Loomio
Fri 16 Mar 2018 3:13PM

Cocreating #HousingID via series of Hacks & Unconferences in 2018

BW Bill Wendel Public Seen by 339

After an event at MIT last night posted this to a new Intentional Communities Facebook group formed by organizers. The goal of this "IntentCasting" Thought Experiment goes beyond Intentional communities to help cocreate a #HousingID that would serve roommates, renters, homebuyers, relocatees and retirees over their lifetime -- at every step of the housing ladder.

INTENTCASTING

If you were searching for [a home, neighborhood, roommate or shared housing situation, or] intentional community what would you like others to know about you? Would you have time to unfold those personal revelations via a series of interactive transparency exercises described last night, or want to bring some efficiency to search for a good fit by sharing selected parts of your digital Identity?

If the later, what kind of “super powers” would you want your digital #HousingID to have to guide / future proof your decision of which intentional community to join — particularly if CoLiving, CoHousing, & Coops initiatives begin creating more options?

Or better yet, would you want a #HousingID that could identify others with similar values and recommend forming an intentional community with them?

Note, responses, if any, will be shared with blockchain / digital identity hackathons at MIT and in DC over the next 10 days.

FOOTNOTE: The images below date back to 1990 (pre-internet), and RE2020 is eager to collaborate with others to extend their functionality using blockchain and other money-saving tech, apps and business models.

BW

Bill Wendel Fri 16 Mar 2018 6:49PM

LIVESTREAM from Computatonal Law & Blockchain Festival, Boston node:

http://bit.ly/CLBFestMITStream

BW

Bill Wendel Fri 16 Mar 2018 7:59PM

#RE2020: 1st round of digital identity hacks proposed from #CLBFest , three -- Residency Validator, RefugeeID & #HousingID -- already OVERLAP proving importance of taking ecosystem approach to #Blockchain in #RealEstate.

1st pass at our HACK: (If you like, please retweet or share)
https://twitter.com/RealEstateCafe/status/974730868853018624

DG

Devon Grodkiewicz Sat 17 Mar 2018 1:19PM

I love where this is going and am also a little wary, focusing specifically on the idea of a refugeeID:

  • Bangladesh initiated a refugee ID system for displaced Rohingyans, this ultimately put rohingyans at a large disadvantage, as they were IDed in a system that subsequently barred them from basic employment and social services. This led to a great deal of distrust among Rohingyans and the Bangladeshi government
  • In the aforementioned case, this was not block chain based, and if it were, it is unlikely, due to distrust, that Rohingyans would have participated in the system
  • Success of any block chain based ID will require participation of a larger community, which will require trust.

Now that I've identified some of the challenges and disadvantages of an ID-based system, I'd like to bring up some of the "ideals" and advantages of a block chain based ID system:

  • Provide privacy for participants and users
  • Allow for accurate accounting (permanent, contiguous records)
  • Allows for smart-transactions, potentially creating a system for automatic signing and validation
  • Piggy-backing off of smart transactions: peer-to-peer transactions are also more secure on the block chain and reduces fees dramatically for such transactions.

Focusing specifically on these last points, we can see how block chain could transform real estate transactions. That being said, it would require both parties to agree on a block-chain based currency as a valid medium of exchange. With specific context to real estate: there is a large adversity to adopting new technology. As a result, a coin-based transaction system may actually be the "late-adoption" piece of block chain applications.

Instead, efforts for block chain should focus on the where and who of living, as have been identified by your comments about intentional living. Allowing the community to build reputation around an expense that takes up to 50% of most individual's incomes.

BW

Bill Wendel Sun 18 Mar 2018 3:07PM

Devon, Thanks for your comment. Were you able to catch any of the LIVESTREAM from either day? Two responses to your thoughtful comment:

  1. Although I did not participate in the refugee ID hacking team, the serious if not life-threatening unintended consequences you raise above may have been part of their decision to move away from the original focus to another reflected in this tweet:

https://twitter.com/RealEstateCafe/status/975098675142774784

  1. The #HousingID team was enriched by feedback from hack participants who relocated as children, teens and adults, as well as others contemplating moves because of life transitions -- graduations, job hunting, empty nests, career changes. What we distilled from their stories was the desired to "feel at home." As you suggest, that meant focusing blockchain "on the where and who of living;" and whether or not one desired to live in an "intentional community," developing an app that allowed users to focus on their heart's desire -- hence the name, MyUtopiaID.

Significantly, while the name changed, the core assumption did not. Blockchain-enabled digital identity, or #HousingID's, will become a core building block on demand-side of the real estate ecosystem, and RE2020 invites others to build on that assumption. Why? Look at what's already happening in Canada in this hack from SecureKey:

https://twitter.com/RealEstateCafe/status/975062085800472576