More coworking Stories

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There’s a temptation to title this piece “Local Boy Makes Good!” or something similar, for it’s extremely exciting to see that Dan Harmon (Heat Vision and Jack) has got himself a bona fide TV show. As the co-creator of Channel 101, Harmon is indirectly responsible for […] Read more »

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Hacker Dojo, a new coworking venture located in Mountain View, Calif., opened for business yesterday. Its location is good news for web workers from the Bay Area looking for a co-working space who aren’t based in San Francisco. Inspired by the monthly DevHouse “hackathon” events, the […] Read more »

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Recently, I’ve been talking to many local journalists about the unfolding implosion of the newspaper industry and its implications for their profession. As the industry struggles to adapt to a world which is moving onto the web, journalists are not only learning to blend social media […] Read more »

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Last week I woke up to find that my partner had rearranged my home office. She spent the better part of the morning turning it into our home office. I shouldn’t have been surprised — I’d told her earlier in the week that we might become […] Read more »

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With invites going out every day and Google and Apple being in the news many times over because of the rejection of its native Google Voice app for the iPhone, many are giving this service a close look. If you’re a Mac or iPhone user, here […] Read more »

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Jeffrey Katzenberg is prepared for 3D to utterly change the experience of watching television and movies — and a lot sooner than you may think. The DreamWorks’ chief told attendees at Fortune’s Brainstorm conference in Pasadena, Calif., today that companies like LG and Panasonic are ready […] Read more »

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Portland, Ore., has had more than its fair share of trouble from the current recession — it’s seen the biggest drop in employment of any metro area in the country, with jobless rates clocking in at a dismal 12.2 percent in June. But despite the gloomy […] Read more »

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The iPhone/iPod 3.0 OS allows third-party applications to utilize the device’s Bluetooth capabilities for two-player games. The first (and only) application I had that supported this in an update was Flight Control, and since then, whenever my wife and I are on a train, we occupy […] Read more »

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Though the demise of Portland, Ore.’s Cubespace coworking community represents a sad development in the nascent history of coworking, the region’s vibrant Silicon Forest will give rise to other coworking options in due course. In the meantime, there are ongoing successes elsewhere, notably in Italy, with […] Read more »

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CubeSpace, a coworking space and community based in Portland, Ore., that we’ve featured previously (see Dawn’s interview with co-owner Eva Schweber) has announced that it is to shut its doors this Friday, June 12, following negotiations with US Bank, its landlord. It is a great shame […] Read more »

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As the first generation of coworking spaces, such as IndyHall, Old Broadcasting House and others, enter maturity while new locations and communities start up, it’s useful to reflect on some measures and metrics of success. Marc Harrison at the Urban Workspaces blog — seeking to establish […] Read more »

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With the global economy still moribund, tools and services that help you find leads and extract more value from your existing business contacts can only be welcome. LinkedIn has become the online resume repository of choice and helps curate an individual’s professional network, but how to […] Read more »

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On April 25th, the Paris-based organization Travailleurs du Web will be holding TDWCamp, a barcamp for web workers here in Paris. Why not organize one in your city? If you don’t know what a barcamp (or unconference) is, don’t feel bad. The name certainly doesn’t provide […] Read more »

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We’ve been running a series of posts on the topic of coworking — the growing movement of independent café-like collaboration spaces for freelance professionals — over the past few weeks. Coworking is an increasingly popular option for the independent web worker because working in proximity with […] Read more »

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I first met Linda Broughton — head of NTI Leeds, part of Leeds Met University — in May 2007, at a meeting on the use of open-source software in the public sector where I planted the seed of an idea to develop a coworking community in […] Read more »

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Inspired by my co-bloggers here at WWD, I’ve been thinking about the ins and outs of coworking in very rural locations. While I do travel more and more often, my home base is Tok, Alaska, the first pitstop along the Alaska Highway once you cross the Canadian border.

Darrell’s post “Coworking à Deux” was particularly relevant because, as of this posting, I’ve only identified one other web worker in my community, and she only does it part-time. While her day job is teaching at the local school, she blogs for half a dozen education blogs after hours. As far as I can tell, the two of us are the only two Twitterers in Tok. I know many residents are on MySpace and some on Facebook but web working isn’t part of their day job. Read more »

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There’s an interesting debate on the profitability of coworking spaces unfolding over at CoolTown Studios. Most current coworking communities are focused on building a community and only just break even, or are subsidized by a sponsor. Writer Neil Takemoto suggests that coworking centers could become profitable […] Read more »

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Alex Hillman is the co-founder of Independents Hall (colloquially known as IndyHall) a “coworking space and community” in Philadelphia. IndyHall is home to designers, developers, writers, artists, entrepreneurs, scientists, educators, small business owners, telecommuters, marketers, videographers and game developers, amongst other industries. I spoke with Alex […] Read more »

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James Ward is a member of Leeds’ Old Broadcasting House (OBH) coworking community in Northern England, working as freelance “digital coach.” I spoke with James on his thoughts and experiences over the last few months as one of the most active evangelists of his coworking community. […] Read more »

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Eclau (pronounced eck-lo) is a coworking space in Lausanne, Switzerland, founded by Stephanie Booth. Booth spoke with me about her motivation for starting Eclau, her experiences running it and her future plans, and offer up some tips for anyone thinking of starting a coworking space. WWD: […] Read more »

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Most coworking spaces have some kind of fee structure in place to meet the diverse needs of wandering workers (and to pay the rent). These fees can include hourly or daily rates, monthly rental of premium space, or one-time rental of space for meetings and events. […] Read more »

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A lot of people are getting into coworking in a big way, the team at WebWorkerDaily included. It’s a very nice idea, and a welcome escape from the solitude of working from home, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone wants to go out and join what effectively amounts to an office environment, having just escaped from one.

If you want to try out the coworking experience, but would rather get just get your feet wet than completely take the plunge, two might be the magic number. Find another person to work with and you might eliminate some of the isolation of the web worker lifestyle, but it won’t resemble the office job you might have felt trapped by. But who you work with, and how you work together, make all the difference when it comes to a coworking partnership. Read more »

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As part of a special report on Work/Life Balance, BusinessWeek ran a  “Telecommuting: Once a Perk, Now a Necessity,” an interesting story on how remote workers and telecommuting are now being seen as necessary developments for many organizations, rather than perks afforded to a privileged few […] Read more »

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New Work City is more than just a Manhattan coworking center; it might even turn out to be a movement. One thing is for sure, the founders of NWC are not sitting idly by during this economic crisis. Founded in November 2008 by Tony Bacigalupo (co-author […] Read more »

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In an effort to better understand the inner workings of a coworking business, I spoke with Eva Schweber, co-owner of CubeSpace in Portland, Ore. Schweber is CubeSpace’s Chief Cat Herder, policy wonk and fount of obscure nonprofit information. She brings more than 15 years of collaborative […] Read more »

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Stretching all the way back to April of last year, coworking – the growing movement of independent café-like collaboration spaces for freelance professionals – has been a popular topic here on WebWorkerDaily, covered from many perspectives by our writing team and also attracting some thought-provoking commentary from our readers.

For those unfamiliar with the subject, we thought we’d take you on a brief tour of some highlights from our coworking archives. Read more »

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A piece by Chris Brogan called “Why Bookstores Are My Office” made me think about how web workers and telecommuters have an enormous amount of discretion in setting up, organizing and utilizing their time. Web working is an enormous opportunity to thrive under an ideal environment and an ideal schedule, yet it’s also a little bit scary for many to figure out how to be productive outside the walls (and cube farms!) of the traditional office workplace.

Here are some tips on how to set up the best web working day for you. Read more »

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As web workers, we like to feel that we can sit down just about anywhere and be connected and productive. Armed with our laptops and Wi-Fi, or mobile broadband, that is usually the case.

But just because we can work anywhere, doesn’t mean that we should. Our work environment is a critical part of our work process and can have tremendous influence on our productivity.

So what are our options? Read more »

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Many of us are social beings who enjoy interacting with other people, and until you leave an office environment, you probably don’t realize how much contact you have with other human beings throughout the day. In an office, you run into people in the hallways, in the lunchroom, and at meetings. It can be easier to have social conversations or even to bounce ideas off of someone when you run into them unexpectedly. When you work remotely, whether you are a telecommuter or a freelancer, it is possible to go the entire day without ever seeing or speaking to anyone; however, there are also plenty of ways to replace those interactions with new ones. Read more »

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No matter what your personality type, one thing is true for all of us: Every now and then we have to get out and get some human interaction — for our mental health as well as that of our careers. Holing up at home is not the best way to further your professional goals, get new clients, or find partners. And especially in our current economic climate, having a substantial professional network can mean more security for the web worker. Read more »

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We’re always looking for new sources of information about the major players in the mobile tech space and will be watching a new site just launched by the folks at Via.  How To Be Mobile promises to offer tips and advice on how to better use […] Read more »

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Fresh — is this app “Fresh” or is it “Exciting”?* Well, let’s talk about it. Just this week, the folks at Ironic Software released this clever little utility for all to use. When I first read the product information and watched the instructional videos, my interest […] Read more »

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A couple of weeks ago, the White African blog discussed the need for coworking spaces in African cities, driven by the needs of emerging tech communities in some of the continent’s major cities. Writer Erik Hersman argues the case for communities that are part coworking communities, […] Read more »

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Today is a day to wind down from the CES 2009 grind and for me that means installing the newly released Windows 7 beta.  I got an install DVD from someone at the Tablet meetup yesterday so today I’m installing it under Parallels on the MacBook. […] Read more »

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While the solitary web worker life can get lonely occasionally, most of us have found ways to engage with communities of our peers in less traditional ways outside of an office. There have been many posts on this blog about engaging with coworkers and clients via Twitter, IM, Facebook, and other social networking sites. Those are a great first step to keep in touch with real people throughout the day, but what about those times when you just need to get out of the house? Read more »

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Last week I wrote a piece detailing Google’s new voice searching functionality for the iPhone, and at the time sources predicted a Friday launch. Well, it didn’t come Friday, but it’s finally here, and based on early impressions, it’s an impressive piece of software. I downloaded […] Read more »

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In recent years, the Mac has become a device capable of acting as a very powerful media center. iTunes, Front Row, and OS X in general, provide a plethora of features which justify the Mac as a living room device. That said, one vital piece is […] Read more »

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Things change fast in computer science, but odds are that they will change especially fast in the next few years. Much of this change centers on the shift toward parallel computing. In the short term, parallelism will take hold in massive datasets and analytics, but longer […] Read more »

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George Kliavkoff is done bringing digital gospel to old media. Now he wants to “start, run or invest” in an online business, he said in an internal email announcing he will leave his post as NBC Universal’s chief digital officer at the end of the year. […] Read more »

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