Initiative
ACES ... Earth Accounting

Alliance for Consumer Empowerment and Sustainability (ACES)

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Alliance for Consumer Empowerment and Sustainability (ACES)

The Alliance for Consumer Empowerment and Sustainability is the first ever data cooperative that will collect, manage, and distribute data about the life cycle of consumer goods. ACES will gather this expansive amount of data from a variety of cooperative members such as eco label and environmental organizations, manufacturers, consumers, etc. The data will be processed and made available to users in an intuitive mobile app by Earth Accounting. The contributors of information to ACES will then be compensated based on a pre-established formula.

Data Collection

Gather & Organize - The expansive amount of data on life cycles of consumer goods such as environmental and social impact, production, use, and post-use will be collected from the members of the ACES coop.

Members - ACES membership is open to any entity interested in contributing data. We currently have several letters of intent from eco label organizations and we expect to gain interest from environmental organizations, manufacturers, retailers, government agencies, and consumers.

Storage - The data collected by ACES will be stored in a secure and scalable big data environment that will be able to handle massive amounts of data input from varying data sources.

Quality Assurance - ACES will maintain data quality through transparent and democratic processes, where conflicts of data are resolved in a process similar to that of Wikipedia.

Data Processing

Processing - The expansive amount of data collected by ACES will be processed into a product sustainability database by Earth Accounting, which will allow for product life cycle information to be accessed by consumers and subscribing organizations.

Dissemination - Product lifecycle information will be made available to consumers via a mobile application produced by Earth Accounting which will empower them to make informed decisions about the products they purchase. The database will also be made accessible to subscribing organizations as this sustainability and usage data will quickly become valuable information.

Quality Assurance - ACES members, consumer participation, and a democratic system of data validation much like that of Wikipedia will provide transparency and build trust among users. ACES and Earth Accounting will co-govern this process, compensating members based on data contribution and usage.

Member Compensation

Compensation - ACES members who contribute valuable data will be compensated based on a pre-established formula that distinguishes between data, information (meta-data), knowledge, and wisdom.

• Data - Single measurement

• Information - Single observation or average of data

• Knowledge - Information gained from questions

• Wisdom - Knowledge about subject matter

Formula - The compensation formula accounts for the value of information contributed. Information that is queried more often will result in more compensation to its contributor.

Co-Governance - The compensation process will be co-governed by ACES and Earth Accounting, whereby transparency and democratic principles apply.

The Big Picture

Innovation - ACES is the first ever data cooperative. We have managed to build the foundation for an information system that fairly reward members for contributing accurate and complete information.

Technology - The technology necessary for a task this large is not trivial, but it is also not new. Scalable cloud-based storage has been growing exponentially and we will grow with it, leveraging expertise that will insure security.

Participation - The foundation of ACES makes data contribution beneficial to all parties, incentivizing information sharing. Participation and co-governance, along with a Wikipedia-like challenge system will ensure transparency, one of the core values shared by both ACES and Earth Accounting.