Hi everyone!
I’ve been perusing the world of co-working for some time now: I contacted co-working spaces and fairly annoyed owners/founders/members etc. with questions related to the efficacy and efficiency of the co-working mode of work organization for the members.
Changes on work (automated, outsourced), on the workforce (mobile, knowledge-enabled) and on the labour market in general, both at the individual and at the organizational level (from standard employment to self-employment, temporary agency worker, franchises, joint ventures) are evident. One, when not the main, cause for these evolutions is to be searched in the introduction and implementation of information and communication technologies within and across organizational boundaries.
Co-working situates itself in this scenario of increased personal freedom and generalized insecurity.
Now, since the deadline for my dissertation on the subject is approaching and since I’m not done bothering people around, I’m going to throw a billion-dollar question: do you think that co-working will be the future of that fluid world of work I’ve here very briefly described? In this sense, can it substitute the “old” manufacturing industry (perhaps in a return to the artisans’ guilds or as akin to the emergent communities of practice)?
Thanks to anyone who will share his/her thoughts. Much appreciated.
Billion-dollar question: “do you think that co-working will be the future of that fluid world of work I’ve here very briefly described? In this sense, can it substitute the “old” manufacturing industry (perhaps in a return to the artisans’ guilds or as akin to the emergent communities of practice)?”
My answer to the billion dollar question: **YES **
James WahbaCEO & Founder*, Projective Space*
Address: 72 Allen Street, 3rd FL NYC 10002
On Monday, August 25, 2014 4:30:40 PM UTC-4, Silvia Bortoletto wrote:
Hi everyone!
I’ve been perusing the world of co-working for some time now: I contacted co-working spaces and fairly annoyed owners/founders/members etc. with questions related to the efficacy and efficiency of the co-working mode of work organization for the members.
Changes on work (automated, outsourced), on the workforce (mobile, knowledge-enabled) and on the labour market in general, both at the individual and at the organizational level (from standard employment to self-employment, temporary agency worker, franchises, joint ventures) are evident. One, when not the main, cause for these evolutions is to be searched in the introduction and implementation of information and communication technologies within and across organizational boundaries.
Co-working situates itself in this scenario of increased personal freedom and generalized insecurity.
Now, since the deadline for my dissertation on the subject is approaching and since I’m not done bothering people around, I’m going to throw a billion-dollar question: do you think that co-working will be the future of that fluid world of work I’ve here very briefly described? In this sense, can it substitute the “old” manufacturing industry (perhaps in a return to the artisans’ guilds or as akin to the emergent communities of practice)?
Thanks to anyone who will share his/her thoughts. Much appreciated.
I did an interview with an italian newspaper about this question - the role of Coworking and craftsmanship/artisan guilds. The interview itself was published in italian (and my translation skills are terrible, heh) so I published the full interview transcript here in English:
If you’d like to cite any parts of it for your dissertation, just drop me a line, in happy to share
-Alex
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/ah
On Tue, Aug 26, 2014 at 1:26 PM, Silvia Bortoletto [email protected] wrote:
Hi everyone!
I’ve been perusing the world of co-working for some time now: I contacted co-working spaces and fairly annoyed owners/founders/members etc. with questions related to the efficacy and efficiency of the co-working mode of work organization for the members.
Changes on work (automated, outsourced), on the workforce (mobile, knowledge-enabled) and on the labour market in general, both at the individual and at the organizational level (from standard employment to self-employment, temporary agency worker, franchises, joint ventures) are evident. One, when not the main, cause for these evolutions is to be searched in the introduction and implementation of information and communication technologies within and across organizational boundaries.
Co-working situates itself in this scenario of increased personal freedom and generalized insecurity.
Now, since the deadline for my dissertation on the subject is approaching and since I’m not done bothering people around, I’m going to throw a billion-dollar question: do you think that co-working will be the future of that fluid world of work I’ve here very briefly described? In this sense, can it substitute the “old” manufacturing industry (perhaps in a return to the artisans’ guilds or as akin to the emergent communities of practice)?
Thanks to anyone who will share his/her thoughts. Much appreciated.
Silvia, from my perspective, coworking is a manifestation of the larger shift we see happening in work as we know it. Its continued unabated growth continues to underscore the fact.
I characterize it as a shift from an dependent (traditionally employed) to independent (everyone on their own) to an ultimately inter-dependent (coworking is an example of this) workforce. I’ve written more about that here: http://bossless.co/updates/project-bossless/
+ Help: I’m looking for a fab 1BR in Park Slope / Prospect Heights this fall. Let me know if you have any leads!
**
On Wed, Aug 27, 2014 at 10:24 AM, Alex Hillman [email protected] wrote:
I did an interview with an italian newspaper about this question - the role of Coworking and craftsmanship/artisan guilds. The interview itself was published in italian (and my translation skills are terrible, heh) so I published the full interview transcript here in English:
On Tue, Aug 26, 2014 at 1:26 PM, Silvia Bortoletto [email protected] wrote:
Hi everyone!
I’ve been perusing the world of co-working for some time now: I contacted co-working spaces and fairly annoyed owners/founders/members etc. with questions related to the efficacy and efficiency of the co-working mode of work organization for the members.
Changes on work (automated, outsourced), on the workforce (mobile, knowledge-enabled) and on the labour market in general, both at the individual and at the organizational level (from standard employment to self-employment, temporary agency worker, franchises, joint ventures) are evident. One, when not the main, cause for these evolutions is to be searched in the introduction and implementation of information and communication technologies within and across organizational boundaries.
Co-working situates itself in this scenario of increased personal freedom and generalized insecurity.
Now, since the deadline for my dissertation on the subject is approaching and since I’m not done bothering people around, I’m going to throw a billion-dollar question: do you think that co-working will be the future of that fluid world of work I’ve here very briefly described? In this sense, can it substitute the “old” manufacturing industry (perhaps in a return to the artisans’ guilds or as akin to the emergent communities of practice)?
Thanks to anyone who will share his/her thoughts. Much appreciated.
I have been reading your articles and blogs (Alex and Tony), the results of the four global coworking surveys created and conducted by Deskmag, the posts and topics on the Google forum since 2006 and it’s so exciting to see how the coworking movement - albeit being still “niche” in comparison to other forms of work organization - is growing. And it keeps changing as well. It keeps adapting. That’s what it makes it so “modern”.
There might be slight confusion around and you can encounter anomalies where hot-desking or random business networking are identified with coworking (most directories don’t make differences, throwing everything in). But even so, it does not dis-credit the movement in itself. It’s about what people need at that moment in time, in that locality and it seems to me that, by being people-centered to some degree, it’s always potentially open to change. I might be very wrong though.
In any case, thanks again!
(I’ll try and contact you privately to get “license to steal” your lines).
There might be slight confusion around and you can encounter anomalies where hot-desking or random business networking are identified with coworking (most directories don’t make differences, throwing everything in).
This is why Indy Hall doesn’t use any directory sites for finding members.
Dozens of commodity services create competing directories to sell commodity desks while everyone races to the bottom chasing "easy money”. Meanwhile nobody is daring enough to try to highlight the communities inside and help people find their tribes. It’s sad.
On the point of building communities, I totally agree with you, and that’s why we’re really making that a key goal of sparechair.me. We feel like connecting is a huge part of the coworking movement. We’re hoping our community will be of benefit to a bunch of folks =)
Warmest,
Sharona
···
On Wednesday, September 3, 2014 10:35:38 AM UTC-4, Alex Hillman wrote:
There might be slight confusion around and you can encounter anomalies where hot-desking or random business networking are identified with coworking (most directories don’t make differences, throwing everything in).
This is why Indy Hall doesn’t use any directory sites for finding members.
Dozens of commodity services create competing directories to sell commodity desks while everyone races to the bottom chasing "easy money”. Meanwhile nobody is daring enough to try to highlight the communities inside and help people find their tribes. It’s sad.
