On launching the “Free Coworking” Skill Sharing Tool, I notice a reaction by many people that has something, for one, to do with the Apple Analogy I described in another article. If you get a service offered for free (like the free  apple), people will automatically think, here is someone who wants to use me to further his business. To make matters worth we live in a time of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg. People are fascinated by a “winner takes it all” culture. I guess many people think why should they support “a simple idea” which potentially could bring large benefit to one or a small number of people. An idea which is so obvious and in my believe the “core” idea of coworking. Collaboration on a common platform.

In practice, up to now (in “paid coworking”), this platform is a coworking space and not a virtual network. In that sense, “no danger” of the “Next Facebook”. But when it comes to a virtual coworking platform potentially with a global relevance, many people, I believe, think “Facebook”, “Money”, “Power”.

Facebook by the way, is a very good example to show how (a kind of) social capital (Social Media and User Content) attracts financial capital. But Facebook is not a platform for collaboration, it is a platform of expression. I developed this idea in the article (How to transform coworking from expression to collaboration). We now need a common platform, based on our own infrastructure, to collaborate otherwise coworking will not evolve. Coworking would remain something about a cheap flexible office where people go to work by themselves drinking coffee and having a chat.

To me,  what coworking is really about, is collaboration on a common platform, a platform that is physical and virtual. These virtual platforms do not exist or did not work up to now, becauseI believe  many people fear a “Facebook for Coworkers” in which they do not have a stake.

To me, that makes perfect sense but I think as cultural creatives, it is easy to change that.

Now I like to come to the second point: Developing and owning of a social network. Facebook, for example,  will never be owned by its users, because it is a corporate company. Going public will not change that because financial institutions and profit maximisation will always control Facebook.

“Free Coworking” should be different and I invite everybody to become an owner and developer of it. To make this ownership effective I suggest a first mechanism that might be new to many people. I call it “democracy by consensus” or “decision by consensus”. As far as I know there is no English term for it yet. Based on the ideas of Georg Paulus, Siegfried Schrotta and Erich Visotschnig “Systemisches Konsensieren“.

The concept is quite simple. Democracy (a little bit like “paid coworking”) is the best system we have come up with, up to now, to promote freedom, individual rights and a more peaceful society. What many though do not know is that our democratic system (by design) is by no means perfect. The paradox is that the older a democracy gets the bigger the social divide between rich and poor becomes. This holds true for all western democracies except Japan, but this is just a little aside. The important aspect is that democracy still produces winners and losers. Why is that a problem of the democratic system of today? Because we believe that taking decisions by majority is the best we can do. That is a mistake! Think about it.

A group of 100 people want to decide how they are going to spend the holiday together. The options: Going to the beach or climbing. 51 vote for Climbing, 49 vote for the beach. According to classic democratic thinking we have now the best possible solution. Everybody goes climbing now. It is the will of the majority. In real terms we might have produced 51 winners and 49 losers. Not a good start for this particular holiday group.

“Decision by consensus” would take a different approach to finding the most acceptable solution for everybody. Instead of counting only the fors and against something, one introduces a scoring system which looks at “Percentage Points” that are against a particular option. These points are also called “Resistance Points”.  Everybody presents their individual “Resistance Score”. You then look at the largest “Resistance Scores” for example 90 to 100%, which would translate into something like “completely” unacceptable option for that person. Now there is a chance to optimize the final outcome for the whole group. By finding out that one person or more, for example, have a problem to walk in the mountains, have fear of heights, suffer from mountain sickness etc. you have identified a problem that could be solved. You might want to add further options (like considering a beach holiday resort which offers also climbing facilities), or you find out that there are many people that voted for the mountains before but in fact have very little resistance to the beach option.

Back to “Free Coworking”, by running the “Free Coworking Group” and all its tools like “Skill Sharing” on the principle of  ”Decision by Consensus”, everybody has a stake and automatic ownership/control. All relevant decisions will be prepared using the “Decision by Consensus” method. Everybody who is interested can get involved and should get involved! Voting on a global scale can then follow, by using the normal voting procedure. This system actually works for our society as a whole. We just have to choose to adopt it.

To recap, “Free Coworking” is not the “Next Facebook”, because it is based on different principles and has a completely different purpose. The principles are collaboration, “decision by consensus” and transparency. The purpose is to support collaboration by an infrastructure developed, run and owned by its users.

I guess, enough ideas for today.

Support “Free Coworking” by spreading the word, starting your local campaign, by developing new tools for all coworkers in line with the principles and purpose set out above. Discuss and develop these ideas on Facebook, the Google Coworking Group etc.

And most importantly enjoy coworking!

Well this is a very positive perspective for all coworkers and activists!!! But it will not happen by itself. Only collaboration by everybody will make the difference!!! So let us gather strength and resolve for 2012!!! With creativity, fun and lots of positive energy!!!

Here are three projects you can get involved in straight away to make a change: 1. Coworking Radio / Coworking Song 2. “Waste becomes Resource Campaign” (Facebook Group) 3. CoWorking Calendar / Special Dates

We wish you a very happy, very successful and very focussed 2012!!! Together we can make it happen!!!

The reason for choosing  ”Summer of Smart” as “Project of the Week” for “Week 39″ in 2011: The Summer of Smart successfully brings together the elements of collaboration, new technologies, civic responsibility and coworking. A society challenged to find the right answers in a more complex and fast moving global environment, needs to involve as many players as possible in an innovative mix of virtual and face-to-face development. Hackathons or Coworking are excellent ways to address urban issues as the Summer of Smart proved this year in San Francisco. I hope that many other communities will be inspired to follow this example!!!

Summer of Smart: Democracy in the Digital Age from GAFFTA on Vimeo.

The reason for choosing  ”Workaway.info” as “Project of the Week” for “Week 27″ in 2011: The service that “Workaway.info” provides is a little like initiating hundreds of  holiday coworking spaces for “budget travellers, language learners or culture seekers”. It is a great project, it is fun and it helps to promote the exchange of services and goods that would otherwise not take place. Well done and make use!!!

As AOL has been struggling to change its core business model, drawing talent and new ideas is certainly the right move. But this change is also beneficial for start-ups and coworkers. The architecture and layout of AOL´s West Coast Campus shows that it is not only about the talent but also about the way the talent works. By adopting a more flexible and open set up, coworkers will find an “eco-system” much to their liking. For example people “are encouraged to draw on the walls, play pool and ping-pong, and come to work whenever they like”. There is still some reservation whether this “new alliance” can work successfully, but there is nothing to be lost. AOL´s new campus can only benefit from this “coworking” of small and big companies!!!

Ich gehe davon aus, dass der Autor vom 9. Februar 2011 wahrscheinlich nicht weiß, dass eben jener Wikipedia-Eintrag zu Coworking in der ersten Fassung von Inspiraluna vom 7. November 2009, eines der wichtigen Resultate des Treffens vom 5. Oktober 2009 in Meiningen war. Ich halte diesen Sachverhalt für sehr wichtig, da er zeigt, dass Coworking nicht erfunden wurde, sondern gewachsen ist. Ja, Coworking hat mit Kreativität zu tun. Ja, Coworking ist im Kontext von sozialer und technologischer Entwicklung, beginnend mit dem Ende der 90er Jahre bis heute, sowohl  eine neue Form der Arbeit, als auch eine neue Form und des Zusammenarbeitens. Und ja, Coworking hat eine Geschichte.

Als Bernie DeKoven in den Jahren 1999/2000 den Begriff “Coworking” zuerst nutzte lag sein Fokus bei der virtuellen Vernetzung  (Celebrating Virtual Connectivity). Ein “Fokus-Shift” läßt sich mit der Nutzung des Coworking Begriffs durch Brad Neuberg im Jahre 2005 beobachten. Hier ging es jetzt mehr um die Arbeit an einem gemeinsamen physischen Ort, einem sogenannten “Coworking Space”.

Seitdem ist Coworking international und besonders im deutschsprachigen Raum gewachsen und hat sich weiter vernetzt. Mit zur Zeit über 400 Coworking Spaces in den USA und Europa zusammen, sowie über 100 Meetup Coworking Gruppen weltweit ist eine beachtliche Bewegung entstanden.

Viele, viele Menschen haben einen Beitrag zu dieser Entwicklung geleistet. Von Bernie DeKoven und Brad Neuberg, über die ersten Coworking Spaces in den USA und Europa. Genauso wichtig waren die Vernetzungen und der Austausch der Spaces untereinander wie das Hallenprojekt in Deutschland, die “Coworking Europe” Konferenz oder die U.S. CoWorking Unconference, um nur einige zu nennen.

In Deutschland ist eine Veranstaltung wie die Coworking Week (Bericht), meiner Meinung nach, durch das erste  Treffen in Meiningen erst möglich geworden. Hier wurden die ersten Verbindungen geknüpft und eine Basis für weitere Treffen geschaffen.

Die Entwicklung geht weiter und ich hoffe, dass das nächste Treffen der Coworking Space Betreiber und Initiativen am 15. Mai 2011 in Hamburg (siehe auch CoWorking Calendar) auf der guten Basis der vorhergehenden Treffen in Meiningen, Berlin, Stuttgart, Köln, Leipzig und München aufbauen kann.

Coworking wird wahrscheinlich jeden Tag neu “erfunden” und doch steht diese “Erfindung” immer in einem aktuellen und historischen Kontext. Es ist die Geschichte der Coworker und der “Coworking-Aktivisten”.