book

Buchticket - Book Exchange

Submitted by joonsbaek on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 8:48am

Countries

Germany

Tags

exchange, book

Themes

cultural activities
Link: 
Buckticket
Stakeholders / Promoters: 
Buckticket (a company), users
Background/ Context: 
Most books we own are read only once. Afterwards they are mostly stored unused on the shelf. Giving them away as a present is not possible, so what to do with them? The idea of the book exchange was started by a group of five actors as a means of sharing books among themselves. They never imagined it would become such a big success, with a constantly increasing number of members. The technology was organised by a young media agency which organised job searches on the internet.
Case Description: 

사용자 삽입 이미지

(source: Meroni Ed., 2005)

The website Buchticket provides a free service offering thousands of book titles for exchange. Users have to become members of Buchticket. Exchanges are then based on trust and a so-called ‘book ticket’, like a virtual coupon, which enables users to choose a book. One ticket is worth one book. To get more tickets, members have to contribute books of their own. If somebody is interested in a member’s book, Buchticket sends the book-owner an e-mail and they send the book in the post (Germany has a special low price for book postage). 

The service has existed since 2002 and it is unique. Other exchange formats exist but not for books, and without the integrated forums and social platforms. The interface works perfectly, and needs very little maintenance. When it started, the providers thought they would have to invent fictional members to attract other users. This was not necessary and by 2005 18,000 members were using the platform actively. This number is still increasing without any marketing or advertising.The solution providers are considering extending the service abroad, and including DVDs, software and media products. A network of friends and supporters provides service and web hosting. The platform earns no money.

Benefits (Social, and environmental benefits): 

Society. Society benefits from sharing things and the platform for communicating with each other. Without a technical platform this service would not be possible, and without the community and chat functions people would not use the service. In this way, IT and community tools are spreading sustainable ideas.

Environment. Fewer books need to be produced. Statistically people buy or borrow a new book when they’ve just finished a previous one, meaning that reading encourages more reading. By offering people easy access to new “used” books, the idea of using instead of owning diffuses into people’s minds.