OurGoods supports the production of new work through barter, because resource sharing is the paradigm of the 21st century. OurGoods is a scaleable, local initiative and part of the growing landscape of alternative models of exchange in art, design, and culture. OurGoods is specifically dedicated to the barter of creative skills, spaces, and objects. OurGoods helps independent projects get done.

The bartering platform is currently being tested as an aplha version, restricted to New York City only, but as the project matures, it will allow participation from people from outside the arts community and from other locations around the world to form local exchange networks.

One of the interesting peculiarities of the project is that it forbids the participation of organizations, requiring you to participate as an individual.

The starting point of the OurGoods project was the Trade School, in which you could register for classes in a range of different subjects, as long as you provided something (a service, a good, a space) to the teacher in return. The Trade School is scheduled for a re-opening in September.

You can find out more on OurGoods in this presentation or ask here for an invite code to participate in the beta.

The difference with other online services that let you create a social network, as Ning, are the more action oriented features, like a project management tool, and other features aimed to encourage sharing and exchanging services between commune members.

The platform is politically and socially agnostic, although some features indicate some preference for sharing and non-commercial relationships. It could be useful for starting groups and communities that don’t want to lose momentum or spend much time setting up a website, although self-hosted, free, open source alternatives are always preferable, to maintain control of data and information.