I don't think I was looking to introduce parameters or anything complicated, I was genuinely curious what questions people ask in order to get the stories worth telling.
That's valuable to share here (and document together) so that the goal of 2012 stories by 2012 isn't just a numbers game, but is tracking quality stories from more places that have stories worth sharing. There's nothing wrong with running ahead with something and it sounds like you've got your mind made up on your this project, which is great. My point was to make this something that could inspire others so you're not the only one collecting stories, and let it live on beyond your e-book series. Of course it'll change as we go, that's how this whole thing works, but creating some constraints so that people know HOW to contribute is what's going to allow this to take off. Remember, not everyone's as comfortable at writing, interviewing, storytelling, etc. -Alex /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 10:10 PM, Angel Kwiatkowski <[email protected]>wrote: > I'm not a big fan of getting everything figured out first and acting > later. Let's be honest, coworking is a baby. We don't know what size > shoes she's going to need in 3 years let alone in the next 2 months. I > don't want to get hung up in planning it to death or putting a hundred > parameters around it. What we do need is a solution NOW where > coworkers can tell their stories where other coworkers can search by > space or city name (it doesn't even need to bolt on to a database--I'd > just google a space I was interested in anyway)---be it a facilitated > q&a format or multimedia (upload a video or paint a picture) I don't > care, I just want them to be able to share! > > We're going to do this with the next in the ebook series and unveil > the Cohere members' stories in a book at our 1 year anniversary party > in April. Beth and I had the planning meeting for this TODAY and we'll > produce the thing in less than 10 weeks. > > My goal is to have 2012 coworkers' stories by 2012. Let's make it > happen. > > Angel > > On Feb 22, 7:22 pm, Alex Hillman <[email protected]> wrote: > > > First, our members mostly just want a great place to work and they > think > > > it's neat that there are a number of other spaces around the world, but > they > > > are more interested in the work they are doing. > > > > Jacob, you know I love you, but this sounds shortsighted. Just because > they > > don't have an expanded worldview doesn't mean that they shouldn't be > given > > the chance to see what it could do. > > > > I can contrast that sentiment that most of our members, while not > > necessarily aware of the big picture at first or its sheer scale, are > > extremely excited to be a part of it (and in many cases, contribute to > it), > > *given the opportunity*. They love the fact that in places all around the > > world, people are experiencing something similar to them. We keep the > local > > focus, but think it's important to have a global perspective. That's not > > just an attribute of a better coworker, or business owner/leader, that's > an > > attribute of a better *citizen*. > > > > Without being presented with the possibility of being a part of the > bigger > > world just outside their doors, I don't blame them for "not wanting to". > > They don't even know that they "could want to" let alone that they > "should > > want to". > > > > The trick is to give them the opportunity without also giving them a * > > completely* blank page to work from. > > > > Like any interview, the key to this is knowing how to ask good questions, > > and look for prompts for asking yet more questions. This is hard to > > automate, but some more in-depth interviews being conducted by the > members > > who want to know more about and be known more in the global community is > > something that I firmly believe that many members will do if they're > given > > the opportunity. > > > > Personally, I'd love to see Angel's idea turn into a brainstorm of the > kinds > > of questions and answers that members have with each other and coworking > > space catalyst, founders, leaders, etc have with them as well. > > > > From there, I think we can put together some queues for conversation to > get > > over "blank page syndrome" and simply provide enough context for the > stories > > - and the broader worldview that our members deserve to be able to have > for > > themselves - to emerge. What we do with those stories could go in a > million > > directions, let's worry about that once we have figured out a good way to > > capture them. > > > > -Alex > > > > /ah > > indyhall.org > > coworking in philadelphia > > > > On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 7:32 PM, Jacob Sayles <[email protected] > >wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Angel, > > > > > Yes yes yes! This has been the direction I've been working towards all > > > along and there are some significant challenges to incorporate. > > > > > First, our members mostly just want a great place to work and they > think > > > it's neat that there are a number of other spaces around the world, but > they > > > are more interested in the work they are doing. It's the space owners > that > > > are more invested in the larger coworking movement so they are the > people > > > who are putting in the work. They want to talk about their space > mostly, > > > what they build, etc. I talk up our members and their incredible > stories<http://www.texttheromanceback.com/rachaelray>all the time but I > wouldn't be able to keep individual profiles up to date. > > > It's enough work to highlight them on our website< > http://officenomads.com/category/featured-nomad/>. > > > > > I have lots of thoughts on the Coworking Registry and where it fits in > the > > > wider vision. Mostly it starts with how difficult it is to "organize" > the > > > coworking wiki which is currently mostly used to list spaces. If we > could > > > get that buttoned up in a simple, central, neutral, way, and make it > all > > > free and open data, then there is a lot we can do with that. It's only > one > > > piece of the puzzle though. > > > > > I could go in so many directions from here but I'll leave it at that. > The > > > conversation is going to be great in Austin. :) > > > > > Jacob > > > > > --- > > > Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolation > > >http://www.officenomads.com- (206) 323-6500 > > > > > On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 3:49 PM, Angel Kwiatkowski < > [email protected]>wrote: > > > > >> When Alex said, "The biggest thing I continually see missing from > > >> directories like this is a > > >> sort of sense of humanity - physical attributes are useful in > > >> determining > > >> what you DON'T want, but make it hard to differentiate between one > > >> space and > > >> the next once you know what you DO want." > > > > >> I've been reading up on the coworking registry database and whatnot > > >> but again as a member just told me, "I don't want to know where the > > >> desks/spaces are, I want to know where my people are." I think that as > > >> a community of community-minded people-centric people we missed the > > >> boat. Big time. As a matter of fact, we're in the wrong boat going the > > >> wrong direction on the wrong river. > > > > >> Idea: what if we have a place where coworkers can tell their stories? > > >> That's it. Tell your story about how you found coworking, why you > > >> cowork, where you cowork and how it has changed your life. Tag those > > >> posts with city names and space names and let the wider community of > > >> prospective coworkers find their tribe there. > > > > >> *Question: as a space owner do you think you could inspire your > > >> communities to contribute their stories online?* > > > > >> -- > > >> 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]. > 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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