[Themaintainers] Consumer well-being + Refurbishment Services

Mon Sep 30 23:10:13 EDT 2019

I was taught to sew by my mom (fix up all my clothes, and i even made shoes
one time out of moose skin when i was living in alaska--those were very
warm and i wore them as a second layer of shoes.  ) . she still offers to
sew stuff for me but i don't want to trouble her.  she had an old sewing
machine you operated by foot and they made many clothes--she may not have
it any more. she does still sew her own clothes in part.  .

On Mon, Sep 30, 2019 at 10:35 AM Ruth Kitchin Tillman <ruthtillman at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Really appreciated this part of Ishi's email: "but that may take alot more
> work and supplies" -- in my opinion, one of the best things about shared
> repair spaces or other ways of doing repair is the availability of supplies.
>
> I'll give an example -- I bought a lovely wool sweater from a thrift
> store. It was very cheap because it had a hole in the elbow. I'm a
> seamstress/crafter so I decided I would attempt to darn it. Previous
> attempts at darning had ... not... gone well. I'd always been using the
> wrong materials, etc. But this was a *nice* sweater and I actually had a
> well-paying job. So I went out and bought a matching skein of wool thread.
> I used my own yarn needle. I bought a leather patch to cover the darn and
> prevent further wear.
>
> These weren't more expensive than a nice wool sweater would be new, but
> they were the right materials and they definitely cost money. After
> finishing it, I learned from a friend about other ways to get smaller
> amounts of wool yarn for darns like this. Knowing what to get was a combo
> of having a common problem, having the financial wherewithal to fix the
> thing nicely, and having years of skills built up which made the problem
> itself only one which required time to execute.
>
> There were points in my life where I didn't have the financial wherewithal
> to feel that I could spend maybe $20 on repair supplies when $20 would buy
> a much more cheaply-made new sweater! Or I might've gotten it fixed using
> the supplies I had on hand, but not in a way that was aesthetically
> coherent enough that I felt comfortable wearing it to work (particularly
> with the paradoxical way in which I am more secure in my job and at a
> higher rank and now feel more comfortable being a bit weird/offbeat at
> work).
>
> Communal supplies, shared spaces, etc., seem so important to me because it
> levels a playing field and allows for skill sharing in cases where we'd
> really like to repair, but either can't do in a way that enables reasonable
> use (e.g. can I wear it to work and not be embarrassed?) or don't have the
> particular skills but can share other skills.
>
> Ruth
>
> Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2019 09:36:19 -0400
>> From: Ishi Crew <mediaentropy at gmail.com>
>> To: Julia Durgee <juliadurgee at gmail.com>
>> Cc: jeffrey durgee <jeffreydurgee at gmail.com>,   Carole Turley
>>         <carole.turley at gmail.com>, themaintainers at lists.stevens.edu
>> Subject: Re: [Themaintainers] Consumer well-being + Refurbishment
>>         Services
>> Message-ID:
>>         <CACQCUwch7zMOtKpjT6x=5paOMipj=
>> 9AQyh5--Rv5kkUiWMRVGw at mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>>
>> This is an interesting post (as are ones from last month on liberalism,
>> coherence and peer production) but I have not been following this list
>> recently due to information overload (and stress) (and this takes a toll
>> on
>> maintaining my physical environment, physical and mental health) .  I
>> wonder if I should go to that conference (since its an hour metro ride or
>> 2-3  hour walk away,  or should I save the 100$ if I were to go for 1 day,
>> or more for the entire conference since I have a budget constraint ).
>>
>>  I'd go to see if there are study or research opportunities--I'm sort of
>> working on a semi-mathematical project on resource and task allocation,
>> suggested by an informal environmental/global climate change study  and
>> research group  (which could be called 'citizen science' or 'participatory
>> action research').  (There are many related approaches to this problem ,
>> mostly using advanced calculus or computer algorithms--I'm trying to do a
>> simple formalism.)  .
>>       (I've done a bit of both academic research (in theoretical biology),
>> and also maintenance (ie physical labor on home repair ) but am not really
>> suited to either full time (the choices have been either get a PhD and do
>> full time computer modeling--if you can get tenure, or else full time
>> roofing, carpentry, plumbing , etc. Theoretical biology deals with issues
>> like how ecosystems maintain stability---or don't---and how flora and
>> fauna
>> allocate resources in an ecosystem--basically same kind of issue studied
>> by
>> economists for society. )
>>
>> Doing full time work at either of those things I found had limited
>> 'hedonic
>> and eudaimonic value' for me (the model was either become a professor and
>> hire people to do maintenance while you do research, or else work in
>> maintenance for a professor.  Many people in environment I grew up in did
>> a
>> mix of academic and maintenance work. ).
>>
>> Some of us just 'fall through the cracks'  --some say this is because we
>> are clumsy, incompetent, or undisciplined; others say this is because
>> society is poorly maintained---has alot of cracks in the infrastructure
>> (and 'superstructure' as Marx might have called it --the set of ideas or
>> values that 'hold society together').   (In area I live they are
>> continually repairing roads, sidewalks, electricity infrastructure, and
>> more --and people fall on streets around here at times due to cracks in
>> the
>> road. I used to take guitar lessons across from Gaullaudet at CU---and i
>> broke a guitar i recently bought due to some uneven ground --and spent
>> some
>> time trying to repair it, but that may take alot  more work and supplies
>> than I did , so I bought another one--save that for another time if I get
>> around to it).  Persona with disabilities (or special abilities) often
>> fall
>> through the cracks.
>>    (There's a classic song called 'things done changed', with the line 'i
>> can't maintain'    --some local youth made a mural with that lyric in a
>> local park---when it was refurbished.  That park used to be loaded with
>> trash and could be a dangerous place to walk through--now its sort of
>> fixed
>> up , though the demographic has sort of changed.)
>>
>> On Mon, Sep 30, 2019 at 5:13 AM Julia Durgee <juliadurgee at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > *Hello, Maintainers,*
>> >
>> > Professor Jeffrey Durgee
>> > <https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WlwBCTkAAAAJ&hl=en>,
>> published
>> > this 2018, qualitative research paper on *emotional benefits* of
>> *refurbishing
>> > one's possessions:*
>> >
>> > 1) Enhances sense of self and well-being
>> > 2) Strengthens connections to family members and fellow fans/consumers
>> > 3) Increases appreciation for Refurbisher/Service Provider
>> >
>> > This article will provide warm fuzzies.
>> > I hope you enjoy the upcoming Maintainers 3 conference.
>> >
>> > Thank you,
>> > ~Julia Durgee (proud daughter)
>> >
>> > [image: image.png]
>> >  Abstract
>> > Purpose
>> >
>> > The purpose of this paper is to explore how services might impact a
>> > general consumer sense of everyday well-being or life satisfaction.
>> > Design/methodology/approach
>> >
>> > It was decided to focus on the existential benefits of refurbishing
>> > services and see how they might impact owner sense of self and overall
>> life
>> > satisfaction. A qualitative study was fielded which consisted of
>> analyses
>> > of website testimonials of customers of refurbishing services for
>> products
>> > such as pianos, watches, boats, bicycles and other durables. Also
>> analyzed
>> > were results from one-on-one qualitative interviews of customers of
>> > refurbishing services and selected refurbishers of similar products.
>> > Findings
>> >
>> > The study suggests that refurbish services provide a mix of hedonic and
>> > eudaimonic benefits. They provide an enhanced sense of self and general
>> > well-being insofar, as the newly restored item connects owners to loved
>> > ones, to other collectors or fans and to their own personal life
>> histories.
>> > It also connects them to the refurbishers and their ?magic?. Insofar as
>> > refurbishers invite customer involvement in the process, they co-create
>> how
>> > the process will proceed, so customers feel a special involvement and
>> gain
>> > an understanding of the workings of the item and how to best use it.
>> > Practical implications
>> >
>> > Refurbishing services might offer, like all the new internet-mediated
>> > sharing services, a more sustainable alternative to the buy-and-dispose
>> > consumption behaviors found in most world economies.
>> > Originality value
>> >
>> > This paper provides insights into the lives of products after purchase
>> and
>> > the roles of relevant service providers. It also provides examples of
>> how
>> > service providers in general might deepen and facilitate customers?
>> > feelings about themselves and their daily lives. It shows how service
>> > providers can enhance customer hedonic and eudaimonic appreciation of
>> > provider knowledge, skills and efforts.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > (Thanks to Professor Carole Turley
>> > <https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/person/carole-voulgaris/> for telling me
>> > about the Maintainers' cool mission.)
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> > Themaintainers at lists.stevens.edu
>> > https://lists.stevens.edu/mailman/listinfo/themaintainers
>> >
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