Team Name:
distributedLibraryGroup
Team Members:
distributedLibraryGroup
Addressing the 20-Minute Neighbourhood Vision
The "20-Minute Neighbourhoods" policy in Victoria aims to create liveable, inclusive, and resilient communities where residents can access most daily needs within a 20-minute trip from home. This vision extends beyond basic amenities to include access to knowledge and diverse resources. Traditional libraries, while foundational, often face limitations such as physical space constraints, centralized management complexities, and the challenge of making rare or unique collections broadly accessible. These factors can hinder the goal of easily accessible knowledge within a 20-minute radius.
Our solution, the 20-minutes-library, reimagines knowledge sharing by extending the concept of a library into every corner of the community, directly supporting the 20-minute neighbourhood philosophy. The 20-minutes-library is not designed to replace traditional libraries but to complement them by facilitating the free and flexible circulation of books through a decentralized network.
Key Features & Their Alignment with 20-Minute Neighbourhood Needs:
1. Decentralized, Hyper-Local Book Circulation:
◦ "Chain Borrowing" : Books are not confined to a single physical location. They can be passed directly between multiple individuals without requiring a central hub, making knowledge highly accessible within local communities. This feature dramatically reduces travel time for book access, aligning perfectly with the 20-minute trip goal.
◦ Flexible Roles & Public Exchange Points: The system allows for distinct roles—book owner, requester, and holder—to foster dynamic circulation. We are actively collaborating with local NGOs to establish community-based book exchange points (e.g., existing toy exchange locations). This integrates book access into residents' daily routines and local infrastructure, making it incredibly convenient to pick up or drop off books within a 20-minute reach from home or work.
2. Community-Driven Knowledge & Enriched Metadata:
◦ "On-the-Ground" & "Humanized" Data Capture: The 20-minutes-library enables the recording of rich, localized and personalized details about books that traditional systems might overlook. This includes nuances like a translator being listed as an author, or private notes in special editions. This deepens the local context and relevance of the collection, reflecting the unique stories and knowledge within a neighbourhood.
◦ Access to Unique & Treasured Collections: By decentralizing, the 20-minutes-library makes it easier for treasured or out-of-print books to be discovered and shared among community members, expanding access to valuable knowledge beyond institutional walls.
3. Open Source for Local Autonomy & Resilience:
◦ "No Central Authority": As an open-source platform (open source), any community can fork and host its own version of the 20-minutes-library. This empowers local communities to customize the platform with specific local features such as community events, indigenous classification methods, or local language tags, ensuring the system truly serves the unique characteristics and needs of each neighbourhood. This bottom-up approach fosters local ownership and promotes inclusivity for diverse populations, a core tenet of accessible communities.
◦ Scalability & Interoperability: The open-source nature prevents the monopolization of knowledge sharing. While promoting local autonomy, different 20-minutes-library instances can interconnect via API/Federation, allowing for broader exchange while preserving local specificity. Our technical progress includes automatic thumbnail generation, user profiles, automated deployment with GitHub Actions, and successful SSR testing for future large-scale user traffic, demonstrating a robust and scalable foundation.
Impact & Vision for Vibrant 20-Minute Neighbourhoods:
The 20-minutes-library is more than just a technological solution; it's a tool for fostering community connection. It contributes to making Victorian neighbourhoods more accessible, vibrant, and connected for all residents by:
• Facilitating knowledge circulation beyond traditional library walls.
• Capturing nuanced, human-centric book metadata that reflects local culture.
• Creating public exchange points that encourage community interaction.
• Empowering local communities to build and manage their own unique knowledge-sharing platforms through an open-source model.
The 20-minutes-library represents a small, localized experiment with the potential to build a significant, bottom-up decentralized knowledge network, making the vision of accessible knowledge within a 20-minute journey a tangible reality for every Victorian neighbourhood.
Analogy: Think of the 20-minutes-library as a "neighbourhood knowledge mesh network." Instead of a central library being like a single, large internet server everyone has to connect to, the 20-minutes-library creates many small, interconnected Wi-Fi hotspots for books throughout the community. Each book owner is like a small server, and public exchange points are like shared routers. This means knowledge can flow freely and quickly to anyone within a 20-minute walk or ride, making information as accessible as your local park or grocery store.
A web application uses OpenStreetMap to calculate walking distances between users, supporting the development of 20-minute neighborhoods. The app helps residents connect with others living within their local community, fostering stronger social ties and improving access to nearby services and amenities.
Description of Use Thw public spaces specified in report are a good consideration for exchange/meeting up point in the community which is acessible and iconic for locals.
Description of Use Can support the needs of building a neighborhood community. Connect the community based on their interests and circumstances.
Description of Use is used to resolve the proximity between users or services
Go to Challenge | 9 teams have entered this challenge.
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