Compendium of Public Goods

February 27, 2012 by  

One of the definitions of Public Goods in economics terms describes them as goods that are not diminished by a persons consumption of them. The air is cited as an example, sometimes the beach, street lighting, free broadcast television and so on (though in the ‘real world’ perhaps nothing really fits this description).  Are there other interactions we value that might be called public goods?  Things that people feel are precious about the places and communities they belong to – stories, skills, games, songs and so on. Maybe they are more intangible than a place, or element or thing, like the way people use local markets as places to meet, converse or share knowledge.

The notion of  Public Goods comes up often in our work; common space and ‘the commons’ as a public good for Being in Common; the role of markets and independent traders in Lancaster for As It Comes, and in Hertfordshire for With Our Ears to the Ground and the social impact of technologies for Urban Tapestries, Snout and Social Tapestries. I can’t quite pinpoint what these public goods are and I want to try and make a bit more sense of them for our Public Goods programme so I’m working with Mandy to create a Compendium of Public Goods  – a series of short animations inspired by many of the conversations and interviews we have had with people about their lives and communities. We are starting with a look back over conversations I had with the March History Group in Lancaster about jumble sales, hand me downs and knitted swimming suits… remember knitted swimming suits anyone?

 

Categories: activities, Drawing, public goods
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Comments

6 Responses to “Compendium of Public Goods”

  1. Animation Experiment #1 – Folding Paper | Proboscis on March 2nd, 2012 11:01 am

    […] spent some time researching about animation techniques for the Compendium, I was nudged to move away from my desk and start experimenting with animation on the other side of […]

  2. Simply by a Push of a Button | Proboscis on March 5th, 2012 11:01 am

    […] researching animation techniques for the Compendium of Public Goods, I came across many innovative and inspirational animations and thought it would be a good idea to […]

  3. Defining Public Goods: Craftsmanship | Proboscis on March 16th, 2012 11:01 am

    […] a craftsman, and I definitely feel that their skill as an artisan can somehow be reflected in the Compendium. But can craftsmanship really be considered as a public good? I turn to the Heritage Crafts […]

  4. Animation Experiment #3 – The Tortoise and the Cube | Proboscis on March 23rd, 2012 11:01 am

    […] with my experiments for the Compendium using paper crafts, I wanted to try animating with 3D models. To animate something that was flat […]

  5. Programmable Matter By Folding | Proboscis on March 26th, 2012 11:01 am

    […] folding! This was a video clip I had seen a few years back, and it was my current research for the Compendium that reminded me of the […]

  6. Defining Public Goods: Folklore | Proboscis on April 6th, 2012 11:00 am

    […] one point in your life or it may still be a part of you to this very day. My next mind map for the Compendium is about […]