Category: sxswi

My panel submission for SXSW10: “not-so-random acts of kindness”

I submitted the following panel to SXSW10. Please vote for it if you would like to see it happening.

Mobile technology makes the real world a massive real-time multi-player play ground. This is a unique opportunity to move away from “work and no play” or from the “this for that” of traditional money, towards motivating people to spontaneously provide good experiences, and collectively evolve towards more indirect forms of reciprocity.

Questions Answered:

1. Do achievement badges influence behavior more than monetary rewards?
2. Do people donate more when their donations are publicized to their social networks?
3. Will gifts be taxable?
4. Is scarcity a myth?
5. Can supply and demand be matched in better ways than through the market?
6. What motivates people to do good?
7. How does traditional money play along with new forms of social recognition?
8. How do we avoid social capital bankruptcy?
9. Are reputation based systems necessarily following a power law distribution?
10. Can we avoid the tragedy of the commons by relying less on money?

SXSWi session on the Future of Money

SXSWi 2009, which takes place in Austin, TX on March 13-17 2009 will feature a panel on Mobile Ubiquitous Computing and the Future of Money. The panel is organized by Kyle Outlaw of Razorfish. Kyle kindly invited me to share my thoughts on this favorite subject of mine, so I look forward to seeing you there.

Nearly half the world’s population now has a mobile device and more than a thousand cell phones are being activated every minute. The ubiquity of mobile devices will make new services available to billions of people worldwide who have not had access to traditional banks or credit cards. In developing countries such as Kenya – where nearly 80% of the population is excluded from the formal financial sector – text messaging is being used to transfer money to friends and family living in other countries. Moreover, new forms of currency are being created – trading cell phone minutes for goods and services, for example. This panel will explore the challenges and opportunities as banks go mobile, and how the revolution in mobile financial services will change the way we think about money.