coworking town hall, impressionistic notes

laura - "mitten" - freelance web design
anne - "netmouse" - freelance lots of stuff, science fiction
linda knox - experimental workspace on campus
jp sweeney - general neerdowell
barbara tozier - "hang down"
ed - lunch on thursdays
brian - put an old nickel lamp in office
bill -
tj - reseracher at ford
peter jensen - consulting, nixie clocks
dale grover - host of gotech - embedded systems
jeff - currently employed, not to be
eli - how can potential new building meet needs here
lada adamic - school of information - used to build things
zach - at zattoo - geek spaces
jennifer - commercial real estate
matt - put in content managment systems, wordpress
paul - social publishing
rick - electronic records archivist, michigan state
bob kuehne, 3d graphics
bill tozier, nobody can explain what I do

quorum.

tozier: talking, thinking for way too long; read in newspaper. want to know what we mean.

independent workers, sharing space, resources; share: utilities, all the way to child care, insurance.

what do people get from coworking? sharing risks, offer opportunities for collaboration, lowering fixed costs, getting perks not from home. most people can do this from home. talking about it as if it was brand new. started with a2b3 networking lunch. microcoworking, get together at cafe at regular schedule. that works, 4-5 up to a dozen, projects, give each other work. success, too much of a success, can't get this many people in a room to work together. natural size has hit its size.

question: what do we do in addition?

suppose there was a shared permanent space in ann arbor, for ann arbor, coffee, drinks, teaching, training, lab work, shop work, art, some subset more than sitting at little tables with laptops. think there's room for more stuff, not sure what that stuff is, what would you like? all a different answer (good thing). think there's enough overlap, don't know how.

1. what would IT be to begin with?
2. what entity would write the checks? someone takes risk.
3. what would we do to join?
4. what do we do next?

last: write it down when we all have access to it.

1. donuts? no donuts. not our space, don't own it, can't do it there.
2. need: whiteboard, other people breathing around me
3. models: people from here, visitors. "we" is flexible. compare to hotel.
4. range of people laptop, +whiteboard, +coding, +hardware all the way to tech shop

we understand "co", now what do we mean "working"

5. access to tools, especially special tools
6. how important is seeing other people?
7. utility of access to people, and not just tools - training
8. washtenaw community college fabrication class, fridays (students)
9. need for privacy? private locker?
10. pottery guild on hoover, cooperative. board runs it, dues are paid, students money.
11. ymca, locker, just "go", don't have to bring everything with you every time.
12. location: office shared easy, warehouse harder.
13. ICON office space, $250/mo, printers etc - no longer there
14. conference phone? little conference room? hands free room.
15. 30 people - swan theater below first street, $1500/mo - 25, $60/mo each.
16. create an organization that's a cooperative? copy something that's comfortable

do we need to have everything that it's going to be like?

17. model of membership: join core group, add additional memberships
18. overlap between "makers" and "laptopper" people
19. how to get informal networking, cooperation going?
20. little production room / sound room
21. not jump in with huge bureaucracy and accounting process, really simple

(lots of discussion)

22. model is potter's guild?

what other organizations are models?

Comments

[Anne Johnson]

>what other organizations are models?

Techshop is one model - at the extreme end of the 'Maker' trend. http://techshop.ws/

A health club is another model - has a joining fee, and a monthly fee - covers access to shared resources and salary for one or two receptionist/caretakers. This kind of thing works much better is there is someone, whose main job it is to be there at the core hours, to keep the coffee/tea supplies stocked and tidy up.

And if the scale isn't sufficient to employ a couple of part time people, maybe it's a 'get together in the back room of a coffee shop on a regular basis', just like you have been doing but weekly, or most days.

Anne