Alex, These sound a lot like Zappos' core values, which drives their culture. I think a lot of what you're driving towards is a common statement of "coworking core values," which in turn translates into the community's culture.
What if we codify it as a "statement of core values" instead of a license, and ask participating folks to subscribe to that statement? Dave On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 2:57 PM, Alex Hillman <[email protected]>wrote: > 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. > 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. > -- Dave Troy meet with me: http://bit.ly/davemtg blog: www.davetroy.com (@davetroy) community: www.beehivebaltimore.org (@bhivebmore) investing: www.baltimoreangels.org (@baltimoreangels) events: @TEDxMidAtlantic, @barcampbmore, @socialdevcamp projects: www.twittervision.com, www.flickrvision.com Partner, Roundhouse Technologies -- 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.
