Photos of the Day: Photos of the day 05/20
In Pictures: Weather extremes 2013
In Pictures: The Israeli separation barrier: A West Bank wall
In Pictures: Derby Day devotees, Kenyan style
Photos of the Day: Photos of the day 05/16
In Pictures: Dazzle like Beckham
Photos of the Day: Photos of the day 05/15
In Pictures: Duchess Kate's royal baby bump
Lisa Gansky drives a car she rented online through the peer-to-peer car-sharing service RelayRides in San Francisco. For a growing number of people like her engaged in the high-tech, low-cost "collaborative economy," access trumps ownership. Tony Avelar/Special to the Christian Science Monitor
Steve Webb (l.) rents his own car out to Lisa Gansky for a few hours through RelayRides in San Francisco. In the growing "sharing economy" tangible things like power tools and intangibles like space and knowledge are marketable. Tony Avelar/Special to the Christian Science Monitor
Ms. Gansky (c.), an entrepreneur and author of "The Mesh," a book about the sharing economy, works in the shared office space of the Hub in San Francisco, and collaborates with (from left) Ali Hart, Eric Irvine, and Ryan Kushner of COZMOS. Tony Avelar/Special to the Christian Science Monitor
Jeff Orlick (r.), who offers his services on Vayable, gives an ethnic foods tour in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens, N.Y. Ann Hermes/Staff
Vayable food tour provider Jeff Orlick (l.) orders Nepali and Tibetan dishes for Robyn Holley and Jon Stookey during an ethnic food tour in Queens, N.Y. Ann Hermes/Staff
Nicholas Crawford works on a landscaping project for a client in San Francisco. They found each other through
Nicholas Crawford, who lists his landscaping talents on TaskRabbit, relocated from Milwaukee to San Francisco and was immediately able to find work most days on the sharing site.
Lindsay Evans’s kids – (from left) Cooper, Sophie, and Carter – model clothes she bought from the website thredUP, which offers "gently used" kids' clothes. Courtesy of Lindsay Evans
Kendra Wiig visited the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado on her first CouchSurfing adventure in March 2007. Courtesy of Kendra Wiig
Photos of the Day: Photos of the day 05/20
In Pictures: Weather extremes 2013
In Pictures: The Israeli separation barrier: A West Bank wall
In Pictures: Derby Day devotees, Kenyan style
Photos of the Day: Photos of the day 05/16
In Pictures: Dazzle like Beckham
Photos of the Day: Photos of the day 05/15
In Pictures: Duchess Kate's royal baby bump
To rent or own, that is the question posed by the burgeoning sharing economy. For a growing population engaged in this high-tech, low-cost 'collaborative economy,' access to cars, clothes, cuisine – or even a cat – is better than ownership.
Lisa Gansky likes to share, and usually with strangers. A typical day for her looks something like this:
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