account sharing in the context of networked hospitality exchange

Airi Lampinen @airi_!Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT!

*Research done at Microsoft Research New England!

Account Sharing in the Context of Networked Hospitality Exchange

Couchsurfing.org: Non-‐monetary Networked Hospitality Exchange

Network hospitality (Molz, 2011): The ways users of hospitality exchange services connect with one another via online tools, and the kinds of relaAonships they perform when they meet each other offline and face to face

Why are account sharing and network hospitality important for CSCW? •  Many popular and emerging online sharing

and collaboraAve consumpAon systems allow people to engage in network hospitality and in other types social exchange of goods and services

•  People oFen live together with others and co-‐

own resources -‐ services that support opening up domesAc spaces and sharing other types of resources need to take this into account

•  This project sheds light on the account

sharing challenges encountered by mulF-‐person households who offer to host strangers in their homes through Couchsurfing.org

Case Study of Account Sharing on Couchsurfing.org

•  In-‐depth, semi-‐structured interviews with 16 individuals from 8 households of more than one people who offer to host couchsurfers in their domesAc spaces

•  Primary focal points of the analysis: 1.  SeNng up and maintaining profiles 2.  Handling CouchRequests 3.  WriAng and receiving references

aFer hosAng couchsurfers

Challenges Related to Account Sharing in the Context of Network Hospitality

1.  PresenAng mulAple people in a single profile

2.  CoordinaAng negoAaAons over access to domesAc space

3.  RepresenAng in a fair way the reputaAon hosts have accumulated together over Ame

“Right now, it’s just male, female, or mul5ple people. And then you can put mul5ple pictures or you can describe, but there’s no way to actually say we are this person, this person and this person. And not all of us have a way to log in and see the site unless we just share my login.” "

Challenge I: PresenFng MulFple People in One Profile

Challenge II: NegoFaFng over Access to DomesFc Spaces

“We definitely always look at the request and talk about it together [..] I don’t think one of us would say yes or no to someone before we had talked about it.”

"

Challenge II: NegoFaFng over Access to DomesFc Spaces

”Yeah usually the way we do it is he checks the account, but he sends me the details and then we discuss whether those days work and then I respond to him and he writes back and then he starts cc'ing me on any email exchanges he has.”

"

“Yeah, I would guess that we'd probably write it, because I bet, like, if we had a really fun 5me, then we would probably want to, like, sit together, and say, oh, this was fun, that was fun, and write about it. And if we were like, a liIle peeved, then I think we would want to, like, talk together about how to be polite but also be honest”.

Challenge III: Sharing the Benefits of a Trustworthy ReputaFon

“the first 5me I’m hearing about feedback”


Not knowing what kind of a reputaAon one’s household has online may be problemaAc For instance, lesser opportuniAes to benefit from a good reputaAon accumulated through joint hosAng efforts


Designing for Shared Use: Shared Profiles and ReputaFon •  A profile that showcases posiAve references is likely to

increase its owners’ success in requesAng a place to stay (or in receiving visitors to host) – how to allow everyone involved in hosFng to benefit fairly?

•  Current design provides li`le assistance for transferring reputaAon to a new context – how to support conFnuing parFcipaFon as a reputed member aOer a life change?

•  How about designing mulF-‐person profiles as collecFons of components that can be combined and decomposed as needed? (Consider the trade-‐offs!)

Designing for Shared Use: Shared Access and Awareness •  Some parAcipants were not contented with the

affordances Couchsurfing.org provides for cooperaFve coordinaFon

•  When it comes to facilitaAng cooperaAon among mulAple household members who are sharing an account, however, seemingly easy fixes, such as allowing mulAple redirect addresses, may introduce inadvertent challenges

•  Group-‐level coordinaAon is not an issue that could be ‘solved by design’, rather provide users with meaningful choice and encourage joint reflecFon

Designing for Shared Use: Shared Access and Awareness •  Asking people to consider clearly arFculated choices when they are seNng up a shared account in an online

system could help them reflect on and discuss together how to handle their account

•  Next to opAons from which to select in seNng up a profile, the setup process could be accompanied with a short list of issues household members should agree upon and examples of how others have resolved them: –  who maintains the profile? –  how are decisions over whom to host made? –  who answers messages and writes references?

•  Key challenges of account sharing in the context of networked hospitality exchange include 1.  presenAng mulAple people with a single profile 2.  coordinaAng and negoAaAng responding to CouchRequests 3.  sharing the benefits of a good reputaAon in a fair way

•  Similar issues may occur in other instances of network hospitality as well as in systems that facilitate online exchange or ridesharing

•  Amidst the rising rhetoric of a ‘reputaFon economy’,

what are the inclusions, exclusions, and inequaliAes that reputaAon metrics may renew or create, especially if they fail to acknowledge people’s account sharing pracAces?

Conclusion

•  Money: Account sharing pracAces in non-‐monetary vs monetary networked hospitality exchange

•  Household types: Differences in terms of preferences and pracAces for account sharing

•  Beyond network hospitality: Account sharing when it comes to sharing other types of resources, such as cars, bikes, or other tangible items

Future DirecFons

Acknowledgements The research for this paper was conducted while at MicrosoF Research New England. I wish to thank the parAcipants and acknowledge Mary L. Gray, Nancy Baym, the Social Media CollecAve, colleagues at HIIT and the anonymous reviewers for invaluable advice. The work was finalized with funding from the TEKES project FuNeSoMo.

•  h`p://www.flickr.com/photos/donnagrayson/109052424/

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sizes/l/ •  h`p://www.flickr.com/photos/49024304@N00/4521267075/

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