CoWorking News » Fundsachen

“Free Coworking” grows through “Co-Developing”

Felix Schürholz — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 13:42:02 +0000

Thanks to the sharing of Pavel Binar and Bert-Ola Bergstrand I can present today the wonderful talk and plea for “Co-Development” by Charles Leadbeater on TED. Leadbeater´s arguments for consumer driven innovation are extremely powerful and very relevant to a movement like “Free Coworking“. Only by experiment, trial and error, enough people collaborating will Coworking and “Free Coworking” evolve. Join the movement, join the development :)

“Free Coworking” Group sets 15.000.000 € Social Capital as first target

Felix Schürholz — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:42:27 +0000

On day two, of the “Free Coworking” Campaign, the Group has already doubled in size. If we could double the size of the group every day now, we would reach our first target in 14 days!!! Spread the word, join the group!!! Many of you might ask themselves what we might do with all this Social Capital? For one, we could “put” ;-) it into a “Timebank” (see Mira Luna´s article on Shareable) or we put it to work for the growth of Coworking and Coworking Infrastructure. Become an activist for “Free Coworking” and build “Free Coworking” (link to follow ;-)) with us!

Creative Environments for Coworking (Part4): Entreprenörskyrkan (Entrepreneurs Church)

Felix Schürholz — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:18:19 +0000

Thanks to Mindaugas Danys we can present you the “Entrepreneurs Church” described in the article of arcticstartup. We believe this new coworking space which starts “extended” operation on the 10th of January with “Startup Tuesdays” fits very well into our series of creative environments with its motto: “have fun and play with ideas”. Three elements are particularly conducive to creative work. 1. Large Open Space: To widen the mind for new solutions you need space to develop several ideas at the same time. This happens not only on a physical, but also on a mental level. Literally we have to give space to our new ideas. 2. Multi-Level: For development the change of perspective is extremely important. How does our idea look from a different perspective (looking down from the first floor and vice versa)? Which dimension changes or is affected by our new idea? 3. Historic background: A building like this former church offers an unusual and provocative environment. Similar to the process of change of perspective, the provocation by new sets of meaning and association/dissociation brings about new insights.

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”!!!

“Waste becomes Resource” Campaign on CoWorking News: Christmas gifts

Felix Schürholz — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:09:00 +0000

Giving is an art form. I believe a very good present would always have some element of surprise and individual touch. Individual touch as an expression of the giver and individual touch in recognizing the uniqueness of the person you give to. If you put some special effort into it, you will even succeed in transforming what many people would consider as waste into a beautiful present. What is the favourite product of the person you like? Maybe the packaging would be the right basis for the present. (see video below for instructions)

To give you some more ideas have a look at these websites (You will see, many people get inspired by empty bottles ;-):

Planet Trash, Gadgets, RePlayGround, Skifurniture, UnusualLife (Bottles), Christmas Recycling Ideas, If you need more ideas just press the Google Button :-)

By the way it is really fun to make these things with your kids and coworkers!!! And, it is educational :-)))

Join our “Waste becomes Resource” campaign on CoWorking News

Felix Schürholz — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:56:58 +0000

In July 2010, we were fascinated by the project “Plastiki“. A boat made out of 12,500 plastic bottles to make a change. The idea was to draw the attention to the plastic waste in our oceans. The project received wide attention ( Oprah, NYTimes etc.) and represents a benchmark in terms of creativity, team spirit and publicity factor for a good cause. This week we found the story of the “Philippine solar light bottles that offer hope“. A concept originally credited to the Brazilian Alfredo Moser.

The MyShelter Foundation in the Philippines has even gone one step further to build schools out of plastic bottles and to light them with Alfredo Moser´s idea.

They have also started a competition called “Design against the elements: “Design Against the Elements is a global architectural design competition meant to find a solution to the problems presented by climate change. Spurred by the devastation wreaked in the Philippines by tropical storm Ondoy (Ketsana) and driven by a powerhouse multidisciplinary group of organizations from the private, institutional, and government sectors, the project aims to draw together the most innovative minds in the fields of architecture, design, and urban planning to develop sustainable and disaster-resistant housing for communities in tropical urban settings.”

I believe there is a huge potential for coworkers to get involved. Join our “Waste becomes Resource” Campaign on CoWorking News. Who knows when we have our first coworking space made out of plastic bottles ;-)?

Post your Project Pitch and Social Media Week events in the Open International CoWorking Calendar

Felix Schürholz — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:09:48 +0000

COMMON Pitch NYC February 15, 2012: Still a few months away, but every good event needs a good preparation and anticipation. If you have not used the “Open International CoWorking Calendar” yet to promote your coworking or social media week event, get direct access just by sending us your email address to calendar@coworking-news.de. For more events and details see Open International CoWorking Calendar.

COMMON Pitch NYC // Collaborative Consumption from COMMON on Vimeo.

Human library: “Check out” your fellow coworker

Felix Schürholz — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:23:13 +0000

Public libraries in Toronto and Copenhagen do it, so Coworking Spaces can do it as well. Reading in the human library. Of course this process of exchange and knowledge transfer is one of the backbones of coworking. It is taking place in every coworking space whenever two coworkers meet and exchange ideas, but it hasn´t got a name and is not formalized. To me, there is no harm in doing just that. Have a check on the number of daily visitors to the human library of your coworking space and you get a pretty good idea how well your community is working. Have you got a process in place at your coworking space which is just doing that? Let us know.

Barcamp “Funky Business” Berlin from 28th Nov until 4th Dec 2011

Felix Schürholz — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 18:44:47 +0000

The idea according to the organizers: “Imagine all new business in the world would be created in the context of and supporting global social, ecological, political and economic change.” - “We are building the infrastructure that allows us to experience the change we see in the world.” – “At the Bar Camp from Nov. 28th until Dec. 04th 2011 we will use interactive methods for crowd-intelligence, pool collective knowledge, initiate joined projects and create a new form of collaboration.” – “Come and be part of the change you want to see in the world.”

See Open International Coworking Calendar for further details.

Trends in der Berichterstattung über Coworking in Deutschland und den USA

Felix Schürholz — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 00:05:27 +0000

Die Berichterstattung ist in diesem Fall, Deutschland (Otto zieht es ins Betahaus, Spiegel Online bzw. Manager Magazin), wie so häufig, etwas distanziert. Man spürt, hier trifft eine etablierte Kultur auf etwas, was sie noch nicht greifen kann. Anders, als die Firma Regus, in den USA, mit ihrer Pressemitteilung vom 7. November 2011, wie der Artikel von Small Business Labs fundiert erläutert. Hier macht man sich einfach “das Neue” zu eigen, um selbst “Neu” zu erscheinen. Meiner Meinung nach ist Coworking jedoch weder hier, noch dort, im Mainstream wirklich angekommen. Dies hat weniger mit der Berichterstattung zu tun, die in den USA vielleicht grundsätzlich etwas offener und optimistischer ist, als bei uns. Vielmehr sind die Produkte und Dienstleistungen der Coworker für den Mainstream bisher nicht sichtbar. Zum anderen ist von Bedeutung, wie der Spiegel Online Artikel zurecht erwähnt, inwieweit sich die etablierten Firmen für diese neue Arbeitswelt öffnen werden. Vieles bewegt sich schon, und ich nehme an, dass wir schon bald noch mehr Konkretes sehen werden.

Object Orange for Coworking?

Felix Schürholz — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:52:28 +0000

Some people believe that an “Object Orange like strategy” could yield more coworking spaces in the world. What do you think?