TimeBank

DESCRIPTION

TimeBank is a Drupal module that create a small Time&Credit Exchange Community System (CES).

An exchange community is a community where people coproduce value and exchange services on an informal and non-monetary basis. In such a community, its members can exchange "services" on the basis of a credit-based accounting system, where credits are usually hours, indicating the time of support actually lent to someone else belonging to the same community: for this reason, the informal term for a common application of this kind of systems is "time bank".

In such a money-less bank, each person has its own account and can either offer availability for the provision of small services (e.g., to help her study, paint her living room, fixing a window, teaching piano or opening a Facebook account, buying something at the supermarket, caring the pet...) in order to gain more credit to spend within the community, as well as consume the credits accumulated so far to get support from some other member.
In pure Time Banks, each hour equals exactly one hour, irrespective of the kind of service.

Differently from standard Time Banking systems, our system also allow to provide services as an informal professional, and hence to be paid in traditional ways. In this latter case, the time account of both parties involved is left unvaried, but the system keeps track of the exchange the same, to facilitate accounting and payments between community members.

In short, our module aims to create an hybrid system between a pure Time Bank (which is an option of configuration) and a service exchange system: it's possible to create many currencies in the same portal.

DEPENDENCIES

• Offers & Wants
• Community Accounting
• Registration
• Fivestar
• Geolocation
• Get Directions
• ShareThis
• Chatblock
• OneAll Social Login
• Features

INSTALLATION

This is a standard installation:

1. Install Timebank module and the dependencies Offers & Wants , timebank_features and shs in directory .../sites/all/modules.
2. Download and install all the depencencies of TimeBank module from admin/modules.
3. Activate timebank_features from admin/modules (it imports fields,calendar, taxonomy terms, reservation type and states).
4. Activate TimeBank module.
5. Configure the dependencies modules for own implementative needs, many fields are imported from module timebank_features (important to configure accounting and content type offer/want).

CHARACTERISTICS

Behind the project is the user. To better understand how this system works, the following points are an illustration.
• The user subscribes to the system and creates a profile;
• The user can login with Facebook;
• Each user can enter his own abilities;
• The admin assings each user a limit quantity of Community Coins (each user starts with 00.00);
• The user accesses a calendar in which displays its availability;
• The user logs in the system looking for a service that he needs;
• The user views the offers submitted and the availability of the other members of the system;
• The user makes a request of booking of a service to another user;
• A user who has received an inquiry can confirm or cancel it;
• The user gives a rating of the service received;
• The system in accordance with the confirmation of a payment takes and accredits hours to users: the service received the system takes an hour (or more) for those who received the service and credits an hour (or more) who offered the service;
• The user when insert an offer/request for a service geolocate himself on a map;
• The user when see an offer/request for a service has the possibility to view the directions to reach the author of the content;
• The user has the possibility to share on social networks any content of the portal;
• The user can entertain an instant communication with other members of the system active at the same time through a chat box.

DEMO

Try TimeBank module in action at the demo site www.timebankdrupal.altervista.org

Credentials to access are:

• User: Neo Password: matrix

TimeBank is a conceived within the Condiviviamo Project developed at the University of Milano-Bicocca and supervised by Federico Cabitza, PhD.