This Friday, August 3rd, we are having an office warming and open house at our new Berkeley Coworking site at 2930 Shattuck Suite 305 (cross-street Ashby and near Asby BART Google Map & Street View) in Berkeley, across the bridge from San Francisco.
We will starting at 6pm until probably 10pm. Please RSVP at Upcoming.
Come see what coworking is about, and help fill our white walls with ideas!
Back in May, Noel Hidalgo shot some footage of Jelly in NYC (recently featured in Wired along with our Philadelphia verison).
[blip.tv ?posts_id=231491&dest=-1]
Now while on his ’round the world journey which he’s blogging at LuckOfSeven.com , he’s continuing that tradition of interviewing people about their coworking and web working experiences. He just posted a new video which featured Travis Todd and David Troy, both of whom he randomly ran into while visiting in Berlin.
[blip.tv ?posts_id=317558&dest=-1]
In Philadelphia, we’ve resolved to start recording more video of our events, so look out for similar kinds of footage of our efforts as well!
(cross posted on the coworking list)
I have found a prospective site in Berkeley, CA to convert into a small, Citizen Space-sized, coworking office, with room for about 7-8 anchors, and about 400 square ft of meeting/conference room/mashpit common space (good for sessions up to about 25 people). It is near the corner of Shattuck and Ashby in South Berkeley, about two blocks from Ashby BART and Berkeley Bowl, or about 15 blocks south of Berkley BART and the vibrant downtown area.
The space is currently tenanted by a technology company that is undergoing changes and is interested in the coworking concept — they want two of the anchor desks, and they already have the lease. I have a lot of nice rolling whitewalls, chairs, and other furniture from Consensus/Alacrity/Skotos, so all we really need to do is buy some common desks (Ikea) and do some cleanup and maybe some painting.
If you are interested in being an anchor (i.e. have dedicated desk/file area, a key to get in at all hours, free to schedule conference room area) it looks like a share will be about $400.00 a month, with a deposit of whatever it costs to buy your desk ;-). With the existing tenant wanting two desks, and one for my myself, that leaves 5 anchor spots available. If we can get one or two more people commit to being an anchor, we could move in possibly later this month!
Contact me at [email protected] if you are interested or want more information.
This Saturday I’m going to be at BizJam, in Seattle, all day helping setup, handing out business cards, and getting people excited about coworking. We’ll have a 1/8 page ad in the conference program sporting our new logo and asking for support. It should be a great day mingling with independent business folk and making connections. BizNik has already been a great resource so I’m excited to see what Saturday brings. Anyone else planning on going?
This is a repost from my personal blog, dangerouslyawesome.com because I thought that the coworking community might be interested in this.
I just left the inaugural session of Philadelphia Jelly coworking. As per a suggestion from Jacob Patton, with a twist from one of the participants, I am considering dubbing this Philadelphian version, Cream Cheese Sessions. Alternatively, we could simply adopt something along the lines of “PhilaJelly”, but I’m a pretty big fan of Cream Cheese Sessions, especially if we can invent some kind of ridiculous back-story :-). I’m open to ideas in the comments.
At any rate, I would call the event a success. Over the course of the day, there were 8 on-site participants (most of whom were there for the entire day). The campfire backchannel that I set up was visited by about a half dozen off-site “drop-ins”, some from Philly, as well as one couple from Rochester that are moving to Philly soon and a friend of mine in Maryland. Additionally, Geoff from P’unk Ave dropped in during the class that he teaches at UArts, and I gave the class a quick overview on Coworking and Jelly via the campfire room.
The cafe that we crashed was the Chapter House at 9th and Bainbridge. Honestly, I felt kinda bad because I didn’t give them a heads up that we were taking over but they were kind enough to not kick us out, this time. Next time I’ll provide some warning and maybe arrange some kind of compensation. But we all bought drinks and most people bought some food.
The spread of talent and skills and “titles” was varied. Everything from designers, developers, project managers, general creatives…there was a good representation across the board. Really, anyone who works alone, or in a non-creative setting, could have benefited from today’s session. And really, you don’t need to even be an indie. A few of our coworkers either “worked from home” (and thats what we are, a home away from home), or took a vacation day to work on side projects.
The response was positive from all of the participants, and a few photos can be seen on flickr, as well as on the Independents Hall Homepage.
Will we do it again? Absolutely. As Roz said:
“I felt so much more productive working in an independent yet collaborative environment. I could focus on my work, but draw inspiration from the random moments where we’d all stop briefly and chat about an idea or concept. I hope to make coworking a regular part in my work process.”
And I’d agree.
I’m considering contacting twitter to set up a “PhillyCreamCheese” group that people can join, and I’ll send out an notice (or anyone, really) that I’m working from location “X” today, and anyone can join me. Impromptu Coworking at it’s finest, dontcha think?
This was a great experiment and I can’t wait to see where it takes us as we continue down the road to having an established coworking presence in Philadelphia.
Tags: coworking, jelly, cream cheese sessions, Chapter House, Philadelphia, Independents Hall
There’s been some recent activity on the Coworking mailing list seeking support towards the establishment of a coworking space (or spaces) in LA.
Heather has invited folks interested in the coworking concept to attend the 12th Geek Dinner coming up on April 24th at Shakey’s Pizza in Hollywood to discuss ways forward.
Harold Johnson has suggested talking to UnUrban, a smallish cafe that could use a boost in patronage while Heather has proposed Little Radio, the ongoing host of BarCampLA.
If anyone’s interested, do make an effort to attend the Geek Dinner or get in touch with Heather.
Patrick’s getting coworking going in Montreal and is stymied by that old branding foe: What to name the space?
Alright so this past week has been very productive coworking space wise, a couple of meetings, new people showing interest in membership, full membership (often called anchors) and even investing so it’s looking very promising.
While traveling and visiting spaces I made the decision to push a lot harder for this thing and it’s already showing results. Sweet. One thing that I keep wanting to find and people keep asking me for is a name.
He’s got some great ideas already and there’s more gems in the comments, but I’m sure he’d appreciate more.
Any ideas for Patrick?
Looks like coworking is really taking off in Europe what with the many Open Coffee Clubs and now a new Coworking Ireland blog:
The goal of Coworking.ie is to promote coworking in ireland, to provide a community space for coworkers to team up and to serve as a guide to people who are looking to go out on their own.
The project is community driven and completely non profit. Everyone is encourages to contribute to the project in whatever way they can.
Tired of arguing with your cat about a bad client?
Wondering what is the next wave of social networking technology?
Looking for an invigorating environment to call an “office?”
You are invited to Brooklyn Coworking’s monthly open house and happy hour!
Break free from hourly coffee purchases and grab a slice of Williamsburg’s alternative working community – Coworking @ The Change You Want to See – a cafe-like community and collaboration space for developers, writers and independents. These types of grassroots coworking spaces are popping up all over the world, from San Francisco, to Paris, to a few here in New York City…
Join us this Friday, 30 March, at The Change You Want to See gallery for COWORKING BROOKLYN. From 10 am to 5 pm, our doors will be open for anyone to come on by and give us a try. Bring a laptop, a snack or two, manuscript, screenplay, or killer app and leave the kats behind.
From 5 pm to 7 pm, we will host a happy hour(s)! Bring a treat or two and get ready to let your hair down.
Who are we? Writers, Programmers, Organizers, Artist, Philosophers, Activist, Bloggers, and Adventure Seekers…
When you join the Brooklyn Coworking space you get:
• a community of like minded folks
• a low monthly rate
• a flux of interesting people
• networking and expertise
• wifi
• printer and scanner
• coffee
• beer-o-clock
• quiet spaces to work in
If you have questions feel free to email us at brooklyn.coworking[a/t]gmail[d0t]com
Cost: Free!!!
When: Friday, 30 March, 10AM – 5PM (Happy Hour 5pm – 7pm)
Where: The Change You Want to See Gallery, 84 Havemeyer, Willamsburg, Brooklyn
Map: OnNYTurf Subway map
Want more info?
Join the new NYC Coworking Google Group –
http://groups.google.com/group/coworkingnyc
Check out The Change You Want to See Gallery:
http://www.notanalternative.net/wordpress/
See the Coworking Wiki: http://wiki.coworking.info/
See the Coworking Blog: http://blog.coworking.info/
Technorati Tags: brooklyn, brooklyn coworking, coworking, economy 2.0, freelancers union, nextNY, not an alternative, social entrepreneurship, the change you want to see, williamsburg
Dan Fost of the SF Chronicle has been following coworking for some time and today has a cover story on the neo-nomads stalking out free wifi and power in San Francisco.
While the article gives a good overview of the culture of independents working out of cafes that lead to coworking, he conspicuously makes no mention of the many efforts to create physical spaces and efforts cropping up to proactively support this lifestyle.
In fact, in a slideshow called Urban Nomads, the first slide specifically leads off with text that reads:
A new breed of worker is flourishing. With laptops in hand, these tech savvy workers shirk the confines of cubicles to roam San Francisco coffee houses. Instead of renting office space, they pay for coffee and scones. They call themselves Bedouin workers and say they are changing the nature of the workplace.
(emphasis mine)
While this might be anecdotally true of Kevin and Jonathan, it ignores the progress our community is making in setting up sustainable, community-driven productivity spaces. It also seems to suggest that this behavior is specific to San Francisco, when in reality, this trend of independent working is happening around the world in equal measure.
Judging by the attendance at the coworking meetup at BarCampAustin yesterday, I’d say that it’s important that the story told is one that acknowledges the work of an international community that is working to meet its own needs by creating, building and renting spaces for modern independent workers. It’s not so much that the cafe environment isn’t a good one for us (I’m writing this from Halcyon in Austin), it’s just that there’s more to the story than Dan is reporting on. And, as someone who’s visited Citizen Space and The Hat Factory, I hope that in a later article, he’ll address the work that we’ve begun to move even beyond the cafe environs to creating work spaces of our own design and desire.
