Chris, I like the idea a lot. We just opened up in Flower Mound (Dallas-Fort Worth Area). We are seeing the gaps in public knowledge of coworking but everytime I present it light bulbs light up. I have not had anyone, even banker types, say this was not a winner concept. I am a building Architect (not IT) and am seeing the bridge of how Coworking feeds "sustainable" communities. Lets get it out there in a larger pool of influence and community and see where it goes. Put me on the panel or lets get together and discuss. Trent Clark SmartOffice, smartoffice.pro 469-322-1482
On Jul 14, 9:13 pm, Chris Stewart <[email protected]> wrote: > Good Evening All, > > My name is Chris Stewart, and I'm currently a software developer > for an insurance company based near Dallas, Texas. I've been > passionate about coworking for over a year now, and decided to write a > 2010 SXSW Interactive panel proposal on Federated Coworking. I was a > panel liaison this year and loved the experience so much that I > decided to put together a panel of my own. The term "federated > coworking" doesn't seem to be used at the moment, but my thought > behind it is the need for greater collaboration and resource pooling > between existing spaces to raise awareness of coworking to the general > population. It appears from reading posts on this forum and elsewhere > about the Starfish/Spider argument that coworking spaces are against > strong top-down organizational hierarchy, and are happy to work > independently from each other apart from knowledge sharing and > occasional meetups. My contention is that we need to respect the > desire for coworking spaces to maintain independent, unique > atmospheres, while at the same time embracing new levels of > connectivity. > > From my perspective, federated coworking is an umbrella term used > to represent a centralized authority elected by the spaces to 1) > represent their interests amongst government, business leadership, and > the general public; 2) serve as a collection point for knowledge, > money (to fund awareness and development), and best practices; 3) > provide training to people who want to start a coworking space but > have no idea how to begin; and 4) actively develop new coworking > spaces in partnership with area business and government to house > creative collectives of individuals who will have the benefit of a > comfortable, warm office environment in community with other creatives > without the office politics of a traditional office. > > Whether or not the SXSW panel is approved, I believe it's important > that we begin asking tough questions about the future of coworking, as > this movement will not grow to its fullest potential housed in loosely- > connected silos. I'd like to present several plans during the panel on > what federated coworking could look like, and allow the panelists to > debate the pros and cons of each strategy. Instead of making a lot of > noise during the event and then returning to the status quo, we can > make this panel a jumping off point to real-world change in the way we > approach coworking. > > I'll add more thoughts on this subject as I listen to your > feedback. Respond to this post directly or contact me via twitter > @socialtopher. > > Thanks, > > Chris Stewart > Endaris (my iPhone stealth company) > http://www.twitter.com/socialtopher --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
