The ergonomics of shareable things: from a synthesis of historical sharing activities to a set of criteria for physical sharing experiences

Sharing is a complex system of resource allocation at the crossroad of developing businesses (e.g., the 'sharing economy') and promising societal and environmental impacts. Yet, it is suffering from adoption problems (e.g., vandalism, unwarranted privatisation, reluctance) that call for more ergonomics research. In order to contribute to research on sharing within human factors and ergonomics, the evolution of sharing is synthesised to highlight its roots, developments and societal outcomes. A subset of sharing activities, sharing physical objects, is identified. In order to provide common ground to researchers and practitioners it is defined as 'a cooperative and distributive behavior where a user does not have exclusive interactions with a material resource which is, then, enjoyed in common'. A lack of research on shared physical objects within human factors and ergonomics is identified. Finally, seven shareability criteria (Governance, Utility, Balanced appropriation, Cooperativity, Durability, Decontamination, Onboarding/Support) are proposed in order to support practitioners when designing experiences that include sharing physical things.