Talk:Coworking/Archives/2012

Refs
the ref to the article is broken, someone please fix. fixed w3ace 17:20, 9 October 2007 (UTC)
 * thanks Christopher Mahan 17:27, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Hi folks, I can't edit the page because I'm involved in the movement, but I wanted to note some facts here on the discussion board. First, I'm the originator of the term coworking. Also, I'm the creator of the coworking movement; while there were spaces that were similar to coworking before I created the term, they did not imagine themselves as part of a larger movement. While I have stepped back from full time engagement in coworking, it is important to me to be properly credited with initiating the movement and word. If someone can fact check my claim and then edit the page to record these facts that would be great. --Brad Neuberg, codinginparadise.org —Preceding unsigned comment added by BradNeuberg (talk • contribs) 01:13, 13 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Brad, got any references/pointers to help us in the process? Links to early talk-list messages or published interviews would be helpful. This entry was previously removed because of lack of references, so to prevent a repeat we should be as source-rich as possible to make every assertion in the article verifiable. Raines 13:58, 20 October 2007 (UTC)
 * OK, I found a current public coworking list discussion thread in which Chris Messina attributes coworking to Brad, that would be a start. And someone could additionally reference the Spiral Muse external link already on the page for context. Raines (talk) 09:06, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Hi Raines; here is some more supporting references acknowledging me as the founder of coworking. See the new Mother Jones print issue January/November 2008 in stores now, on page 66 is the article "Works Well With Others" by Kiera Butler. An excerpt from the article:

"So what is the lonesome office-less worker to do? In 2005, Brad Neuberg, a software programmer in San Francisco, hit upon a simple solution: He got a few friends together to share a rental space, as well as printers, fax machines, and wireless Internet, and -- like a good start-up founder -- branded his creation "coworking." As the 31-year-old recalls, "I said, 'Why can't I have my cake and eat it too? Is there a way that I can have community and independence?' It's a false assumption that you can't have both."

Word of Neuberg's San Francisco Coworking Space spread, and techies, writers, and entrepreneurs began dropping in. "I urged people to steal the idea," he says. Today, there are 29 coworking sites across North America and a few more around the globe -- all listed on a wiki that has instructions for anyone who wants to start her own." -- BradNeuberg (talk) 22:23, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

All, should the entry include anything about Bernie DeKoven's Coworking Institute previous use of the term dating back a decade or more? Or the generic use of the term as in coworkers in a traditional firm/department? And would it best fit the Entrepreneurship category or Employment or something else? Raines 13:58, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

Hi Raines; it is just a coincidence that Bernie used the name coworking before I termed a similar term. Since then Bernie and I have spoken, and there are some similarities in our work around collaboration, but our work is not linked. -- BradNeuberg (talk) 22:23, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

I added this page to WP:COOP because coworking seems to meet most of the core definition of Cooperative: "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise." Yes, the "ownership" is often technically held by one or a few members. But since the informality and joint management is a key distinction from generic "corporate" office-rentals and formal business incubators, it seems like a worthwhile connection. Perhaps coworking::cooperative business as cohousing::intentional communities... i.e. using the model, but in a new way with greater independence and autonomy. Raines 11:09, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Hi folks; I've provided supporting evidence above to show I started coworking, termed the coin, and opened the first coworking space. I can't edit the main page however since I am involved in the movement. Can someone verify the facts I created and edit the page? Thanks! (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 01:29, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Before you make any large changes, please check in at http://coworking.pbwiki.com/CoworkingOnWikipedia so we know what's up Josephholsten (talk) 05:47, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

There's a mistake on the page, but it's not appropriate for me to edit it since I was involved in starting coworking. The page identifies the "Hat Factory" as the first coworking space; this is incorrect. The first coworking space I started was the San Francisco Coworking Space located at Spiral Muse (http://www.spiralmuse.com), which was a women's collective in the San Francisco Mission District that would rent space to me for several days a week (original flyer at http://www.codinginparadise.org/coworking/ ). The Hat Factory was the second space, and was put together by a group of people that included myself, Chris Messina, Tara Hunt, Ryanne Hodson, etc. BradNeuberg

Proposed Merge
It has been proposed to merge both Group collaboration and Collaborative workspace into this article. Cazort (talk) 22:27, 14 July 2009 (UTC) Oppose Merge. Both of those articles, as they stand, seem to overlap very little with this article because they (1) focus mainly on technology (2) don't seem to be about a shared physical location (3) don't seem to have any co-operative element. I might support a merge of those two pages into each other...or possibly a deletion of those pages, if they're not found to be notable as a topic on their own. Also, just to note, both of those articles are currently inadequately referenced, whereas this article is well-referenced. Cazort (talk) 22:27, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

I suggest merging co-working center into coworking. The "co-working center" article itself says "The Co-Working concept, also known as coworking", so apparently they are synonyms. --68.0.124.33 (talk) 15:56, 27 October 2009 (UTC)
 * I would support merging Co-working center, but not Group collaboration and not Collaborative workspace. There's not much material on Co-working center so I think it would be ok to be bold and just merge it right now.  Cazort (talk) 18:23, 29 October 2009 (UTC)

I suggest referencing Group collaboration with Coworking and vice versa Both fields have some things in common and yet are different. Frisbeeralf 15:14 GMT+1, 31.10.2009, (UTC)
 * I think this is a good solution. Cazort (talk) 15:21, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

I have updated the article to remove merge tags for Group collaboration and Collaborative workspace, but have left the merge tag for Co-working center, based on the consensus reached so far. Vectro (talk) 03:20, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

Examplespam
These examples and external links are inappropriate per WP:NOTADVERTISING, WP:EL, WP:REFSPAM, and WP:NPOV. I'll request the ip that's been edit-warring over this material be blocked if it continues. --Ronz (talk) 05:17, 14 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Done and blocked. Anyone want to discuss this now? --Ronz (talk) 20:10, 14 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Another ip has joined in, so I reverted again and requested the article be partial protected. Next step, I'll request the link be blacklisted. I might throw all the links at XLinkBot either way, since none are currently used.
 * Still no discussion? --Ronz (talk) 01:18, 15 October 2011 (UTC)

Question: I noticed that the company I work for (PARISOMA) is already listed as an example of a coworking space, which makes sense since it was one of the first and remains one of the most active in San Francisco. Would it be appropriate to add external links for this company and the other two that are mentioned? I don't want to self-promote but since it was already there I thought I might ask.--Msingularian (talk) 00:07, 25 September 2012 (UTC)
 * No, it would not be acceptable to add links to the companies' websites. --Ronz (talk) 17:04, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

Another proposed Merge
I think the Remote_Office_Center page should be merged in here. The description is very close to that of a coworking location and 4 of the 5 refs on that page are broken. I don't have time to do it myself right now, but could do it in the future. Tdferro (talk) 15:08, 2 November 2012 (UTC)