Situated in the „Northern Quarter“ of Manchester (UK), MadLab offers a new kind of „coworking“ experience. Aimed at both creatives and technologists, the facility provides a space and resources for collaboration, professional development and discovery. As the primary focus of the laboratory has never been „coworking only“, it possesses a foundation or business model that, as it proved in Manchester, is possibly more sustainable than a space that is offering „paid coworking“ only. Started in 2009 by Rachael Turner, Asa Calow, Hwa Young Jung and Dave Mee, MadLab has also been the host to the coworking cooperative „FlyThe.Coop„. The „paid coworking“ though had to terminate its operation after one year. Ben Gibbs, one of the founders of „FlyThe.Coop“ had to change the concept and is since then organizing a casual coworking event called „Manchester Jelly“. The Event is free, like so many others at MadLab and is now being offered every Friday. Great!!!
It is new ! But you already know how to use car sharing!!! It is the same process…,
but you do not need a car ;-) !!!
A) If you have a project, think of it as a car. You invite others to join your project, just like sharing a car.
B) You do not have a project yet. Find people in your city who offer skills that you need.
C) How do you pay? You pay with money, or you pay with your skills offered. And the system? The system is for „Free“, because we believe Coworking should be „Free“. For more information on „Free Coworking“ have a look at our „Resource page„.
It is Monday and you can start the week by doing something really beneficial: For yourself, your business and your community! All you have to do is to enter your Name, City, Country and Project/Skills. Time Required: (1 to 3 Minutes) No Registration and No Password required! It is free! Just enter what you want to enter! Benefit Minimum: Free Advertisement of your skills and free advertisement for your project! Benefit Maximum: New local and global project partners, a real push forward for your project, a free & great tool for everyone to use and you have made our world a better place to live in!
Currently I see two very important developments in coworking. One is the increase in collaboration between coworkers for example in the jelly coworking mode (example Jellyweek). Secondly I see more collaborations between spaces and coworking operators like in Prague and Seattle ( as described in this article below). Both developments use „Free Coworking“ and help to bring about a more integrated and interconnected coworking community.
In his talk on „Science and Practice of Cooperation“ (see Video below thx David Hodgson for sharing) Harvard Professor Yochai Benkler develops the idea of systems of self-interest and systems of collaboration. In terms of computer hardware and software these systems could be identified with people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates on the one hand and networks and developments like Linux and Open Source on the other. In terms of knowledge transfer they could have representatives like Encyclopaedia Britannica and Wikipedia. Yochai Benkler is not a complete critic of the system of self-interest although he presents ample evidence that systems of collaboration are not only feasible, but also more sustainable and human.
