Once corporate co-opting occurs there is not much that can be done. Before it hits the best strategy is to make, in writing, the goals and values as clear as possible. And then recognize that even diluted our ideas are making a difference.
After thinking about the topic overnight I realized that I had missed a much larger potential for diluting the core values--the new members joining up because coworking is recognized, successful, and publicized. I have been immersed in the disability rights movement since the early seventies when the first cross-disability coalitions began. Then, it was a relatively small group of people in a handful of cities, Berkeley, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, who were figuring out disability discrimination and strategies to combat it. There were very few conservatives involved. Most of us had cut our teeth working in the anti-war movement. Those first groups were very clear about the nature of disability discrimination and the changes that were needed to be made. As the 70s and 80s progressed we got publicity and recognition. Laws were passed, we started appearing in TV commercials. Eventually, the New York Times did a few stories. As this happened people with disabilities from all perspectives and political viewpoints flooded the movement. More and more the core values and dreams became marginalized at the same time we passed the Americans with Disabilities Act. As coworking takes off, we get more publicity, and new spaces start we'll see the later adopters, who don't have our zeal and passion for creating community, entering the scene. They will see the value in what we're doing, but not the underlying concepts and values. That'll be OK. The world will be a better place because of the pioneers and early adopters. Anthony On Apr 1, 8:35 am, "Tony Bacigalupo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Anthony, > > A sobering thought, for sure. > > In your experience, what can be done to insure against this sort of > mangling? > > Best, > Tony > CoworkingNY > > On Tue, Apr 1, 2008 at 11:32 AM, ATusler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Great coverage. I'm impressed the reporter did such a good job. > > > (Although the video didn't come through running Firefox on a Mac it > > did work in Safari.) > > > I must admit I worry about being co-opted by corporate entities. I've > > been a part of, and helped organize a number of different social and > > political movements over the past 40 years. I'm continually surprised > > at how quickly and effectively money-making entities, helped by > > national media, are able to dilute and capitalize on our vision and > > work. The silver lining is that the world changes a little bit for the > > better when it happens. > > > Let's see how Time or Newsweek portray coworking. That used to be the > > bellwether for co-option. Now it's probably ABC/CBS/NBC nightly news. > > > It's fun and worthwhile no matter how it goes. I'm impressed that much > > of the vision gets understood in these news stories. It's a good sign > > for the future. > > > Anthony > > > On Mar 31, 12:58 pm, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > for those of you who missed it, CNN did a piece on coworking today. > > > the female anchor did a great job describing coworking. her co-anchor > > > likened coworking to frat boys with a big bong listening to led > > > zeppelin. > > > > julie blogged about it here-- there's a link to the video: > > > >http://blog.launchpadcoworking.com/2008/03/31/coworking-as-breaking-n... > > > > spikewww.launchpadcoworking.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
