I've spoken to Jeannine about all of this already, so here publicly is my summary of what I think the role of open coworking should be.
Mind you, I've only been in the industry for a little under a year. There should be one universal entity that represents the movement in its purest form. This entity should: 1. Follow the value model of an open source initiative (aspects of which are freely used, changed, shared) 2. Uphold and moderate the web technology aspect of things providing resources and opportunities for all that want them 3. Provide a foundation for the movement and industry through supporting and advocating for members rather than an umbrella organization dictating, defining and restricting what coworking is and who should be included (inclusive vs exclusive). >From a website perspective, there's so many resources out there that O.C. runs/moderates. I believe it would really help to establish a coherent brand unifying it all and making O.C. appear like a more reliable authority on coworking. After giving it some thought, I believe the main open coworking website should keep in mind that people are going to be going there any of the following purposes 1. I am curious about coworking 2. I am new to coworking 3. I am a coworking space that needs resources 4. I want to directly connect with other space owners and representatives 5. I want to contribute / brag / tell a story Thinking of how O.C. can step up to provide a really clear direction for people to solve problems easily and encourage and facilitate collaboration on a grander scale... that would be awesome. Final thought: 24 hour Slackathon on Open Coworking some time next week. Who's in?? Melissa Geissinger President & COO at WIMP and WIMPspace Global Collaboration Partner at Open Coworking @misswimp On Tuesday, June 30, 2015 at 5:30:47 AM UTC-7, Jean - Baptiste Kattie wrote: > > > Hi Jeannine, > > Thank you very much for your initiative. My name is Jean Baptiste Kattie. > I'm the Business Development of Africa Outsourcing here in Senegal. I abm > very happy of this kind of talk. For me, I think it's better to have a > Global open Organization where anybody can communicate about the > opportunities. Our main objective is to success on our project, so we have > to advertise more on this group and why not have a partnership between > Coworking Spaces in the world > On Tuesday, June 30, 2015 at 8:30:07 AM UTC, Jeannine wrote: >> >> >> Open Coworking is a movement. It is the community of coworking spaces >> all over the world, working in many different languages. WHat we all share >> is that we have all committed to the same core values: Collaboration, >> Openness, Community, Accessibility, and Sustainability >> >> We maintain this Google Group. We also maintain: >> >> >> - >> >> discuss.coworking.com >> - >> >> coworking.org and .com <http://coworking.com/> >> - >> >> The Coworking Blog <http://blog.coworking.com/> >> - >> >> The Coworking Wiki >> <http://wiki.coworking.org/w/page/16583831/FrontPage> >> - >> >> The Coworking Map Project <http://coworkingdotcom.herokuapp.com/> >> - >> >> Coworking WIthout Borders <http://www.coworkingwithoutborders.com/> >> - >> >> Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/CoworkingWikiProject?fref=ts> >> - >> >> Twitter <https://twitter.com/coworkingwiki> >> >> >> We work with the Network hub on the Global Coworking Visa Map. >> <http://www.coworkingvisamap.com/> >> >> Open Coworking has grown up as the need arose, and was only formally >> organized a couple of years ago. In 2012, Jacob Sayles took it on and >> created a nonprofit organization to manage all of the above. At that time >> we were very excited that we had reached a huge milestone: 1,000 coworking >> spaces worldwide! >> >> There are now….more than that. Ahem. >> >> So recently, he handed the reins of Open Coworking over to me. And it is >> time to talk about where we want to go with it. Organizations tend to >> naturally emerge around a community’s needs and while I am in a great >> position to get feedback about those needs, a number of people find it to >> be high time we talked about what we want to do. And where we want to go. >> >> Is it time to get formal with Open Coworking? >> >> This is an all-volunteer movement. And as some of you know, we have been >> working on a reorganization of the WIki Team for about a half year. We >> have grown in that time to a team of 65 volunteers worldwide. As a larger, >> worldwide coworking community, we seem to spontaneously have this >> conversation every 5 years or so. But a majority of the people now involved >> in coworking were I think not here for the last one. So it’s time to open >> up the discussion again I think. >> >> Here is where we are: >> >> We have me, I am still in for organizing Open Coworking, in Oosterhout, >> the Netherlands. >> >> We have Oren Salomon in Texas USA, busy with establishing a curated Open >> Coworking community directory based on a map. >> >> There’s our social media, run by Beth Buczynski in Colorado, USA. >> >> There are the Wiki Associates and Regional Partners, listed on the Wiki. >> >> There’s the Global Coworking blog, run by Melissa Geissinger, who is also >> giving us a much needed facelift (see below for screenshots) >> >> There are a number of other projects and idea which we have been >> approached to take part in or contribute to. >> >> The projects I hear most about people wanting are: >> >> 1) a mentoring program, space-to-space; 2) a mentoring program, network >> to network, for coworking communities setting up local networks; >> >> 3) an overhaul of the Coworking Visa; >> >> 4) a marketplace, coworker to coworker. >> >> 5) a best practices “kit” for spaces at different points in the growth >> curve: starting out, mature and growing, and even end stage. There is also >> much interest in a best practices “kit” or discussion group for what we can >> rural coworking, that is, models for coworking in locations other than >> large cities and also for coworking in specific sectors: retail, >> hospitality. >> >> >> >> I signed on to maintain the Wiki and serve the community where I could >> and that is what I intend to keep doing. >> >> *Here is what I want from you* >> >> I want to know what you think. I want to know what you would like to see >> from Open Coworking. I want you to take part in this conversation. >> >> I also want you to help us get the word out that the conversation is >> taking place. With your social media, within your communities and within >> your cities, as soon as the discussion goes up I would like for you to >> share the word. >> >> We can continue to keep on as we are keeping on: the organization as it >> is now is sufficient to maintain the Blog, the Wiki, and this group. >> >> It is not sufficient if what the community wants is for Open Coworking to >> more actively organize and advocate and communicate with the outside world. >> >> Coworking without Borders, the Coworking Visa, and the new Coworking Map >> have none of them gotten the kind of support they deserve, simply because >> we lack the reliable resources to support them. The spam problem on the >> Wiki has been largely cleared up (hurray!) but it is in many areas out of >> date and needs to be reorganized. >> >> The organization itself should not be a problem; >> >> We are in a unique position as a community to add to the development of >> Coworking. The real question before the house is this: >> >> >> 1. >> >> Do we want a Global Open Coworking Organization? >> 2. >> >> What would you like to see it do? >> 3. >> >> How can we best do this? >> >> >> I welcome and value your thoughts. >> >> Cheers, >> >> Jeannine >> >> >> >> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VQVK-6LL_Cw/VZJTH_b-wiI/AAAAAAAAHH0/SDXNiYRk5Qw/s1600/open-coworking-design1%2B%25281%2529.jpg> >> >> >> >> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-j2cceXFxAdI/VZJS5Sy2cHI/AAAAAAAAHHk/6kq413ZCjo8/s1600/new-design-homepage.jpg> >> >> -- 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/d/optout.
