Comments on: When You Want Something Done Right…

By: Web Worker Daily » Archive The State of Web Working in France «

Web Worker Daily » Archive The State of Web Working in France « — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:01:19 +0000

[...] to promote web working in an effort to revitalize the villages of France; a topic I wrote about recently, and one that has been tossed around in France for years. In March, senators met to discuss the [...]

By: vincent

vincent — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:35:36 +0000

Xavier, I really see the value of ZeVillage (as you know), but I was just being a bit provocative (esprit de contradiction à la française), especially regarding the social network idea, hoping that someone might mention some *concrete* use of such a network, that couldn’t be better handled by you (ZeVillage) or social networks based on activity or interest. Still waiting…

By: Pamela Poole

Pamela Poole — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:23:09 +0000

I’m glad to see such a generally positive response to this topic! It seems like a natural extension of what we all no doubt do already. We interact with our professional networks all the time; picking each other’s brains, asking for referrals or recommendations, exchanging or paying for services among ourselves. I honestly think harvesting our collective intelligence and increasing our reach could only be an improvement for all of us. I’m picturing a single large social/professional network for web workers that has a function that allows us to create local/regional groups. That way, we could access our local resources, but also a wider group, as Brad described in his comment. As for having the resources to do it, I linked to lots of open source platforms in the last article. It could be done relatively easily and cheaply if you have PHP/CSS/MySQL skills. Plenty of web workers do. However, I would really only use a platform that has a lot of functionality and flexibility–something very professional. Please let me know if anybody takes this further.

By: Alana Post

Alana Post — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:07:42 +0000

Also: a friend of mine had an idea, years ago, for Sad Boyfriend Telecommuter Relocation Service, which just shifts groups of hipsters pining over their girlfriends into urban areas needing revitalization. He also had the “buy a town” idea wherein we’d all move to rural Ohio (or anywhere along a major internet backbone, really).

Sadly, neither happened!

By: Alana Post

Alana Post — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:05:05 +0000

Susan Doran recently started Maine UX, which is the first thing approaching a social network I've seen in these parts. There have been a few real-life meetings, tons of local event and lecture postings, and some good dialogue on our google group. I feel that there's cooperative energy going on, versus competitive energy which is more of what I felt in urban environments.

By: Xavier de Mazenod

Xavier de Mazenod — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:04:00 +0000

Vincent, you talk about your experience and as an individual quite autonomous.

In reality, the candidates are often afraid to leave the big cities to be alone in a rural area or a small village. You don’t imagine how many mail I receive each week saying : I want to change my life but I don’t dare to telework.

That’s why we started Zevillage. We help those people to settle and we give them connections in networks. And, eventually, we help them to telework. Particulary when they are employees.

We have here around experienced teleworkers and beginners who ask for advices and help.

Some work together, some don’t. Some are friends, some live their lifes alone ;-)
And some of them don’t have any dog, do you believe it ?

By: vincent

vincent — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:40:00 +0000

I think ZeVillage offers valuable help to people who want to settle in their neck of the woods. But the teleworking angle? It’s a nice way to evangelize teleworking, but in reality, all you need is an Internet connection (cheap and fast and France).

If you already have clients and work, I don’t really need the distractions and the overhead that comes from working in a shared space. After all, one of the greatest benefits of teleworking, is not being bound by anybody else’s physical location, being able to blast your music or work in your jammies (or wearing a silly hat or nothing at all).

The situation might be different if you’re an employee or an employer considering some intermediate form of teleworking…

As for social networking with fellow teleworkers, on the face of it, it’s a nice idea. Except that 99% of the issues I might need help with (or that I could help with or otherwise discuss) are related to my particular profession (translation) and to administrative matters (that my accountant deals with for me). If it’s about dog-sitting, and you’re living in a tiny village in France, you might have better odds asking the neighbors.

By: Xavier de Mazenod

Xavier de Mazenod — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:20:21 +0000

Thanks Pamela.

Yes, you will have to pronounce Zevillage like Inspector Clouzeau : I would like a rhume… ;-)

Talking about social network, I have opened a group in Facebook for people interested in teleworking called “Télétravail et campagne” (Telework and countryside). You are welcome.

By: Ellis Benus

Ellis Benus — Thu, 29 May 2008 14:55:06 +0000

Forget talking about “web-worker cooperatives or networks, virtual or otherwise, in your area” I want to move to France. :-)

Currently I’m in little Columbia, Missouri. Right smack in the middle of the US. My wife loves French and the French culture, and neither of us has traveled outside of the country.

I am seriously considering getting in touch with these people. I can do web site design anywhere in the world!

By: Brad

Brad — Thu, 29 May 2008 14:46:37 +0000

What if one were done in a “craigslist” kind of fashion where you could have multiple regions in one place. . .not just a bunch of disassociated “local” ones. . .I would be interested in having a more serious discussion about it with other interested parties. Maybe together we can cobble something up. . .