I also know that another important element to collaborative consumption is building networks that help establish trust. Coworking *can* do this very effectively.
Back in the spring of '09, Geoff and I shared the importance of this concept in coworking: http://www.indyhall.org/blog/2009/04/18/indyhall-201-communities-of-trust/ -Alex /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 12:56 PM, Alex Hillman <[email protected] > wrote: > How do you determine if there is a market other than asking friends I know >> and doing the word of mouth thing? > > > This seems to be an important precursor question to the statement of "we > need more coworking". > > As we've seen in some regions, economically and/or culturally, they're *simply > not ready* for coworking as the immediate execution. Sometimes there's not > enough local industry to support it (workers who can work from anywhere). > Sometimes there's not enough draw to a certain neighborhood or place to > overcome distance or sprawl. > > What these place are in need of is more of the results in line with what > coworking provides, to get hooked, and then to be drawn to a logical > conclusion closer to the concept of what we think of as coworking. > > I imagine that there's some measure of peripheral activity needed to > sustain a healthy coworking community and the space it inhabits. Some > critical mass of user groups, even if they're meeting in peoples' homes. > Some critical mass of people working remotely who desire that camaraderie. > > Rather than be concerned with how hard (or easy) it is to set up a space - > look for these early signs. If they're not obvious to you, they're likely > not obvious to others. > > The story I told at TEDxSOMA a couple of weeks ago was one where I > couldn't see the activity in my own backyard. But when I went out to find it > - actually left my house and walked into another place where people might be > hanging out - I not only found people but I found that they were also > looking for other people. So we went from seeking others alone to seeking > others, together. That was the VERY first critical step towards Indy Hall's > success. > > While I haven't read beyond excerpts on the "collaborative consumption" > book (or the author's TED talk): > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpv6aGTcCl8 I do believe that this sort of > collaborative discovery process is in line with building the groundwork for > collaborative consumption: Identifying that we shared a common problem, and > making the conscious decision to solve the common problem together. > > There's no overhead. There's no infrastructure. There's no cost. There's no > one person responsible. > > If you can get this right, the subsequent steps start coming into focus. > > -Alex > > /ah > indyhall.org > coworking in philadelphia > > > On Sat, Jun 25, 2011 at 9:39 AM, Stephen M. Frey, AIA LEED AP < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Alex, Let's get back to the "What's Mine is Yours, The Rise of >> Collaborative Consumption". I found this book exhilarating to read. >> It's inspired me to look around me for active evidence of the sharing >> economy in action here in Vermont. And there's tons. Some quick >> examples, CarShareVermont, The VBSR marketplace (http:// >> marketplace.vbsr.org). where you can use your business services and >> products as dollars in a bartering / trading exchange, Vermont >> Business Materials Exchange (http://www.vbmx.org/) to name a few. We >> have CSA farms galore serving a network of families and individuals >> helping to sustain organic small farming in Vermont. >> >> What we don't have enough of is CoWorking spaces. With our >> distributed network of small rural towns, villages and larger cities >> Vermont's workers spend a ton of time on the road commuting to their >> jobs. We lack density but have many beautiful hills, farms and cows. >> Can CoWorking work in smaller scale settings like Vermont? >> >> There's one I know of, Office Squared run by Jen Mincar in >> Burlington. We need more though. I live in Montpelier, our Capitol >> city. We have some empty storefronts downtown. How hard is it to >> start up a CoWorking space? What are the steps? How do you determine >> if there is a market other than asking friends I know and doing the >> word of mouth thing? Is CoWorking as a business lucrative, self- >> sustaining, a hobby or avocation? >> >> Any examples of Collaborative Consumption and the Sharing Economy in >> Action where you live? What are the successes? Failures? Emerging >> trends? Let's crowd source this? How are traditional business >> structures being upended with this unruly yet invigorating trend? >> >> Thanks, Steve >> >> On Jun 24, 6:43 pm, Alex Hillman <[email protected]> wrote: >> > That's a great idea! If somebody's interested in composing/maintaining >> that >> > list, I can give you access to the blog to do so. >> > >> > -Alex >> > >> > /ah >> > indyhall.org >> > coworking in philadelphiaOn Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 6:39 PM, Leif Utne < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> > > How about a Recommended Books page on the Coworking Blog, with >> summaries of >> > > all the aforementioned books? Or a books category and separate posts >> for >> > > each book? Or both? >> > >> > > Sent from my iPhone >> > >> > > On Jun 24, 2011, at 2:52 PM, Alex Hillman < >> [email protected]> >> > > wrote: >> > >> > > I've gotten so much social spam from Goodreads, there's no way I'd >> subject >> > > my friends to them. >> > >> > > -Alex >> > >> > > /ah >> > > <http://indyhall.org>indyhall.org >> > > coworking in philadelphia >> > >> > > On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 5:50 PM, Ryan Price < <[email protected]> >> > > [email protected]> wrote: >> > >> > >> Good suggestions all - added some new stuff to my wishlist today. >> > >> > >> Do you guys know Goodreads? >> > >> > >> Why not start a "Coworking" tag there? >> > >> > >> <http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4204328-ryan-price> >> > >>http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4204328-ryan-price >> > >> > >> Peace, >> > >> Ryan Price >> > >> <[email protected]>[email protected] >> > >> @liberatr >> > >> 407-484-8528 >> > >> > >> <http://FloridaCreatives.com>FloridaCreatives.com >> > >> Happy Hour: Tue June 28th Fringe @ Gringo's Locos >> > >> Show and Tell: Tue July 5th @ Urban ReThink >> > >> Likemind.us: Fri July 15th @ Urban ReThink >> > >> > >> On Jun 24, 2011, at 5:09 PM, Angel Kwiatkowski wrote: >> > >> > >> >>>> Crap. We need a coworking book club. Stat. >> > >> > Started. >> > >> > Our first book is What's Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative >> > >> > Consumption by Rachel Botsman >> > >> > Please continue the discussion on this thread until it doesn't make >> > >> > sense anymore and then we'll move to the next book which will be >> > >> > selected by Alex. Then Alex will pick the next person who will pick >> > >> > the next book and so and so forth. >> > >> > >> > Haha! >> > >> > Angel >> > >> > >> > On Jun 24, 1:00 pm, Alex Hillman <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> > >> >> Crap. We need a coworking book club. Stat. >> > >> > >> >> /ah >> > >> >> <http://indyhall.org>indyhall.org >> > >> >> coworking in philadelphia >> > >> > >> >> On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 2:35 PM, [email protected] < >> > >> > >> >> [email protected]> wrote: >> > >> >>> The Mesh by Lisa Gansky is another book on this topic. The >> book's >> > >> >>> tagline is "Why the Future of Business is Sharing." It mentions >> > >> >>> coworking and several coworking facilities. It came out about >> the >> > >> >>> same time as Collaborative Consumption and covers the same >> ground. I >> > >> >>> think both books are quite good. >> > >> > >> >>> On Jun 24, 10:16 am, Angel Kwiatkowski <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> > >> >>>> I'm devouring this book right now and it based on the simple >> concept >> > >> >>>> that sharing is the new owning. Is anyone else reading it and >> > >> thinking >> > >> >>>> about coworking? We're starting to vision out Cohere in ways >> that >> > >> >>>> revolve around even more sharing and I wanted to see if anyone >> else >> > >> is >> > >> >>>> on the same wavelength. Weigh in please! >> > >> > >> >>> -- >> > >> >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the >> Google >> > >> Groups >> > >> >>> "Coworking" group. >> > >> >>> To post to this group, send email to <[email protected] >> > >> > >> [email protected]. >> > >> >>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> > >> >>> <coworking%[email protected]> >> > >> [email protected]. >> > >> >>> For more options, visit this group at >> > >> >>> <http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en> >> > >>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 <[email protected]> >> > >> [email protected]. >> > >> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> > >> <coworking%[email protected]> >> > >> [email protected]. >> > >> > For more options, visit this group at >> > >> <http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en> >> > >>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 <[email protected]> >> > >> [email protected]. >> > >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> > >> <coworking%[email protected]> >> > >> [email protected]. >> > >> For more options, visit this group at >> > >> <http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en> >> > >>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 [email protected]. >> > > 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. >> > >> > > -- >> > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >> Groups >> > > "Coworking" group. >> > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> > > 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. >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Coworking" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> 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. >> >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. 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.
