> > First, our members mostly just want a great place to work and they think > it's neat that there are a number of other spaces around the world, but they > are more interested in the work they are doing.
Jacob, you know I love you, but this sounds shortsighted. Just because they don't have an expanded worldview doesn't mean that they shouldn't be given the chance to see what it could do. I can contrast that sentiment that most of our members, while not necessarily aware of the big picture at first or its sheer scale, are extremely excited to be a part of it (and in many cases, contribute to it), *given the opportunity*. They love the fact that in places all around the world, people are experiencing something similar to them. We keep the local focus, but think it's important to have a global perspective. That's not just an attribute of a better coworker, or business owner/leader, that's an attribute of a better *citizen*. Without being presented with the possibility of being a part of the bigger world just outside their doors, I don't blame them for "not wanting to". They don't even know that they "could want to" let alone that they "should want to". The trick is to give them the opportunity without also giving them a * completely* blank page to work from. Like any interview, the key to this is knowing how to ask good questions, and look for prompts for asking yet more questions. This is hard to automate, but some more in-depth interviews being conducted by the members who want to know more about and be known more in the global community is something that I firmly believe that many members will do if they're given the opportunity. Personally, I'd love to see Angel's idea turn into a brainstorm of the kinds of questions and answers that members have with each other and coworking space catalyst, founders, leaders, etc have with them as well. >From there, I think we can put together some queues for conversation to get over "blank page syndrome" and simply provide enough context for the stories - and the broader worldview that our members deserve to be able to have for themselves - to emerge. What we do with those stories could go in a million directions, let's worry about that once we have figured out a good way to capture them. -Alex /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 7:32 PM, Jacob Sayles <ja...@officenomads.com>wrote: > Angel, > > Yes yes yes! This has been the direction I've been working towards all > along and there are some significant challenges to incorporate. > > First, our members mostly just want a great place to work and they think > it's neat that there are a number of other spaces around the world, but they > are more interested in the work they are doing. It's the space owners that > are more invested in the larger coworking movement so they are the people > who are putting in the work. They want to talk about their space mostly, > what they build, etc. I talk up our members and their incredible > stories<http://www.texttheromanceback.com/rachaelray>all the time but I > wouldn't be able to keep individual profiles up to date. > It's enough work to highlight them on our > website<http://officenomads.com/category/featured-nomad/>. > > > I have lots of thoughts on the Coworking Registry and where it fits in the > wider vision. Mostly it starts with how difficult it is to "organize" the > coworking wiki which is currently mostly used to list spaces. If we could > get that buttoned up in a simple, central, neutral, way, and make it all > free and open data, then there is a lot we can do with that. It's only one > piece of the puzzle though. > > I could go in so many directions from here but I'll leave it at that. The > conversation is going to be great in Austin. :) > > Jacob > > --- > Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolation > http://www.officenomads.com - (206) 323-6500 > > > > On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 3:49 PM, Angel Kwiatkowski > <fccowork...@gmail.com>wrote: > >> When Alex said, "The biggest thing I continually see missing from >> directories like this is a >> sort of sense of humanity - physical attributes are useful in >> determining >> what you DON'T want, but make it hard to differentiate between one >> space and >> the next once you know what you DO want." >> >> I've been reading up on the coworking registry database and whatnot >> but again as a member just told me, "I don't want to know where the >> desks/spaces are, I want to know where my people are." I think that as >> a community of community-minded people-centric people we missed the >> boat. Big time. As a matter of fact, we're in the wrong boat going the >> wrong direction on the wrong river. >> >> Idea: what if we have a place where coworkers can tell their stories? >> That's it. Tell your story about how you found coworking, why you >> cowork, where you cowork and how it has changed your life. Tag those >> posts with city names and space names and let the wider community of >> prospective coworkers find their tribe there. >> >> *Question: as a space owner do you think you could inspire your >> communities to contribute their stories online?* >> >> -- >> 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 >> coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. >> >> > -- > 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 > coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. 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