Thanks to all for your insightful answers :) Thanks for the link Alex, it is really interesting. They have a very simple definition: *The rule was for all participants to check in a location that promotes itself online as “coworking,”*
I've gonne the other way around: the definition of coworking did not matter much and now it matters more and more. I agree that not all restaurants are the same and in fact I use that as an example, but that is something that you have to experience or figure out via their menu/website and appearance. Event if restaurants vary a lot, they have a common set of things that define them as a restaurant, and that differentiate them from coffee shops, bars, cooking schools, catering spaces, etc. I'm not trying to define the whole of the collaborative ways of working space, just the basic elements of what is coworking. Jacob, I agree that the motivation and experience have a huge impact on the personality of the space and the kind of clients it will keep, but still: don't you think we can figure out a minimal set of factors that identify a space as a coworking space? Chad, you are right about community, it is a really identifying factor. There are looser and closely knit communities. How would you define it from the outside and not from the feelings of the members? vgra...@gmail.com Yes, they are members of a community, but also our clients. Not just clients, but still clients. We owe them a service for their money, and we engage in a contract with them for this. Jeanine, thanks :) You are very right in the international differences and even within a city. In our experience the word love creates the wrong image of being more like a commune. We say friendly, but not friends: the attitude we know, we can not assure that one particular person is going to make friends and most are not looking for that, in fact it turns them away. What Regus calls coworking is just an open space, and an open space is not coworking, although coworking spaces do have open spaces. Their clients, like most clients of business centers, are not looking to be part of a community, except maybe a community of status-quo/club-house. We (Stefania, Sara, and I) consider ourselves also members of our coworking community, we are betacoworkers too, but we do have a special role and responsabilities. When I wrote The Coworking Handbook <http://coworkinghandbook.com>, I dedicated part of the intro to talk about different kinds of collaborative working spaces. Not being a coworking space is not an issue, it is OK. Being a coworking is not just using a name like if we were wearing a purse of Louis Vuitton. I think the text contains a lot of interesting elements, but it is too long. Here's the original text: The defining characteristics of coworking spaces are their facilitators and >> their > > >> community of coworkers. Coworking spaces are created for the community >> and with > > >> the community in mind. It is not just a real estate business in which a >> physical space is > > >> rented: the role of the facilitator (or host, concierge, community >> leader, or any other > > >> title you want to use) is to enhance the connections and interactions of >> the coworkers to > > >> bring them value and to actively accelerate serendipity. It is a network, >> not just a place. > > >> It is not enough to put a bunch of people together in a room: you must >> work hard to > > >> create the right interactions that form a sense of community. > > >> What is this thing about accelerating serendipity? What is serendipity >> and how can you > > >> accelerate it? Serendipity is the chance discovery of something good or >> useful that you > > >> were not looking for. > > >> For example: you are talking with the person right next to you at the gym >> about a sport. > > >> You are there just to exercise, but you end up in this conversation >> without seeking it. > > >> You then end up talking about your startup project and that person gets >> you in touch > > >> with a friend who can become your first client. You did not know that >> this person was > > >> connected to that prospect, it just came up in conversation. You just won >> a new > > >> prospect and the other person has connected his or her friend to a >> possible business > > >> contact. > > >> Serendipity—being an accident, something that happens out of >> chance—cannot be > > >> organized like a recipe or a computer script, but if we set up a >> framework of actions, > > >> processes, and reflexes, this will help us increase the chances of it. We >> can create the > > >> right ambiance, attitude and systems to make it happen more often. > > >> But not everything can rely on chance and serendipity. The coworking >> space managers > > >> know their community best and have more connections, and they are always >> learning > > >> from them. It is part of their job to help connect people, to build >> trust, and to reduce > > >> friction (to make it easier to connect), so that more exchanges can >> happen more easily. > > >> They are the ones that will value the needs and personality of the >> coworkers to suggest > > >> the best matches. > > >> The focus of coworking is on its community, so spaces come in all shapes >> and sizes: > > >> workers in only one industry, many industries, fixed desks, shared desks, >> preapproval > > >> of members, direct signup, temporary popup coworking spaces, more >> trendy, > > >> industrial, or businessoriented spaces... The design of the space is >> not so important— > > >> what matters are the people who populate it and their interactions. This >> is what makes > > >> or breaks a coworking space. > > >> You will find the word “coworking” used for many different kinds of >> spaces, but don’t > > >> be mistaken: many of them offer nothing more than shared desks (formerly >> known as > > >> hotdesks, open spaces, and flexdesks) and treat the coworkers as a >> secondclass > > >> client. An open space is just that: an open space. It is a configuration >> of a room, it does > > >> not imply anything else. > > >> To know if you are in a real coworking space or not, check if the >> operators of the space > > >> do something to accelerate and dynamize the community. Coworking is a >> verb, it > > >> implies action from the coworking operators to build a community. If all >> they offer is > > >> shared secretarial services, they are not a coworking space. > > The part I like the most is that coworking is a verb and requires action to happen, it is not just a space. The part I don't like is that is too convoluted and long. One of the things I'm glad to see is that when we talk coworking not only the people at Betacowork end up discussing food ;) On Friday, September 12, 2014 1:15:23 PM UTC+2, Alex Hillman wrote: > > > > In my opinion a coworking space -- being a *community* of coworkers -- >> always calls and treats its coworkers *members*. >> > > I like this one a lot!! > > -Alex > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
