Tricky predictions: How users, producers may adapt to shared consumption

In collaborative systems, the role of the users may switch between ''consumers'' and ''producers''

A few decades ago, Samuel Goldwyn had said “Only a fool would make predictions, especially about the future”. I am very much in sync with this classic Goldwynism and would stay away from grand pronouncements. Nevertheless, I am curious enough to think and make observations about certain trends and postulate how they are likely to pan out over the next few years. Embarking even on this limited exercise is tricky when it comes to a fast evolving space such as the “sharing economy”.
 
Over the last few years, sharing economy is a much used and abused term. For starters,