Cowork Network

[Karen Origlio]

Over the past few weeks I've met/emailed several group members to
discuss the idea of creating a non-profit organization to support
coworking space owners and members.

The idea is to have an organization whose mission is to help spaces
start and sustain themselves, and link them together. Imagine a
knowledge base of information and resources for a space catalyst, or
collaborating with members in other locations via video conferencing
or finding the specific expertise you need for your latest project
through a member directory... Coworking will be an industry, not just
a movement.

This organization can also assist the independent worker and
entrepreneurial spirit found in so many members...I'd love to connect
members with affordable and much-needed medical or disability
insurance...

There seems to be some interest in this idea. What do YOU think? Good
idea? Let's discuss.

If yes, I see two next steps:

1. Form a Board of Advisors to define the mission and vision of the
organization and contribute their expertise and knowledge. Not sure of
the time commitment needed - probably minimal - perhaps an hour
conference call in the next few weeks.

2. Define a list of projects for the Cowork Network and help identify
people to assist.

Would love to hear your opinions pro or con, on list or off.

Thanks,
Karen Origlio
kori...@hotmail.com

[Raines Cohen]

Karen, great ideas. But as somebody alluded to in a reply to your
earlier (8/21) "what if" post: why a nonprofit? Why an organization?
Part of the emergent self-directed nature of this movement (and the
related open-source and BarCamp movements) is that we can do things in
new ways, with less infrastructure and formality than otherwise.
Where's the value-add of a formal group?

I'm a self-proclaimed "User Group Groupie." Over the past quarter
century, I've seen the power of collective effort, channeled through
organizations, to provide mutual self-support... as co-founder of user
groups, as well as intentional neighborhoods known as cohousing
communities, I've served on national and regional boards (as I see you
have) and seen a lot accomplished using that form. As a result, I know
I have an innate inclination to see the potential to organize a
nonprofit as a solution to any challenge I see in the world.

But I have also experienced the inertia and resource-drain such
organizations can entail. The innate conservatism of the board
structure. The perpetual fundraising quest. Politics, priorities, and
control issues. The implicit exclusion of paid-membership models. The
difficulty of getting the attention of space owners. The myriad ways
that working to meet the operating/legal requirements of the nonprofit
redirects or even misdirects the get-things-done energy that
entrepreneurial or open-cooperative approaches could otherwise
incentivize.

You list among potential services an org could provide a "passport."
Yet this list and the wiki provided a self-organized "good enough for
now" solution to just that, in about a week. The wiki itself is a
"referral web site", and someone else just implemented another
directory database. We've got an online community right here. Most
spaces have the technical capacity to do videoconferencing, although I
could see a role for scheduling and promoting events, it would be
dependent on willing hosts and participants at individual spaces.

The rest of the list reads like a list of consulting services that you
could provide with your freshly-minted MBA (congrats, BTW!) and
corporate project-management experience/certification, which a
nonprofit could be a great way of marketing. As for the
coworking-related training, support, and educational services, is your
thought that people would be more likely to participate in creating
the content or buying the pieces if there was some kind of mutual
benefit organization vs. individual free or commercial contribution?

I should be clear that I absolutely do support exploration of the
idea: As a consultant serving the emerging coworking industry, I
absolutely can see the marketing benefit, the potential to bundle
services in a membership and spend less time myself doing outreach. I
see, on this list and in person, too many people "reinventing the
wheel" and relearning lessons "the hard way" -- and sometimes, that's
a necessary part of the process of building a business and creating
individual capacity, bringing a group together, but it means that
energy and work goes in directions that doesn't necessarily end up
contributing to more spaces opening faster. And the doctrinal lack of
organization/centrality sometimes adds to our collective inefficiency.
But I am reluctant to embrace such a concept and invest my time
towards it without a clear vision of the benefits to the movement, not
just for myself... and with greater predictors of success.

Rather than direct folks to a static top-down
you-grabbed-the-domain-already centralized-just-email-me
same-as-your-personal-site web page with a pre-made feature list, why
not start a page on the concept on the coworking wiki and see what
elements get energy and who shows up, and then start building the
community there?

Raines
who visited two different coworking communities yesterday and
discussed whether they had any issues like the one Citizen Space has
experienced with someone abusing free-access privileges or other
problems with theft or other disturbance. The answers so far: no, but
they're thinking about potential vulnerabilities. One space is
considering a webcam-at-the-door, but a periscope might do the job!

[Tony Bacigalupo]

Hi Karen,

There are a lot of great and diverse ideas here; for the moment I'm going to think on a big-picture level and try to provide a counterbalance which I hope will help define how best to proceed.

* Puts on Starfish hat *

(This hat is really uncomfortable and pointy)

Okay, so as many of us well know, the Coworking movement is a starfish organization, which is to say, it's a decentralized entity of people who share a belief in a central concept.

Ori Brafman & Rod Becksrom's book, The Starfish and the Spider, does a fantastic job detailing why such organizations are so powerful.

Perhaps my favorite chapter, though, is the one that describes how to *kill* a starfish. I don't have a copy of the book on me, but I'll try to get the gist of it here.

One way that they described was "Turn the starfish into a spider." That is, centralize that which was once decentralized. The chapter detailed the story of a starfish movement that was wildly successful, and very innocently and with the best intentions established a central fund to help more people interested in the movement get on their feet.

The problem? The central fund was a huge success. Millions of dollars poured in, and this fund ended up needing a huge staff of people to figure out who gets what amounts of money.

The constituents were less empowered, and hierarchies formed, and the strengths and flexibilities that the organization once had were lost.

* Takes off starfish hat *

Okay, so that being said, does that mean we do nothing? No. But it means we act carefully and responsibly so as to ensure we maintain the accessibility and flexibility of the movement.

So how to proceed? I'm not sure exactly, but I'm forming an idea.

I think the ideal goal would be to establish an entity which *services* the Coworking movement, but is its own separate organization. This organization does have the ability to have a central structure and a bank account and so on, but does not have authority over the movement as a whole.

So, perhaps, the Cowork Network would identify a particular segment of the Coworking movement that it chooses to service, and it could become a very successful entity that services that segment while still maintaining the movement on the whole.

That's entirely doable, and I'm happy to help however I can in fleshing that out... because finding a way to help provide a lot of the resources you suggested would be fantastic. I think there will be many successful companies & organizations which will service the people who have adopted the concept of coworking, and now is a great time to start forming them.

Karen, I think we're in for a really good discussion today, and hopefully by the end of it we'll have a much better idea of where to go next. Thanks for stirring it up!

Best,
Tony
New Work City

[Alex Hillman]

I'm glad Tony said everything i wanted to, so I didn't have to.

Bottom line is, de-starfishing the starfish isn't going to work. Having a unified set of tools that are at our disposal, though...I imagine that would get a fair amount of use. Think of it just like the wiki and the blog and the google group...but for business services instead of communication. Everything is opt-in.

--
-----
--
-----
Alex Hillman
im always developing something
digital: al...@weknowhtml.com
visual: www.dangerouslyawesome.com
local: www.indyhall.org

[Tara Hunt]

Tony,

Thanks for stepping in and reminding people that coworking works because it is decentralized. We didn't start this movement to make an organization. We started this movement so that people, like in the case of BarCamp (the model it was built on), could take it and do what they want.

The truth is, it's working the way it is. Any one of you can help another one of you. Raines travels around and helps people, I travel around and help people, Alex, Jacob, Susan, etc. We all pitch in. The idea is to keep that moving and keep encouraging everyone to bring their continued support to making spaces happen.

I like Alex's idea of unified set of tools. Amit and Darrell are working on billing systems and passport-like functionality. Derek came up with a directory site (wurkspaces.com). People add to the blog, the wiki and other pieces like the map. We share our stories here so that others may know what is going on and give us advice or learn themselves. These are centralized tools and I hope more are built that people can use as a resource.

Besides...coworking is a registered trademark...not owned by us. AND a centralized organization. http://www.coworking.com/ (the Coworking Institute) Gerritt Visser is a nice guy, but I highly doubt he'd want to give up his institute for us.

Tara

--
--
tara 'missrogue' hunt

Book: The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business (http://www.amazon.com/Whuffie-Factor-Capital-Winning-Communities/dp/0307409503?ie=UTF8)
Company: Citizen Agency (http://www.citizenagency.com)
Blog: HorsePigCow: Marketing Uncommon (http://www.horsepigcow.com)
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/missrogue
phone: 415-694-1951
fax: 415-727-5335

[Tony Bacigalupo]

I do think that external organizations can/will/should exist to service different segments; for instance, I think there's a ton of potential for an organization that aims to service cafes that host (co)working folks.

Many cafes are struggling with the onslaught of laptops, as their business models count on people getting their coffee and leaving quick to make room for the next guy. If an organization came along that helped cafes tweak their business models to take advantage of this shift, everyone would benefit. (More on that another time.)

The Cowork Network, as envisioned above, looks to be leaning towards helping people establish and run dedicated workspaces. Providing a knowledge base, access to technology, and potentially even seed funding, could all be very useful services for folks to partake in.

Karen, it sounds like your game plan is a good one-- gather together the people interested in this concept and start to identify the market and its needs. That'll provide a framework for ensuing discussions.

Tony

[Dawn C. Hayes]

Some colleagues on this list and I met to think about this approach.
As I skimmed some of the responses to your post, I think an open
approach is to borrow a bit from the established lines of thinking as
well as innovative, novel perspectives. Rather than debating over
corporation types (non-profit vs. for profit) or whether a single
approach does or does not seem viable, I am interested in focusing on
building a business or venture model that facilitates our work openly
and collaboratively. In other words the model dictates the
incorporation type (would love to be in Vermont right now).

As part of that model, I am personally seeking to explore, document
and implement ways to connect early pipeline innovators and
entrepreneurs to the greater wealth of resources often and primarily
available to VC targets and incubators.

We have a ton of like-minded, yet diverse folks that are connected by
many facets of Co-working. How about we begin to translate our online
discussions into a rotating offline salon between all of the spaces
currently operating? We can stream gatherings online to afford full,
active participation when we can't make it to a designated venue. One
month we're in San Francisco and another we are in Philly.

We can start by learning who is in the room and how we can help each
other. I think it starts as simply as that, provided we can agree to
come in with an understanding that the goal is not to influence anyone
to do things one way, but to resource build through discussion and
collaborative interaction where it makes sense (and please let that be
by a broad definition of what makes sense).

I am happy to meet with folks to explore further (of course we will
document online to keep things democratic).

Anyone want to Skype in and gather in person next week? I am in NYC
and can secure a venue if one isn't suggested first.

Cheers,

d

Forgive any typos-- shopping and typing presents challenges.
-- dawn
im:
realrainmaker

skype: unitedcommunityventurepartners
--

...sent from my iPod Touch via wifi ;- )

[Jacob Sayles]

I'm excited by the idea and share many of the same concerns. It's a
pattern we've seen before in the open source world. There are a lot
of open source projects that developed organically, and then some
entity decides they wanted to kick it up a notch. Sometimes this
works out well, sometimes it is disastrous. The trick is going to be
keeping a tuned eye on the process to make sure it's not a
spiderifying the starfish. We've identified that concern, but how do
we navigate around it?

Jacob

--
Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolation
http://www.officenomads.com - (206) 323-6500

[Tara Hunt]

Nice idea! So, the idea is to travel and meet face to face in these salons? 

[Tara Hunt]

I guess I don't understand the benefits of making coworking an organization. Or, at the very least, I see a few benefits that are eclipsed by the costs of it.

[Jacob Sayles]

Tara,

I think we have different visions. I wouldn't have paraphrased this
conversation as "making coworking an organization" and I don't
consider cost as an obstacle as by design whatever this becomes would
have to stand on it's own. I'd love to paint a clearer picture of
what I'm thinking but the day job is calling so I need to put this
down.

I love the salon idea but my travel is limited with just the part time
job as income. I've got SxSW in March and maybe NYC in a few weeks.

Jacob

[Dawn C. Hayes]

Yep. There seems to be enough of us spread around the nation and globe to make it work. 

I agree that Co-working is more about an effort than an organization, although organizations and ventures seeking to address some of the resource gaps are welcome to capture   and translate offerings in the spirit of Co-working. 

For the time-constrained folks (most of us on this list), the beauty of the rotating salon is that it enables you to come to it when and where you can AND that you have a give and take opportunity to benefit from the dialogs fostered in this group. I am always interested the translation of ideas into action both online and offline and we have good traction along with diversity of opinions and perspectives to support such. If nothing else, we will at least have a venue to reach out to the open circle in the physical world. 

By streaming and archiving the salons, participation is as you are available, and of course, interested.

-- dawn

im: 

realrainmaker

skype: unitedcommunityventurepartners

--

...sent from my iPod Touch via wifi ;- )

[Karen Origlio]

Wow - it seems like my poorly chosen words like "board of advisors"
and "organization"really rubbed some people the wrong way!

Please understand my intentions are not to take over, centralize,
organize and put everything in its place. I am not trying to spiderize
y'all!

I would just like to see coworking expand and was looking for a way to
contribute my skills, experience and energy in a meaningful way
without necessarily opening my own space.

I thought the vision, mission and services on the cowork network would
be determined by this group.

It that more clear?

Karen

On Oct 9, 2:27 pm, "Dawn C. Hayes" <realrainma...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Yep. There seems to be enough of us spread around the nation and globe  
> to make it work.
>
> I agree that Co-working is more about an effort than an organization,  
> although organizations and ventures seeking to address some of the  
> resource gaps are welcome to capture   and translate offerings in the  
> spirit of Co-working.
>
> For the time-constrained folks (most of us on this list), the beauty  
> of the rotating salon is that it enables you to come to it when and  
> where you can AND that you have a give and take opportunity to benefit  
> from the dialogs fostered in this group. I am always interested the  
> translation of ideas into action both online and offline and we have  
> good traction along with diversity of opinions and perspectives to  
> support such. If nothing else, we will at least have a venue to reach  
> out to the open circle in the physical world.
>
> By streaming and archiving the salons, participation is as you are  
> available, and of course, interested.
>
> -- dawn
> im:
> realrainmaker
>
> skype: unitedcommunityventurepartners
> --
>
> ...sent from my iPod Touch via wifi ;- )
>

> > On Oct 9, 2008, at 6:52 AM, Karen Origlio <korig...@hotmail.com>  

> > > korig...@hotmail.com

>
> > --
> > --
> > tara 'missrogue' hunt
>
> > Book: The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to  

> > Build Your Business (http://www.amazon.com/Whuffie-Factor-Capital-Winning-Communities/dp/0...
> > )

[Tara Hunt]

That IS more clear...thanks Karen. 

I think many of the spaces have set a vision, mission and services on their own pages and some of us have shared them here, borrowed from others and mixed and matched at will. Perhaps the best thing to do is to create a page or a couple of pages with sample vision, missions and lists of services? What do you think?

I know we offer something different than Office Nomads who offers something different from Caroline Collective, etc., but in setting this stuff up, having a baseline would probably be helpful to people just starting out.

T

Book: The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business (http://www.amazon.com/Whuffie-Factor-Capital-Winning-Communities/dp/0307409503?ie=UTF8)

[Dawn Hayes]

I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I didn't take your comments as a way to "spiderize" the list. I've said this before on another string, but the attraction for me about this dialog and everyone's contribution is that everyone has an opportunity to shape things and add their own ingredients into the pot for a bit of kick and flavor. Where they occur, contrasting views are welcome and can provide insight and alternative perspectives that might otherwise be over-looked, so please don't feel run over or misunderstood. Your voice is as important as that of any one else on this list.

Grief, I can't wait for the weekend. Sorry, habitual thinking aloud is something I am working on reducing.

Cheers,

d

--


"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but we are spiritual beings having a human experience."--Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

[patrick...@gmail.com]

I'm with Tony, Alex and Tara (nothing new there) on the first reaction
to Karen's post, starfish please. The parallel services approach seems
interesting though and Karen's precisions do seem more in line with my
thinking than the original understanding I had.

As for the potential non profit and the salon, I'd like to remind
everyone that although people from spaces in the US are VASTLY more
numerous and active here, this is still an international movement and
non profits based in the US and salons held there are either
(depending on structure) not useful (different laws/requirements and
such) for others and wayyy more expensive to get to. The salon idea is
interesting but will gather largely the same few people who are
already traveling a lot and can match their travels with meetings or
travel on points or whatever. I don't mind per se, I'll use the stream
and keep an eye on northeast action in case I can make it but I just
thought I'd throw it in there to keep in the back of your mind ;).

In the same vein, I'd encourage international coworking spaces to pipe
up more often on the list, I know for those on different timezones on
other continents it might feel like the discussion is over and
everything's been said by the time you get to the messages but please,
throw in your opinions and "votes" more often.


Patrick
station-c.com

[Dawn Hayes]

I didn't have any exclusive vision on geographic locations, keeping in mind that this list is global and I'd love to be able to dialog and interact more with those outside of U.S. borders. Cross-border interaction is key to anything fostering collaboration (in my opinion) and by cross-border I mean it in the widest sense: from Philly to Seattle, Rochester to East London or Miami to Goa (India).

If the usual suspects are the first to show up, great. If others get involved from the start, even better. There's always got to be a place to begin with, no? In fact, it seems that there are a few regular voices on this list and some of their thoughts have clearly drawn in others to connect that might usually stick to quiet observation (that's usually me, really!).

I believe Co-working is shaped by the vision and efforts of its actors at large and will maintain that as I develop initiatives directly in line with it or at least parallel to it. With that said, I am less interested in fussing over titles, catch-phrases and whether something is actually "Co-working" or not. I'm much more interested in the results of folks working together (or not) to benefit their communities, whether it is simply providing a good space to work from or a bit more.

d

[Tara Hunt]

One thing I would love to 'regulate' is that coworking does not have a hyphen. ;) Just a joke, but I do try to correct ppl when possible - especially reporters. Not that I'm the queen of naming or anything. It's just consistent. :)

T

--
--
tara 'missrogue' hunt

Book: The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business (http://www.amazon.com/Whuffie-Factor-Capital-Winning-Communities/dp/0307409503?ie=UTF8)

[Dawn C. Hayes]

LOL! Noted. 

-- dawn

im: 

realrainmaker

skype: unitedcommunityventurepartners

--

...sent from my iPod Touch via wifi ;- )

[MattCoop]

I noted that the idea that has resonated most in this discussion is
the "unified set of tools". How do we overcome interoperability
issues without building a central governing entity? How do we ensure
that the nice folks who are paying to host those tools right now don't
pull the plug, without just setting up another entity that can also
die/be co-opted/turn evil?

I just happen to be working on a project that's solving similar
issues: http://iyear.us

Below is some text about how we're using a trust to keep the web
platform completely community-driven. Trusts are funny legal
entities, with a lot of space for innovation in how they're governed.
Please do read on. I think the implications for this conversation
will be clear, so I won't parse them myself.

-Matt

-------

The Independence Year Trust

A trust is unlike any other legal entity authorized to hold assets:
it's little more than a file in a trust company's office. The
Independence Year Trust is an "Internet Services Irrevocable Non-
corporeal Trust." Like most trusts, it has no management board and no
managers but, unlike most trusts, the Trust is not permitted to hold
tangible assets: no cash, bank accounts, nothing that's attractive to
a potential buyer. So, while the Trust is the "owner" of the web
service, there is no way it can pay for the service, and has no way to
control it. Without a business or money or a management board, it has
no way to sell itself.

Like the Internet itself, the Independence Year Trust is not a
"thing", it's simply an agreement.

But the iYear Web Host(s) and Domain Name Registrar(s) must be paid or
they will stop supporting it and the site will die. So each contractor
has a payment page at iYear, where the iYear community can voluntarily
donate in order to ensure that the site stays up.

Because of the Trust's limitations, there's no profit in buying it
(and no one to make an offer to). As long as its members pay its
costs, the only way to shut it down would be if the Government seizes
its servers or if the web Host violated its contract. By July 4th,
2009, the service will be mirrored so thoroughly that it will be
virtually impossible for a single entity to shut down this American
People's Government Management Service.

On Oct 10, 1:00 pm, "Dawn C. Hayes" <realrainma...@gmail.com> wrote:
> LOL! Noted.
>
> -- dawn
> im:
> realrainmaker
>
> skype: unitedcommunityventurepartners
> --
>
> ...sent from my iPod Touch via wifi ;- )
>

> > On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 9:12 AM, patrick.tang...@gmail.com <patrick.tang...@gmail.com

> > Build Your Business (http://www.amazon.com/Whuffie-Factor-Capital-Winning-Communities/dp/0...
> > )

[Karen Origlio]

Thanks, all, for your input and comments. There's a lot of energy and
smarts on this list.

I need to put this idea of the back burner for a while since my paying
project management gig just got canceled.
Will restart the discussion and/or reach out for more specific input
when my schedule (and pocketbook) allows.

Best,
Karen

[Tony Bacigalupo]

Best of luck Karen! Hang in there and kick some ass!

[felicity at cubes]

Just to add my two cents...

I have been part of this coworking group for about 8 months ago. The
best
part as far as I can tell is that we have the wiki, the blog, this
group and
a general pool of resources that everyone shares. Does it need more
organization?
Maybe. I think a lot gets repeated and certain questions that are
universal
to coworking space owners like liability agreements have come up
quite a bit.

Still the organic nature of it all works well. One thought...kind of
along
the lines of a salon, would be to do a periodic (we determine) in
person or
conference call type session where we focus on a topic within
coworking spaces or ownership. It is up to each person who
participates to decide how
or if to take away anything from the salon to apply to their own
space. It
maybe the best of both worlds. We keep the starfish in that it stays
an
organic movement with each space existing with its own personality
and knowledge, but it allows us to vocalize ideas, resources, etc. It
connects
coworking spaces without placing them in a "spiderweb" so to speak.

Just a thought...

Felicity
Cubes&Crayons


Space: www.cubesandcrayons.com
Blog: cubes.typepad.com/blog
Personal thoughts: cubes.typepad.com/cake

On Oct 9, 9:26 am, "Tara Hunt" <horsepig...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I guess I don't understand the benefits of making coworking an organization.
> Or, at the very least, I see a few benefits that are eclipsed by the costs
> of it.
>
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 9:24 AM, Jacob Sayles <ja...@officenomads.com> wrote:
>
> > I'm excited by the idea and share many of the same concerns. It's a
> > pattern we've seen before in the open source world. There are a lot
> > of open source projects that developed organically, and then some
> > entity decides they wanted to kick it up a notch. Sometimes this
> > works out well, sometimes it is disastrous. The trick is going to be
> > keeping a tuned eye on the process to make sure it's not a
> > spiderifying the starfish. We've identified that concern, but how do
> > we navigate around it?
>
> > Jacob
>
> > --
> > Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolation

> >http://www.officenomads.com- (206) 323-6500

> Business (http://www.amazon.com/Whuffie-Factor-Capital-Winning-Communities/dp/0...
> )

[Jacob Sayles]

I'd be down for a regular conference call. Even if it was just to
shoot the shit, it would be great to talk with folks and see how
things are going.

Jacob

[axon]

I'd be up for occasional concalls. I have a WebEx account we can use
if that's of interest.

--Ax

[Steven Heath]

2008/10/28 axon <ax...@axonometrix.com>:

>
> I'd be up for occasional concalls. I have a WebEx account we can use
> if that's of interest.
>
> --Ax
>
> On Oct 27, 11:12 am, "Jacob Sayles" <ja...@officenomads.com> wrote:
>> I'd be down for a regular conference call. Even if it was just to
>> shoot the shit, it would be great to talk with folks and see how
>> things are going.

Talking of 'shoot the shit'.

Someone posted couple of weeks ago saying they were hoping to open
source release some coworking related software around resource
booking.

Can that person give an update, I think that is one of the biggest
tangible areas that we can work together (along with advice and
comments etc).

PS I would be interested in an initial conf call but we would need to
think abotu what the outcome is other than for me to listen to all
your funky accents :-)

--
Steven Heath
Director, Foxbane Consulting
Founder, AltSpace
www.foxbane.co.nz
Cell: +64 21 706-067

AltSpace: Shared office space in Wellington for home based workers,
freelancers, or nimble companies

[Hillary Hartley]

steven -
search the google group for "coworkination". there are links to the
google code page.

-hh