I just wanted to share this recent revision to GetSatisfaction's "Company/Customer Pact". It's not a direct parity to what we're trying to accomplish, but I think they did a very good job in not just articulating the language of the pact itself, but explaining what the pact is in place for.
http://getsatisfaction.com/ccpact <http://getsatisfaction.com/ccpact>-Alex /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 12:23 PM, Ryan Price <[email protected]> wrote: > I honestly think the membership (or renters) of a space will have a much > greater potential of hurting the brand than any marketing message. > > We can't trademark the use of the word or phrase by an average person on > the street, or by a journalist, or a blogger, etc. I'm more worried about > those people lacking the understanding or giving a bad first impression than > someone trying to co-opt the term. > > Next is the obvious - someone trying to co-opt the term can cause the > average person to mis-represent coworking. > > Touché: Mike > > However, I still think the reward outweighs the short-term risk. I also > think services like Yelp can help force these impostor spaces to be more > transparent. > > Maybe we need a Yelp directory for coworking? Just list all of the spaces > that attempt to use the word, and try to match them up with a review page on > Yelp, Google Local, etc. > > Peace, > Ryan Price > [email protected] > @liberatr > 407-484-8528 > > FloridaCreatives.com > Orlando Happy Hour: Mar 15th @ Crooked Bayou > Next Likemind: Mar 19th @ UrbanThink! > > BarCampOrlando.org > Saturday, April 3rd, 9-6 @ Wall St Plaza > Flash Mob Pillow Fight to follow @pillowlando > > On Mar 3, 2010, at 11:54 AM, Mike Schinkel wrote: > > I understand the perspective, I just think it's shortsighted. But as I'm > in the vocal minority here, I'll abstain from further debate. > > -Mike Schinkel > Ignition Alley Atlanta Coworking > http://ignitionalley.com > > > > On Mar 3, 2010, at 10:56 AM, Tony Bacigalupo wrote: > > I think we mostly all don't like the idea of people co-opting the word. If > someone has a reasonable solution to offer, feel free to share. One hint, > the answer is not to try to create an authority which must decide who gets > to use the word and who doesn't. > > The issue is that "coworking" is more of a concept than a brand. Spaces > that truly embody the *concept* behind the buzz are the ones that will > benefit the most from the trend in the long term, even if others try to jump > on the bandwagon and water down the word itself. > > We're all probably sick of hearing about how everyone's "going green," but > the companies that really get it and embrace environmental sustainability in > their practices are the ones which are going to win out in the long run. > > People have a growing need for real coworking. People that provide > something that fulfills that need will find success. > > "Coworking" is a wonderful word, but we can only rely on it to take us so > far. We are building organizations which we hope to be sustainable in the > long run, I hope, and should therefore be able to continue to thrive in a > future world in which there's an untold number of coworking, cobaking, > colaundry, whatever spaces everywhere. New Work City will still be around > down the road not because it's coworking, but because it's New Work City. > The concept behind coworking is of course at its core, but if the word > itself gets watered down or goes away, we'll still be here. > > There's been talk in the past about what the future of coworking is, and I > posited that one day it will just be "working." Whether the word gets used > or not, the concept behind coworking is being woven into how we think about > work and life in general, and that's awesome. We get to help build that. > > Aside from the lower-case "coworking," the concept, we've also described > capital-c "Coworking" as a movement, and movements have their own life cycle > of growth, peak, and decline. But this email's long enough so I'll leave it > at that for now :) > > We got off track from discussing specific actionable things. What can we do > to advance the discussion of a license/badge to a place where a decision can > be made and we can move on? > > Tony > > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > New Work City - Work with, not for. > Web: http://nwcny.com > Twitter: http://twitter.com/nwc > Email: [email protected] > Phone: (888) 823-3494 > > > On Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 5:15 PM, Mike Schinkel <[email protected] > > wrote: > >> On Mar 2, 2010, at 4:57 PM, Alex Hillman wrote: >> >> I could see it make some sense in theory, but I think falls more into >> traditional business paranoia than any scope of reality. >> >> >> It's not business paranoia, it's a concern about branding. >> >> >> If someone going to run a space branded as "Coworking" I would think that >> someone would want to make sure that brand means something and it means what >> they offer. If there's no guarantee that it won't be diluted and come to >> effectively mean nothing then I think they'd be better off coming up with >> their own term and promoting that instead. >> >> >> -Mike Schinkel >> Ignition Alley Atlanta Coworking >> http://ignitionalley.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]<coworking%[email protected]> >> . >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. >> > > > -- > 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. > > > > -- > 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. > > > -- > 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]<coworking%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. 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