On Jun 30, 2015 1:30 AM, "Jeannine" <[email protected]> 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. > -- 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. 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