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April 23, 2008

Co Working and Commons' - Time for a Network Now?

Coworkingoffices

This map shows the existing Commons or Co Working Offices Spaces in North America and Europe. I see a network - do you? (Thanks Harold for the link and to James Bentley for doing the mapping work)

When we started one of the first of these on PEI - The Queen Street Commons in 2005 - we wondered if this would catch on and whether down the road there might be some kind of network that could evolve.

I imagined that we might have an Association with a pass that would enable members of one such Commons to use the others. So I could be on a trip to London or Seattle or New York or Hawaii and have a trusted base.

Have a home office where ever I went. In effect have a global organization where I could not only have a physical base but be able to draw on a group of people who shared my values and could act as my safe guides to the new place.

Well it looks like the time has come to ask a few people if we can do this.

I see some kind of umbrella association that members of a Commons can join that enables the member to use member commons. My bet is that I would pay an annual fee to the association and that I would pay a day pass fee to the Commons that I visited.

I imagine all sorts of unintended benefits - what kind of group would all these members be? How might they help each other more broadly? Would they as a group start to have power? At the moment we are just a bunch of Free Agents. But as a global group???? Would this affect politics and local resiliency? What kind of platform would this represent?

Continue reading "Co Working and Commons' - Time for a Network Now?" »

February 21, 2008

Commons - Co-working - Now mainstream?

You know an idea (here is a broad review of many of the commons/coworking sites out there)  has come when it is reported in the New York Times.

CONTEMPLATING his career path a couple of years ago, a young computer programmer named Brad Neuberg faced a modern predicament. “It seemed I could either have a job, which would give me structure and community,” he said, “or I could be freelance and have freedom and independence. Why couldn’t I have both?”

As someone used to hacking out solutions, Mr. Neuberg took action. He created a word — coworking, eliminating the hyphen — and rented space in a building, starting a movement.

While coworking has evolved since Mr. Neuberg’s epiphany in 2005, dozens of places around the country and increasingly around the world now offer such arrangements, where someone sets up an office and rents out desks, creating a community of people who have different jobs but who want to share ideas.

“It’s nourishing on a fundamental level,” said John Vlahides, the executive editor of 71miles.com, a travel site covering Northern California, who rents a desk for $175 a month at one of Mr. Neuberg’s original sites, the Hat Factory. “And if you’re not nourished, how can you be creative?”

Coworking sites are up and running from Argentina to Australia and many places in between, although a wiki site on coworking shows that most are in the United States. While some have grown-up-sounding names, most seem connected somewhere between the communalism of the 1960s and the whimsy of the dot-com days of the ’90s, like the Hive Cooperative in Denver, Office Nomads in Seattle, Nutopia Workspace in Lower Manhattan and Independents Hall in Philadelphia.

The coworkers, armed with Wi-Fi laptops and cellphones, are in some ways offering a techie twist on the age-old practice of artists or writers teaming up to rent studio space.

Most coworkers say they were drawn to the spaces for the same reasons that inspired Mr. Neuberg: they like working independently, but they are less effective when sitting home alone

It is nice to know that for once we on PEI were at the very beginning of a global movement and we opened our doors at the Commons at the very start of the cycle. (Thanks Dave Hyndman for spotting this)

February 05, 2008

Station C - A New Commons - Opens in Montreal - Time for a larger Network of Commons?

It has been nearly 3 years since we opened the doors at the Queen Street Commons (Pictures Here) - Many Co Working Places have opened all over the world now. CSI in Toronto is perhaps the Canadian Flagship. Workspace in Vancouver. The Hub in London. Recently Station C opened in Montreal.

Co-working is the popular new way to affordably share a proper office with like-minded professionals. Rather than rent an entire office yourself, a number of independents rent an office together.

Photo of Station CCongratulations to Patrick Tanguay and Daniel Mireault, who today open the doors at Station C! It’s a beautiful new 2500 square foot co-working office in Montréal, complete with two meeting rooms and 16 desks.

Why co-working?

Most co-working arrangements are a mix of café culture and shared office space. They provide that important “home base” and a professional place to meet clients, a huge step up from the usual loud, messy, and disorganized laptop-and-cellphone-in-Starbucks.

Co-working also gives independents all the benefits of a room full of peers — keeping up with the latest industry news, people to turn to when you’re stuck, and someone to buy you a birthday cake — without the tedium of office politics. Let’s face it, not everyone can stand being alone all day long!

An interesting model

Photo of Station CPatrick and Daniel have a really fun vision for Station C. “We want it to be a year-long BarCamp,” Patrick says, referencing the international “unconference” phenomenon.

While they rent half the desks to full-time “anchor” members for $300 per month, the other half are flex rentals for as low as $130 per month for 14 hours per week. They are also renting desks by the day to out-of-town travellers, to keep the environment full of fresh ideas and energy.

Here is a link to Soup.net another Commons in Toronto.

The infrastructure of the real new economy is building up.

I think it is maybe time for the various Commons' to think of how they might link into a larger network. It has ling been a dream of mine that I could belong to the "Network" and be able to travel to any city and find not only a space but a like minded community.

Such a network would not only reduce my costs of travel but surely improve my capacity as no place would be truly strange. Add in a share my spare room system and I now have a place to stay!

February 23, 2007

Commons In Sackville - Progress Report

More progress in Sackville

February 13, 2007

Commons in Sackville - Progress

Harold is grinding towards success in Sackville

November 16, 2006

Commons - A Central Source of Information

If you are thinking about starting a Commons here is Harold's Squidoo site that has a complete roundup of what is going on and where.

Common Links

 
  jarche.com on Commons
Harold Jarche's posts related to the Commons.
  Smart PEI on Commons
Robert Paterson's posts related to the Commons
  Commons Bookmarks
Harold's annotated bookmarks on Furl.
  Queen Street Commons
Bring interesting people together to share space, services, and costs in Charlottetown, PEI.
  Centre for Social Innovation
A community hub for social innovators in Toronto.
  Workspace
A shared work environment in downtown Vancouver.
  The Hub
The Hub is an incubator for social innovation in London, Johannesburg, Bristol and Sao Paulo.

If you have a Commons or more information please contact Harold Jarche and he will add this to the site.

August 28, 2006

Reviewing the Commons - CSI in Toronto

Tonyabetter

This is Tonya Surman the ED of the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) in Toronto. I posted a review of CSI last week here. CSI is located in 215 Spadina - one of the many Social Space Projects organized by the amazing Zeidler family - more on the Zeidlers later.

Here is a view from the roof looking out over the downtown

View215

As with my other interviews with leaders of the Commons movement (Hub in London, Workspace in Vancouver) I wanted to find out from Tonya why she committed to start the CSI, what she was learning from it and what her dreams were.

So Tonya how did this all begin - how did you get here?

I grew up in a very non corporate family - hippies really. I was always comfy with being different. After a try out as an actress, I got into the dotcom world as it was booming but in the non profit side.  It was funny, we had no money and our for profit competitors had loads of it - they failed and we survived - I think there was a lesson in that we are growing naturally and for a real reason.

The bigger lesson I learned though was that the Internet changes your consciousness once you "Get It". As I began to understand the nature of the Internet, I began to understand more deeply the nature of connection, community and of Open Space. A new model for organizing in the real world started to emerge out of the web for me. At the same time I saw how disconnected much of the work for social change was - I saw so many non profits all struggling and all trying to do much the same thing. On their own and disconnected from others - they had little power. What if we could help connect them?

At first we tried aggregation. We developed some great tools but this did not seem to help much. There was something missing.

What was missing was the art of Convening or Hosting. Simply building a social space does not mean that they will come! They don't come. (Berkana has training for this)

The work that took us down the better road of Convening Community was the work that we did to set up the Canadian Partnership for Children's Health and Environment. (CPCHE) Here we learned a lot about the type of Leadership required to lead community as opposed to leading a conventional organization. Here we learned a lot about the reality of Collaboration versus just tossing off the word in hope. We learned a lot about Convening and about Emergence and we learned a lot about the type of Governance required for Community.

As we learned how to do this, Margie Zeidler began to think about a new project at 215 Spadina. She was a key designer of the Centre, our angel landlord and VC partner. She brought CSI to life. Other key people involved in the development of the project were Eric Meerkamper, D-COde, Pat Tobin, Canadian Heritage and Mary Rowe of Ideas that Matter. It was quite a team.

Here is 215 Spadina

Image_of_215_building

We have been going now for 2 years. We have 15 organizations in residence. We have regular offices and we have open space for smaller organizations and for individuals. We have been successful in incubation and have had residents outgrow us. Our primary residents have been very loyal.

What new insights has this experience given you?

I see a growing problem - Communities of Interest based on ideas or common values are growing and Communities of Place where we all actually live are shrinking.

But we are human and have to interact in person. I think that places like ours and other Commons' can offer a reconnection back to communities of place where we not only feel at home again but can work together to make our places better for all.  We can link healthy communities of interest to healthy communities of place. If we do this we can solve our problems and stop being as helpless as we seem to be today. (See the follow on for how Rob sees this problem)

What more do you see in the future?

I hope to see places like ours spreading out like hubs and thus giving power and substance back to places. I see many aspects of life that are now disconnected being connected again - in life as well as online. I see places where you work can go to the dentist, work, have a daycare and live even.

Rob laughs and tells her about how many in public radio feel the same way. Here is Ellen Rocco of NCPR showing the crowd her view of hubs.

Hubsnr

Here is a link to my thoughts after meeting with Ellen where we talked about the role of public radio in recreating the Commons - see follow on for more.

There is an interesting book called Getting to Maybe (not the one on Law School) that talks about how to overcome this feeling of being helpless. My hope is that we can help give people back their belief that they can make a difference and give them back the community that will help them act well.

Thank you Tonya

(Rob - Here is the blurb) Many of us have a deep desire to make the world around us a better place. But often our good intentions are undermined by the fear that we are so insignificant in the big scheme of things that nothing we can do will actually help feed the world’s hungry, fix the damage of a Hurricane Katrina or even get a healthy lunch program up and running in the local school.

We tend to think that great social change is the province of heroes – an intimidating view of reality that keeps ordinary people on the couch. But extraordinary leaders such as Gandhi and even unlikely social activists such as Bob Geldof most often see themselves as harnessing the forces around them, rather than singlehandedly setting those forces in motion. The trick in any great social project – from the global fight against AIDS to working to eradicate poverty in a single Canadian city – is to stop looking at the discrete elements and start trying to understand the complex relationships between them.

By studying fascinating real-life examples of social change through this systems-and-relationships lens, the authors of Getting to Maybe tease out the rules of engagement between volunteers, leaders, organizations and circumstance – between individuals and what Shakespeare called “the tide in the affairs of men.”

Continue reading "Reviewing the Commons - CSI in Toronto" »

August 27, 2006

Reviewing the Commons - Workspace in Vancouver

Billmace

Here is Bill MacEwan in the throes of managing the transformation of a space in Vancouver into Workspace - Vanvouver's new Commons. (See the link for details of how Workspace is set up and the offering)

I caught up with Bill last week just after the opening and he kindly answered a few questions about why he took this on and what he hopes for Workspace. My interview is part of a series on what leaders (Link to Jonathan Robinson at the Hub in London) in the Commons movement are doing. I intend to link them all when I have enough for critical mass.

Bill's responses are taken from my notes and are not verbatim quotes

I asked Bill what drove him to take on this large project.

I think that my natural self is that of an entrepreneur. I cannot help but think of cool ideas but I do know what separates the merely cool from the great and the idea of a Commons just made so much sense. Everyone I talked to told me that "This is so obvious - so needed" etc. I could see that if we executed well, that it would have a good chance of succeeding.

The time and the context is right. More and more people are either Free Agents or are being outsourced. They do not have to turn up at the "Office" any more. These trends  are powerful and will only accelerate. The pool of people looking for a new place to work in can only expand.  As I see it, this group of placeless workers are looking for both a good workplace and also for community. Home is fine but not ideal. The current office space world is not set up to meet their needs either in terms of design or price. This is the context for why the Commons is such a great idea.

We have 16 members from the launch and we have had a huge amount of new media and old media attention. (Bill also has a number of YouTube Videos showing the construction etc)

I think that when we reach critical mass of about 50 members, then we will make the transition beyond offering nice office space at a good price to offering a space that grows community - where the benefits extend beyond simple good real estate to offering people the social environment that they need as creative people. I think that Workspace will become in person what many healthy and creative communities of interest have become online.

We also offer each member a blog as well in the hope that they can via Workspace reach out beyond Vancouver as well. We offer very good value as well. Membership costs between $475 and $425 a month. In Vancouver, $500 gets you not a very nice place. At Workspace you get outstanding space for the basement price. That is how we can cope in a high price market.

How have you marketed the space?

I have only spent $500 on ads. We have used the Internet for everything. We have had tons of free media coverage including the piece in the Globe that talked about the Commons in PEI. One of the best sources has been Craigslist.

How do you staff and service the space?

We have a host onsite from 7am to 11pm 5 days a week. We also sell premium coffee. We do this because we know that the coffee culture is at the heart of community culture. The coffee is at the centre of the accidental meetings that will make our space more social.

(Rob) Funny you should say that but that was how Lloyds and all the great scientific groups began in the 18th century. Our vision of the Commons was taken directly from this idea of a coffee house.

Yes what we seek is interaction and coffee and how it brings people together in accidental groups really helps.

Thank you Bill and good luck

August 23, 2006

Trusted Space - Centre for Social Innovation - Commons

Toronto's Commons is the Centre for Social Innovation. I will be interviewing Tonya this Friday.
See the follow on for more info.

Here again thanks to the folks who post on Flickr are a few teaser pics:

Here is the roof view

Roofcsi

Here is the wonderful Stephen Downes in full flight by Sebastian Fiedler

Stephen_downesatcfsi

Here is a late night at CSI

Latenightcfsi

Here is work at CSI

Csiwork


Continue reading "Trusted Space - Centre for Social Innovation - Commons" »

Trusted Space - Workspace The Vancouver Commons

Workspace - Bill MacEwen's Commons venture opened in BC yesterday. Bill and I are playing phone tag but soon I will have interviewed him and you can learn more about how the Commons will work in Vancouver.

In the follow on you will find more details about the space and the offer

As a teaser here are some of the many photos on Flickr that show the genesis.

Workspace_before

Here above is the space before

Workspace_bill

Bill proving that creation comes from destruction

Worksapceview

Talk about a view!

Workspace_2

Doesn't it look great!

Workspace_party

Whatever we east coasters may say about west coasters - they at least know how to have a good time.

Continue reading "Trusted Space - Workspace The Vancouver Commons" »