To give the “Free Coworking” Movement a clear identity and face we have developed a new logo. By means of co-creation within our Facebook Group we have now come up with a new logo. With contributions from Gunasekar C Rajaratnam, Sidi Benmoh, Loo Robert and Mark Goldsworthy we had excellent ideas and wonderful logos! The creative contributors and the other members of the group that got involved voted finally for the logo of Mark Goldsworthy. Congratulations to the “winner” and a huge thank you for everybody who made this possible! I hope every present and future activist for “Free Coworking” can identify with the logo and is happy to use it. Please comment!
To clarify some points about “Free Coworking” we start this series: “Free Coworking” explained. Today I like to look at one of the most important aspects for “Free Coworking” to become widespread and sustainable. Number One: Without “Applied Teamwork” or “Collaboration” there is no “Free Coworking”. In my introduction to “Free Coworking” on the 6th of January I stressed the importance of Social Capital to attract Financial Capital to finance “Free Coworking”. This process requires that the community (Social Capital) not only exists in terms of grouped desks and chairs, but in terms of real collaboration and real common projects. It is not only the openness to collaborate, that is required, but real projects and the project experience that is gained from these projects. Without real projects, there is no real interaction. Without real interaction, there is no Social Capital. Enjoy the video below which illustrates “practical” cooperation and “applied teamwork” in an unusual setting :-)))
We live in a very paradoxical world. We want most things for free: free internet, free music, free films. If it can be reproduced easily or it is digital, of course we want it for free. When it comes to collaboration a lot of people suddenly hesitate. Collaboration for free? No, that is not possible. Why is that? We are so used to being manipulated by nearly everything that is part of our daily life including ourselves that it takes a real effort to become free. Free of our outdated experiences? Just think, when it comes to expectations people have of you? How free you are? I like to show the video of the crowd starting dancer again:
“Free Coworking” needs a critical mass of Social Capital to attract Financial Capital. This is true on a local, as well as on a global scale. For “Free Coworking” to operate on a global scale we need at least 10,000 committed activists which I think is worth about 15.000.000 € in Social Capital. In the first three days of our campaign we already gathered in excess of 100.000 € in Social Capital. For everybody to see and experience what a great value this already represents I like to launch the “11 o´clock community challenge”. The idea is simple. Every working day (Monday to Friday) someone puts out a “community challenge” for 11 o´clock their local time. During the following hour everybody in the group provided, they are awake, free etc. takes a look at the challenge. It should not need more than 2 to 3 Minutes for every person to respond during this hour from 11 to 12 AM. In these 2 to 3 Minutes everybody can share their knowledge, experiences, likes, evaluation, creative input etc. concerning this daily challenge.
Yes it is true. Coworking is going to evolve into “Free Coworking”. I predict that within the coming year you will see a marked increase in “Free Coworking” offers. What do I mean by “Free Coworking”? ”Free Coworking” means that as a coworking space user you do not pay for the use of the desk, chair etc. How is that possible? Someone else is going to pay :-) !!! Why would anyone want to pay for your coworking space usage? Because “this someone else” is benefiting from your work. This might be a customer or client, a member of your project team, an organisation, a small or large cooperation, a foundation, the state – in short “Financial Capital” will pay the bill.
