The (R)evolution – Cultural Creatives 1.0 from Frigyes Fogel on Vimeo.

There is now a great variety of coworking spaces some of which are based more on a “commons” foundation and some more on a “corporate”  foundation. The work that is being carried out by the coworkers in these spaces tends to correlate to the foundation of the spaces. This means people working in more “corporate” coworking spaces tend to work more by themselves than people working in “commons” coworking spaces.

By means of deduction from the fact that there is very little to no common infrastructure between coworking spaces and coworking spaces (applies also to infrastructure between coworkers to coworkers) , it seems likely that the majority of work performed by coworkers in coworking spaces is individual or corporate in nature.

In contrast their is a lot of expression about collaborate coworking on platforms like Facebook. The danger I see is that the desired collaborate coworking I observe with a growing number of coworkers will not manifest effectively that way. As long as collaborative coworking rests in the realm of “expression” very little concrete collaboration takes place.

To change this and to evolve coworking the Free Coworking Group was set up. While still based on a corporate infrastructure like Facebook, the Group stands a very good chance to grow very quickly to gather the critical mass or momentum to build its own infrastructure.

To develop this process a number of tools will evolve in the same way as the Group will evolve. Two tools are already in place. The “Open International Coworking Calendar” to announce and promote Jellies and Free Coworking Offers. Secondly the Skill-Sharing list which evolves today from a Facebook document (via a Piratepad) into a GoogleDoc (Input), and Spreadsheet (Output).

Please use these tools and develop new ones!!! Free Coworking evolves by freely and actively using all tools that help to strengthen the Free Coworking Evolution.

Here is your chance to be a first follower. Join the “Free Coworking” Group and enter your “11 o´clock community challenge“. Dare to make a fool of yourself. You can only win!!! You win freedom, that is for sure. And on top, you might get some very useful creative input for your project. Freedom of choice :-))) Freedom to change :-)))

How are the coworkers and the coworking spaces going to attract this “Financial Capital”? It is the “Social Capital” that attracts it! What is the “Social Capital” in terms of a coworking community? Coworkers love the work they do. They love the people they work with. They believe in cooperation, teamwork and last but not least they believe that there are more good people around than bad!!! Why is that important?

Because this touches a frame of mind that many people have. Many people believe that good intention is a scarce resource. The contrary is true. Check with yourself and adjust if necessary. Translated to work and work output we find the following: To produce and distribute excellent services and products you need a special quality of cooperation. Only people who love what they do and who can work with the people they love can provide this. Coworking spaces can provide these excellent services and products more often and with a higher likelihood the more widespread “Free Coworking” will become. The key is an evolution of every party involved in the process. Only trust, openness, dedication, patience, fairness, sweat, fun and love will lead to “Free Coworking”. And the great thing is that it will work!!! It will not only work in one or two places, it will grow and grow.

The number of coworking spaces is rapidly going to increase because people just want to work this way!!! “Going to work” will have a totally new, fresh and positive connotation. Whereas before people dreaded to go to work because they had to do something they did not really like in an environment they felt not particularly comfortable in, now in a coworking space it is just the opposite. You can choose the people you work with and the work you do. How is that possible?

“Free Coworking” means working in teams and a community you choose. To be productive and happy you have to be able to say yes to everyone in your team and environment from the bottom of your heart including yourself. In many instances this will require an evolution for everyone involved. But once the team starts to evolve it does not take very long for it to become a “dream team”. Imagine the experience of working in a “dream team” once! This is great, but imagine you can do it again. Another day another “dream team” is going to form and more people are going to learn what it takes. And this goes on and on and everyday the social capital grows.

Still in doubt whether this might work? At the moment the setting up of a coworking space is largely a process of “Pull”. You tell people how great coworking is and you hope to convince them to come along and try it. This can be quite trying at times and aims to fill your space nothing more. Imagine people could work for free in your space and a “Push” process would start. People would want to push into your space. For someone to enter the coworking space for free, he or she would have to go through a certain “registration” process. This process would involve setting up a profile for this new coworker. What are the skills, experiences, interests and projects of this person. What would be an ideal team for this coworker etc.

Thanks to an internet platform coworkers could indicate when and where they were available and interested to participate in a project. The client and/or the project representative would invite the coworkers in the coworking space or the area of the coworking space reserved for “Free Coworking”. The team building and the project could start.

This is how I see “Free Coworking” to develop in practical steps. There will be existing coworking spaces that will offer some areas of their operation for “Free Coworking”, while there will also be some new spaces that will start with “Free Coworking” from the word go. To support both types we will set up an additional coworking directory called the “Free CoWorking Directory”.

If you look at the enthusiasm for the upcoming Jellyweek (16th to 22nd of January) you get a good indication that the time for “Free Coworking” has definitely come. If you want to lend your support to “Free Coworking” beyond the Jellyweek join our Facebook Group “Free Coworking“. The aim of the Facebook Group is to raise in excess of 15.000.000 € in Social Capital which equates in my calculation to more than 10.000 committed members to this cause. Join and spread the word for “Free Coworking”!!!

If you are still in doubt whether this might work get inspiration from the video below.

On top of being a coworking space: “the building serves as a venue for events such as TEDx, pitch evenings, parties and even the occasional wedding.” Congratulations to Gustav Nisser, Jesper Lindmarker, Jesper Lejfjord and Petra Jonsson the four founders of this project!!! You truly created a “creative environment”!!!

Meet SOCAP & Hub Bay Area from SOCAP Markets on Vimeo.