Three questions/comments about the stories: 1) You've probably answered this already, but:
Will the coworking space owners get a collection of the stories submitted by their members so they can use them to help tell their own space's stories? It would sure give the space owners an incentive to encourage their members to submit if they know it will give them "Office Nomads" or "Locus Workspace" stories to share as well as access to more general "coworking" stories. 2) Either way, I think it would be a good idea to be clear on the form about what aspects of the posters' info will be public and to what extent, and to give the submitter some options in that regard. By posting, do people give their consent to sharing the post publicly, to their own coworking spaces, or just as aggregated data? Do they give permission to share just their stories, or also their names, and/or their coworking-space affiliation? I think it would be really useful to give users the options on these points so you don't lose potential contributors who are happy to contribute to aggregated analysis or happy to contribute just their stories, but want it to be anonymous. 3) Maybe the previous comment and what's to follow just communicates my "ivory tower" naivete (journalists and private sector researchers are never held to these standards), but I think it would be a great idea to put together an IRB proposal and get approval from a university for collecting these stories. You wouldn't get approval from the IRB (ethics committee) from a university for a research project like this without more transparent "informed consent" (i.e., clearer communication about what can be shared and to whom), and if you decide it's ever worth writing this up for a peer-review journal (and it might be!), they often won't accept submissions at all without IRB approval. If you're interested in this, email me privately: there's a really easy approval process at the university where I work. Best, Will On Apr 10, 6:59 pm, Susan Evans <[email protected]> wrote: > Good morning everyone! > > I'm sure by this point everyone is a-buzz with the fact that coworking got > a big mention this morning on > NPR<http://www.npr.org/2012/04/10/150286116/for-freelancers-landing-a-wor...>. > Well, I am a-buzz this morning, but a-buzz with frustration. > > NPR took the opportunity to spend a big amount of time on coworking this > morning and the *best story they could share* was that the Grind has an > application process. Headline reads "For freelancers, landing a workspace > gets harder." > > If this is the best that NPR can do with what we give them, you all, I > think we're not doing the right thing. We're not giving the press the best > stories about coworking. And because of that they're telling the boring > stories. STILL. And I want to change that. > > After the coworking gathering in LA this past fall, a small group of folks > assembled under the banner the Coworking Awareness > Team<http://groups.google.com/group/coworking-awareness-team/>. > Our first and solo goal was to help coworking spaces get better stories > told about them and about all the awesomeness that coworking is. Clearly, > we have work to do! So far, we have published one single-page doc of sample > stories, created a press@coworking email address to point the press (and > those interested in telling stories) to, and even recently created a > single-page doc on tips and tricks of talking to the press (attached here). > > I was planning to share all this exciting news with you today to continue > the movement of this Awareness Team project. I am writing you this morning > to *implore* *you to share your own stories and encourage your members to > post their stories*. I know how many incredible things happen within the > Office Nomads community each year and go unnoticed. I know you have the > same at your space. I promise you I will do everything I can to help the > Awareness Team get those stories to the people interested in telling them, > and will shout out your stories loud and clear as much as I can. > > Because seriously - amongst all of the awesome things that happen in a > coworking space, the application process (if it exists, and I don't want to > have that argument here) is the LEAST interesting thing I can think of to > talk about. Other than maybe the printer. Y'all know I hate it when the > press talks about our printers. > > Here are the links, y'all. Let's get some better stories out there: > > Tell Your Coworking Story > Form<https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEluZWdWM0Y4QUs5...> > - > the place you send folks to to tell their story > Coworking.com - where the story summaries land (and will be updated from > time to time to show fresh stories!), and soon where the Talking to the > Press points will go > The Coworking Awareness Team Google > Group<http://groups.google.com/group/coworking-awareness-team/>- > please help us get better stories told about coworking. > > Thanks everyone, > Susan > > PS - to the folks at the Grind: I hope this doesn't rub you the wrong way. > This has nothing to do with your space (which I don't know much about), or > how you rock coworking in your own way. I respect that greatly and that has > nothing to do with this response. Truly - I just want your space to get > great stories told about it - I doubt NPR did you justice. > > __ > Office Nomads > officenomads.com206-484-5859begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 206-484-5859 > > Talking to the Press.pdf > 196KViewDownload -- 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.
