I like the metaphor of flocks. I've enjoyed watching flocks of starlings. Somehow or another they operate as with one will, swooping, diving, circling, etc. Now, what's really interesting is when two or more independent flocks are occupying the same sky. This flock goes this way, the other, that. What is amazing is when two independent flocks merge. There's a distinct moment when they stop being two entities and become one synchronized flock. Very cool. Neither co-opts or dominates the other. They just become one flock. Kind of like the Democratic Party last week. :-)
I kind of wonder if something like that can occur with coworking. There are as many different models for coworking as there are iterations of it, and I think at some point there will be a point in time when the models sync up and no one will be trying to "define" coworking and just start being it. I think as a movement, we're still a ways from that evolutionary inflection point. Right now we're long on vision and values, and short on structure and strategy. I think those will emerge as we all experiment with our own spaces and communities. No blame. That said, the real challenge will be for a unified purpose and methodology to coalesce without any central authority or steering group. If any social movement can do this, though, I think this is it. This is not to say that it can happen without leadership, of course, but a different kind of leadership than conventional command- and-control hierarchies. --Ax On Nov 10, 10:47 am, "Tara Hunt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > This is so awesome. After a few too many drinks at the opening of New Work > City, I started ranting along with Alex and Tony something about superheroes > and how superheroes find one another naturally and come together to produce > amazing heroic things like Coworking, etc. I ended up sending messages to > many of my friends who I think are superheroes, but that's a whole other > embarrassing thread. > So, I'm reading this article and thinking, "That's exactly what I was trying > to get at!" Phil Zimbardo talks about the lone hero being able to get offed, > but groups of heroes being powerful. That's the same thing as these birds > and fish - coming together in these ways to ward off predators. > > Maybe if we can figure out how we gravitate towards one another, we can > solve the bird/fish flocking thing. :) > > T > > > > On Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 10:41 AM, Dave Troy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Yeah, I was reading a book about programming flocking simulations last > > night, and it occurred to me that coworking was nearly perfectly > > described by flock theory... Coworking when done right is simple, just > > as flocking can be described by just three simple rules about > > movement. > > > Anyway, really excited to be advancing things here in Baltimore and > > would love to brainstorm about ways to better tell the coworking > > story, in all its starfishy, flocky goodness. > > > Dave > > > On Nov 10, 12:42 pm, "Tony Bacigalupo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > wrote: > > > Yeah, the flock metaphor has legs. I also enjoy Dave's distinction of > > > spread-like-starfish, but implemented-like-flock. > > > > Provides some nice perspective in light of recent threads. > > > > I'm starting to think that we might very well benefit from some sort of > > > salon discussion on the state of the movement and where we think it's > > going, > > > and what we can do to help it grow in a healthy, positive way. > > -- > -- > 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... > ) > 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 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
