Social Self-help System – LETS

It is a web 2 social portal based on service exchange in order to reinforce local cooperative economies and reorganize connections according to internal needs. Beside building up local communities, the portal provides space for the growth of groups based on special interests and encourages their cooperation via the virtual space.

Our aim

The project aims to support the coming into being of cooperatives by generating economic growth with the help of “new technologies”, thus enabling (1) self-realization, (2) mutual help activities, as well as (3) putting social changes in action, (4) which would give users the collective sensation of well-being. Further more we would like LETS become global, a GETS, turn virtual economic system into real community, operating physically in towns, villages, districts, etc., where no other economic model can boost community and well-being of people.

How does it work?

The more users we have, the better the network functions.
It uses collaborative filtering (eg. ebay, youtube)
and functions on a demand and supply basis. The
network accelerates the stepping in touch of like-minded
people and facilitates the meeting of users who need the services of other
users. Everybody can offer an activity what likes to do in exchange for an activity that doesn’t like but somebody else does. The system lies on a simple give and get principle. And all this for free: the activites (services) are measured in a virtual currency.
Besides, the flexible personalization of our profile enables us to express our personality, create our own network and get feedbacks, therefore the relationship of
group members gets more and more personal and reliable in due time.

Current state

We are conducting an online survey about the expectations and needs of the general and special target groups focusing on their interests and openness. Our plans for the future include
the visualization of network nodes and preparation of a graph.