is too low.

3. There are local participants or users

This criteria refers to critical mass and local anchoring. There are several Facebook groups and apps, etc. The Smart Map only displays those who have a local activity and where there are local participants and users. A participant is creating value by, for instance, swapping something with someone. A user is someone who gets access to something by renting something and is usually more passive than a participant. That’s why we’re using these terms of roles.

4. Small and local

This criterion means that the Smart Map preferably is highlighting services and initiatives that are small-scale, but also that there should be one or more people to contact locally.

5. Not widely known

This criteria aims to show that the Smart Map display services and initiatives that are not well known and often go under the radar. This means that the map don’t list initiatives that the general public can be expected to know about.

ADDITIONS

Builds horizontal trust between people

This addition highlights initiatives that promote and build trust between people. Transactions between people can be done through an intermediary or directly, either digitally and/or physically. An example is an association where private individuals borrow other private cars and have direct contact with each other.

Free or at cost price

This addition is about financial inclusion. The lower the economic thresholds, the more people can and will participate.

There is a community

This addition is intended to promote community and participation. A community can be both digital and/or physical. In a community, power is often distributed horizontally. Relationships in a community are usually described as stronger than business relationships, but weaker than family relationships.

Democratic influence

This addition promotes democracy and participation, something that can be expressed in the organizational form or methods of conducting the initiative.

Open data and open source

This addition is aiming to show access to generated data and code that can be accessible. Open code and open software normally means computer programmes where the source code is not proprietary, but is available to be used, to be read, modified and distributed however you want. Open data is digital information that you can use without paying a fee and accept other terms and conditions besides naming the source.