The Vortex

Located in the Intermediate Storage Room in K20-1-5, the vortex is a physical space to regularly look through potentially unwanted communal items.

What is it for?

There are three major use cases for the vortex:

1. Removing stuff from the household.
2. Clearing a corner of the household.
3. Adding stuff to the household.

The 1. Is probably the most relevant case: Someone thinks a certain item should not be part of the Kanthaus household anymore and wants to start the process of getting rid of it. The vortex gives others time to take it back and/or privatize it.

When someone tidies up a cluttered space they usually find stuff that is clearly (or maybe) not trash but still does not belong there. Needing to find a good new or the proper previous location os hard and blocks tidying up efforts, so putting these things in the vortex is an appropriate way to go.

Sometimes people find stuff that might be useful to the house or individuals, but they’re not really sure. Putting it in the vortex means leaving the decision to communalize or privatize the items to others and just giving them prioritized access before it ends up in the Free Shop or the trash.

How does it work?

There are three phases which the stuff - if not taken out - travels through. ‘Vortex shifting’ is a Power Hour task, which means that it ideally happens every week, sometimes more seldom, never more often.

Phase 1 (0+ days) - New things

Put into this phase

• broken things which you don’t want to fix
• things you think we have too much of
• ‘lost’ personal property
• anything else you think should move (out) of the communal space in the house

Label things with the reason why you put them in. If you’d like people to talk to you about them, also write down your name. Pens and paper are on the shelf opposite the vortex, near the door.

Take out of this phase

• your personal things
• known communal things, to return them to communal space

Phase 2 (7+ days)

Put in

• Items from phase 1

Take out

• Your own personal items.
• Items you know to be communal.

Phase 3 (7+ days) - Last Chance

Put in

• Items from phase 2

Take out

• Anything you want to privatize
• Known communal things, to return them to their storage

Doom

Items from phase 3 are doomed at the next shift.

• Items that make sense to communalize are sorted into fitting communal locations. Remember that those items had 2 weeks to be sorted in already. Only return them if you're sure.
• good but unneeded items go in the Free Shop Storage
• trash is put into bins accordingly.

Details of the shifting

Shifting is one of the Power Hour tasks.

To make it possible for Kanthausians who are not currently in the space to also voice an opinion on the stuff in the vortex, it’s required to document vortex shifts on Mattermost.

Experience leads to the following best-practice of vortex shifting:

• Start on the back and empty phase 3.
• Make (a) box(es) with things for the Free Shop
• Check things you believe might be there in error with people who might know.
• If you feel like it, offer items to people outside Kanthaus - on Kleinanzeigen or to your friends.
• Don’t be shy to use the trash bins!
• Move phase 2 into phase 3.
• Take pictures and make sure that the things are identifiable.
• Feel free to also use the space below the table.
• If more space is needed than before, you can move the tape that marks the border between phase 2 and phase 3.
• Check phase 1. If there are items without a label explaining why they were vortexed, move them into their normal storage places. They are probably just lost.
• Move phase 1 into phase 2.
• Take pictures if you’re motivated, but the ‘phase 2 to phase 3’ pics are more important.
• Add stuff that came in during Power Hour to phase 1.
• Upload the pictures to #kanthaus-stuff on Mattermost and add some descriptive words.