Urban crafters, including small business owners and craft micro-retailers, were surveyed and interviewed to understand how and why they share business and crafting information. It was found that crafters are more likely to share business information than design information. Personal contacts and online message boards are the most common ways information is shared. While sharing information can benefit crafters by saving time, some are reluctant to share due to concerns about competition. The study developed a model of crafters' "information horizons" and implications for libraries, crafting communities, and government agencies to better support independent crafters.

1. To Share, or Not to Share, That is the Question: Information Sharing Among Urban CraftersSarah CaldwellSarah GanderupErica Leigh NelsonMeredith SlotaJulie Tanaka

2. Who? And Why?Population

3. Population = URBAN CRAFTERSCraft micro-retailersSmall business ownersCraftersCommunity members

4. Urban Crafters“Small business owner” Compose >99% of all businesses in the U.S.A. Legal definition = <500 employees (www.sba.gov) Sole-proprietorship or LLCMost have just ONE employee: the owner!“Crafter”Hand-crafted productsDesign + fabrication in-houseD.I.Y. ethicUrban Craft Uprising+Local popular craft fairNumber of vendors > 100

5. Urban Craft UprisingUrban Craft Uprising's Mission: “To build a fun, successful showcase for indie crafters and to nurture a supportive DIY crafting community”http://urbancraftuprising.com/Our question is:How does membership in this community affect information behavior?To what extent do members of this “community” share information?Is there competition? Does that affect the ways in which information is shared?

6. Urban Craft Uprising

7. What ExistsProblemsAreas of AgreementAreas of DisagreementLiterature Review

8. Literature ReviewThe Literature on CraftersWhat ExistsSharing business informationSharing artistic informationBest LiteratureExampleFurther Research

9. She’s Crafty: Are YOU?Participation

10. Game InstructionsYou’ve each been given a set of instructions for how to build a boat, but your set may be incomplete and/or contain duplicates. Your goal is to acquire a full set of the 5 instructionsHint: they’re numbered!You must talk to your fellow crafters and try to get the information you need (i.e. a slip of paper with the instruction(s) you need).Time’s up when the song ends!

11. Survey + InterviewsFieldwork

12. Crafting our Survey: BasicsPreliminary questionnaire: Fremont Market 19 questions12 in-person respondentsOnline questionnaire: UCU Vendor List24 questions25 (additional) respondents81 emails, 25 responses = 30.8% response rate

13. Sharing: Business or Art?

14. Sharing: Information Types?Anything that could be useful

15. Getting into craft fairs

16. Marketing

17. Costs

18. How to get/retain customers

19. Pricing

20. Bookkeeping

21. Storing

22. General design ideas

23. Whether you think it will sell

24. Anything that they might find useful

25. The kinds of materials you’ll use

26. Crafting strategySharing: Reasons WHY

27. Sharing: Reasons Why NOT

28. Theoretical InfluencesSmall Worlds+ Life in the Round + Social Networks (Chatman)Information Horizons (Sonnenwald)Theory of Least Effort (Zipf)Constructivism + user is always right (Dervin)

29. Information Horizons: Engineers

30. Horizons: Social Network + Context

31. Fieldwork 2.0 : Crafting InterviewsThree interviews with local craftersOpen-ended, topical questions based on questionnaire Focus on personal details of processes of sharingMajor findings:Crafters more likely to share business-related information than design-related informationPersonal contacts (2) and online message boards (1) most important

32. Devon: Once Upon a Pedestal, Etsy.comMainly interacts through online message board – more likely to find, share information online than in person, and always business information.“I feel more connected to the information than I do with the people”

33. Samantha: Monkey Sock MonkeyMost information exchange is with trusted non-crafter, small business owners.“Getting information from someone else saves me time.”

34. Megan: TheOrganizedKnitter.comGenerally felt very positive about sharing information, but …Small group of local crafters, all non-competitiveDifficulty of obtaining information + relevance to specific craft

35. Information HorizonsSocial NetworksContext + RulesCrafting our Model

36. River of Crafting

37. Information Horizons(Sonnenwald, 1999)Proposition 1: “Human information behavior is woven around, i.e., is shaped by and shapes, individuals, social networks, situations, and contexts.”Proposition 3: “Within a context and situation is an ‘information horizon’ in which we can act”

38. BusinessInformationCrafters’ Horizons of Information SharingSmall Business OwnersCraftingCommunityFellow CraftersInternet FollowersCraft OrganizationsCrafterFriends + FamilyInternet FollowersFactors = Competition, FeedbackPersonal RelationshipsReciprocity, CommunityCreative +Design

39. Crafting communityLibrariesGovernment agenciesImplications

40. Implications: Crafting CommunityHoarding information can have negative effect on hoarder, must share information to access crafty “hive mind” + communityCommunity has self-identified business information needs Trying to meet that need D.I.Y., but …Organizing workshops, classes, conferenceshttp://www.creativeconferencewest.com/http://www.grassrootsbusinessassoc.com/

41. Implications: LibrariesMaking crafters aware of library as a resourcePersonal and virtual connectionsLists of resources targeted at craftersMeeting roomLibrary as officePartnerships between libraries and craftersCrafting workshopsExhibitsCollection development

42. Implications: Government AgenciesMicro-retailers don’t fit SBA standard “mold”Policies or information tailored to the particular context of micro-retailersLocal gov’ts should explore micro-retailers Their role in the economy Small but vital54% said “essential to livelihood”, 68% said “important” to livelihoodLook for ways to support themUrban Craft Uprising, etc. – partnerships with city resourceshttp://smallbusinesssaturday.com/

43. Sarah CaldwellSarah GanderupErica Leigh NelsonMeredith SlotaJulie TanakaTHE END