We usually tackle this in two different steps, one to know who is in and out of the space and another to communicate this to everyone.
In most cases, we rely on members having to *check in and out **somehow* so the system knows they are in the space and for how long. This "somehow" is the tricky bit and we find that having several options resulting on a check-in and keeping these as close as possible to the normal use of the space works best. As it was mentioned in this thread, it is no possible to get a 100% accurate number of who was in the space, but you can try to maximize your chances. There are some practices we found to have different degree of success in different spaces depending on how they are run: - If there is a card system to open the entry door(s), hook this to the checking system, so accessing the space results in the member being checked in. For safety reasons, the members should not be forced to check out to leave the space, but the system can remind members who didn't check out every midnight. We know of some spaces where this technique has been quite effective. - If you use a WiFi router supporting Captive Portal, pfSense or RADIUS, hook it to the check-in system, so members are asked for their member login details and checked-in when they connect to the internet. This method also can assume somebody is no longer in the space after they disconnect for a period of time. - If you have manned front-desk provide a RFID card reader connected to the check-in system, so members can check in and out from there too. Reminders can also be sent to members who checked-in but didn't check out. In general the less intrusive the better results you should get but assume there will be a bit of an education process at first. The second issue is how to display who in the space. For this case we merged this info with the members directory. The home page of the space website shows a random selection of who is the space, the picture of each person and access to their profile and social and contact details. The full directory of members can also be filtered to show just who is in the space at that moment and checked-in members are highlighted in the list in case you just want to browse around the directory and find someone to talk to :) If you want to go a step further, there is also the option to access that data using an public API, which will let you display the images and/or profiles of each member checked in in a TV screen, tablet or any device able to make a request over the internet, so that opens up a good range of options. The idea is basically to have a range of options for members to check in, but all resulting in a single system knowing if the member is in the space or not. You can then use this to show who is in the space, run occupancy reports, billing, etc... Adrian On Thursday, January 30, 2014 11:36:15 PM UTC, Eli Malinsky wrote: > > Hey all > > Wonder if anyone has novel ways of showing which members are in the space > on a given day. Do you use table signs? flags? Pictures? Anything? I'd love > to hear any creative ideas. > > We've tried a few things in the past but nothing's really stuck. I'd love > to hear your experiences, see pics, etc. > > thanks! > > Eli Malinsky > Centre for Social Innovation > New York // Toronto > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
