link: nervousness

Today I'm having fun at NERVOUS Industries, a new site by Erik (who also runs Seattle Stories) and friends. Here's the basic idea: it's a virtual community of people exchanging real things. Things you can buy, exchange, or pass along.

The exchanges are what captivate me the most. It's like eBay without the cash. Witchdust, for example, just offered a "customized mini dream pillow to help your wish come true." All you have to do is send her "Jasmine in any form" and a wish.

She's just one of many who have gotten into the new site. Others are offering CDs, DVDs, and other interesting art projects. All you have to do is send something of your own.

Yes, there's shades of 20 things and The 1000 Journals Project here. If you went back far enough, you could even find parallels with Dana Atchley's Space Atlas project from 1969. With the Space Atlas, it was the invention of commercial copy machines that catalyzed the project. In this case, it's using the web to make connections.

Erik has made a platform for these kinds of exchanges with NERVOUS Industries, using the web for what it does best – connect people – and the postal system for the rest. Bravo.

So, hey. What would you offer me for a handful of sticker bookmarks?

{ 3:27pm }

» That's so cool. It reminds me of my old tape trading days. I'd always make copies of bootlegs for people without any tapes, but instead of asking for an extra blank in return I'd ask for something random. I got everything from t-shirts to little plastic shriners to office supplies and everything in between.

I really hope they manage to keep out the jerks.

– Alan  { 7.30.01 @ 5:38pm }

» hello i was so happy when i heard about this site. i have been looking for a way to contact a lot of people and seek help with a small problem. i was living in colorado and my car was broken into. two 12 year old boys took all 32 of my dead bootlegs and smashed them all around my car. now i have no bootlegs and no dead cds and i am very lonley for the peace of mind my friends in the grateful dead offer me when they sing and play their instruments. I don't know any of the people i used to know to get the tapes from. i don't know what to do or how to replace them. if this is not the place to go to find bootlegs then maybe somebody can tell me where i can go. please. thanks---krispykrispin

– krispykrispin  { 10.27.01 @ 1:07pm }