U of G student helps build community and get rid of clutter through an app

With the new school year fast approaching, Gracen Johnson is all too familiar with the pain students face in moving their belongings from place to place every eight months.

Stuff is acquired, used and before long, it becomes clutter that is simply given away or thrown out when the students head home for the summer. The University of Guelph created a program called "move out madness" to help organize this chaotic transition at the end of each school term, but Johnson thought, "why don't I just have move out madness all year-round?"

As a member of the Next 36, a new Toronto-based program developed to help launch the careers of Canada's most promising and innovative undergrads, she is now turning that idea into reality with the creation of a mobile phone app.

The smartphone app, called Tradyo, had its launch at the end of July for iPhone users. Johnson describes the app as "a way to buy and barter on a local level."

Taking advantage of global positioning system technology, the app allows users to see various items up for grabs in proximity to them. App users take photos of their unwanted items in their home and then post them to the app to be seen by other users.

"Tradyo is about curiosity," Johnson said, adding the app is different than craigslist or kijiji. Users can search at their leisure to see what items people no longer have use for.

If a user sees something they like, they could contact the owner and offer something for a trade, or figure out a fair price. Johnson said it's also a good way to meet people in your neighbourhood.

"We're really trying to build community and make getting new things and getting rid of your old things a really pleasant experience," she said.

Tradyo is a business venture organized by the Next 36 program.

In the fall of 2010, Johnson, along with 1,300 other Canadian undergraduates applied to become one of the Next 36. Through a rigorous application program and countless interviews, two U of G students made the cut to join the 34 others from across the country.

Both Johnson and Rachael Vriezen, fourth year and second year students respectively, are from the U of G's International Development program.

The Next 36 splits the students into groups of four, provides each group with $50,000 in seed capital to put toward their mobile venture, gives 180 hours of instruction and pairs each group with a successful business leader.

Johnson teamed up with Eran Henig from the University of Toronto, Gideon Hayden (BCom'11) from McGill University and Ronen Benin from the University of Western.

Read full article: GuelphMercury, August 3, 2011