Good discussions happening! Cheers to that. Patrick. You mention that you thought this concept would be better received had it been brought up by someone hosting a coworking session that just happens to change location. That would be me. I founded Jelly in Austin. I've hosted about 30 coworking sessions. The space, to me, is irrelevant to whether a group of people are coworking or not. For example, consider a Jelly meetup hosted outside on a nice day.
I don't think defining coworking as "individuals working and interacting" is reductive, or that it takes away from what a coworking space wants to / should be building. I think "individuals working and interacting" is exactly what a coworking space should strive to promote. Their interaction is the secret sauce. The space, community, or group is the facilitator to encourage people to interact. (Interestingly, the space, community, or group was probably derived out of two or more individuals interacting whilst working.) Building the perfect coworking space, or the perfect coworking community, is a kin to building the perfect swimming pool. I can swim anywhere there's water, but of course I'd prefer to swim in my ideal swimming pool. I'm gonna' step out a little farther on the limb. I believe people working 9 to 5 at an office, if they’re socially interacting while working, they are coworking. Thus, they are coworkers. The concept of coworking came about when people who worked from home began to miss the social interaction that is usually available at a traditional office. Thus the term was born. The term coworking does not distinguish traditional workers from progressive workers. It distinguishes working alone versus working in a social group. Progressive workers, organizations, movers and shakers, they incorporate coworking into their groups and systems, because it's clearly the best way to work and generate innovation. They tweak the model of how people cowork to get the best results. That doesn't mean that a group that hasn't tweaked their model as well as another is not coworking. To me, the discussions we have are about how to best tweak our models to generate the most innovation through coworking. This is what the coworking movement is about. We're comparing notes on what works best in our experience and situation. One model is not more coworking than another. The activity our models promote is coworking. On Jun 4, 10:05 am, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Dusty I agree with the spirit of what you are saying and mentioning > Jelly is a good idea because yes, I would agree Jelly is a great part > of coworking and no they aren't linked to a specific permanent place. > I think the Cream Cheese sessions were also a great example of > coworking with no specific space. I think you can have a great > community that coworks without a space. > > However, I think (and would love to be proven wrong) that you are > trying to change it to solely a verb so that you can extract the part > you like. Coworking, from it's inception, has been about a community > that works and collaborates and socializes and meets up for community > building (eesh, that sounds too much like team building in big cos., > not the same ;) events. It's possible to take the simpler definition > and see it in a different light but the spirit behind it is, I > believe, what I just described. > > Jelly and Cream Cheese, not being location based were making the act > of coworking be the community event. The secret sauce is/was the act > of going there together and working and more. When you have a space, > you can hold other events, foster community in more ways. Whatever the > model the fact remains that we are doing more than just working and > randomly talking with people who are there. > > I think making it a verb and trying to make it "individuals working > and interacting" is reductive, it takes away from what a coworking > space wants to / should be building; a group, a community. Working > next to someone and socialising is being a normal human with human > contact needs. Working together and building something more together > is coworking. The "place" can be a permanent physical place, it can be > a place the group swarms to but the ulterior motives are more than > just socializing because you happen to be next to each other. > > Finally, I think if this had come from someone hosting a coworking > session that just happens to change location, it would have been > better received. In this case it's a way of making a business center > be able to sound like a coworking space. I think you have a great > project ramping up, I also think the fact you are involved and trying > to find a way to fit your model with the original vision of coworking > shows you pretty much get what the thing is and want to be part of it. > > I'd suggest, if I may, finding ways to have people in your future > space become a community and start putting emphasis on that instead of > on the huge investment and responding to every hint of profit/non > profit discussions. If you were always talking about the future > workshops and Camps and such that you want to host, how you want to > foster collaboration, how you are looking forward to seeing the group > coming together, we wouldn't even notice the for profit model. > > I hope this doesn't sound too harsh, it's not meant to be but it's > also because I think coworking as it is does work and is springing up > everywhere without becoming just a verb. > > Patrick > Station C --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
