Thanks, Mike.
Maybe one step (achievable this week) could be documenting these
statements and putting them side-by-side for others to compare to.
Just a page on the wiki that points to relevant statements of values /
key principles everywhere it is already documented.
Much like the "About" and "Contact" pages are now standard on many
sites, should we encourage a standard name, like "Values" or "Core
Principles"? Is this a possible META tag / RDF attribute for easy
discovery?
rel="values" type="coworking" href="http://coworking.com/values/COSCA/2010-02.html
"
Sorry, I'm a web programmer, I had to go there.
Peace,
Ryan Price
rpr...@ryanpricemedia.com
@liberatr
407-484-8528
FloridaCreatives.com
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On Mar 1, 2010, at 4:17 PM, Mike Schinkel wrote:
On Mar 1, 2010, at 8:19 AM, Tony Bacigalupo wrote:
I'm intrigued by the idea that someone can opt-in to the core
values of coworking, in a way that if they didn't embody those core
values it wouldn't make sense for them to use the license.
So, for instance, say we had a Coworking Badge that anyone could
download and use, and right on that image it says something like
"We subscribe to the core values of Community, Openness,
Collaboration, Accessibility, Sustainability," and it links back to
coworking.com.
That way, it would be difficult for someone to co-opt the term
without misrepresenting themselves. If an exec suite wants to do
coworking and would like to offer something that legitimately
embodies those above values, then wonderful.
I love the idea. But since those principles are just abstracts I'm
not sure it will mean anything. Anyone can say they do each of
those things but what do they actually mean in practice?
This is not criticism, it's a desire to see core values be described
in a measurable and objective way so that it's easier to know what
is and what isn't. Much more importantly than penalizing those "who
are doin it wrong", if described in a measurable and objective way
it'll be a better roadmap for those who really want to do it right
but don't know how. And if they don't know, any road will take them
there.
Right now I think I know what Community and Collaboration means.
But honestly I'm not sure what Openness, Accessibility and
Sustainability really look like. It's not that I disagree, I just
don't understand. How do I know if we are doing it "correctly?" I
want to help more people, myself included, understand.
On Mar 1, 2010, at 1:21 PM, Jacob Sayles wrote:
The biggest take away I've gathered from this discussion is that
I'm opposed to any kind of limiting or confining definition at a
global level. I've encountered spaces that claim to be coworking
that I don't share their values, and I've seen spaces that embody
everything I believe in, but either don't consider themselves
coworking, or in the case of Think Space in Redmond, they use the
term Executive Suite to blend in better with the east side
mentality. Rather then focus on false positives and false
negatives, I instead choose to relax my need to have a "unifying"
definition. This is reenforced by looking at everything that has
happened and how we've been able to attract like minded people
into our space simply by living our values every day. I don't
need words to tell me what that "magic" is and I'd prefer to not
muddy the definition by throwing words at it.
This brings me back to my concern that if the term "coworking" can
mean anything then the term "coworking" means nothing.
But it does mean something, and I'd hate for it to loose that
meaning by an unwillingness to attempt to define it in some
meaningful way.
So this badge/license idea... Part of me doesn't like it. That's
the part that wrote the above paragraph. But then I ask if there
is a way to structure something on a global level that doesn't
impose a definition on those opting in and doesn't exclude people
who want to participate. It's a slippery slope and one I'm
reluctant to head down, especially with the recent exchanges that
have slashed my confidence that a global consensus can be
reached. But I'll entertain the idea further...
In the open source world they don't agree on licenses; it's strongly
debated to the point of dissent. But they do all agree on
principles, somewhat like the ones Tony described but that are
objectively quantifiable.
Perhaps it could be as simple as if you make a public statement
like Citizen Space and Station C have made, you get a badge or
something.
- http://citizenspace.us/about/our-philosophy/
- http://station-c.com/en/community-manifesto
What qualifies as an acceptable public statement?
I'd also like to decouple the money raising conversation from this
badge/license conversation as while I'm OK with the idea of a way
to declare our shared values, I don't want coworking.com to be a
money making or money collecting entity.
If there is a trust that pays for it's ongoing maintenance, then
sure. But who determines future links like the ones Alex promised
up front (or are they gone?) If coworking.com only ever links to
the wiki, blog and group and not to individual sites, I'm good with
that.
On Mar 1, 2010, at 3:28 PM, Ryan Price wrote:
I'm inspired a bit by the Creative Commons license widget:
They give you a choice, to require those who re-use your work to:
Attribute you, the author; (A)
Keep commercial interest out of the picture; (NC)
Preserve the original piece - don't make derivatives; (ND)
Share-alike, thereby making the license viral. (SA)
There are checkboxes, allowing you to choose CC with a combination
of flavors. CC-A-NC-ND-SA 3.0 (the license also has versioning)
Maybe our widget would simply walk you through what it means to
accept each checkbox, and how others have created the environment
that allows these values to be enforced by the community. Almost
like a public service announcement: "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" were
the old principles there.
Is it as simple as a page on your site (or in a printed brochure)?
"These are our values, and we've taken a few from the global
Coworking movement". (no hyphens, please)
If every space could be transparent about how they were putting
these into practice, and it were as easy to adopt as the Creative
Commons experience, then we may even see an easy way to build a
directory of spaces, because of everyone who fills in the widget,
and let the people in each city choose for themselves...?
If your personal values are in line with Coworking, lobby your
space's stakeholders to adopt at least a few principles and be
public about it. Obviously, they have to follow-through. It is an
advantage to call attention to these differences as a reason to
choose your space and become involved.
Maybe we can even come up with some graphics / branding / micro-
site for this? (a possible use for some community funds) Now, one
of the efforts of Coworking.com becomes trying to enable, showcase
and support people who choose to get involved with a global,
distributed movement. However, you need not participate in this
campaign explicitly order to be recognized.
Assuming the above issues are resolved, I love this; great job Ryan.
-Mike Schinkel
Ignition Alley Atlanta Coworking
http://ignitionalley.com
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