21 Sept. an invite to brooklyn coworking’s metamorphosed location

dear fellow NYC freelancer,

it’s been a while since we shared the wifi-hotspot-double-mocha-frappa-whatchamacallit, exchanged tips on client management, conference hangovers and discussed the virtues of Kurt Weill and Yochai Benkler’s Wealth of Networks. i’m sorry i haven’t been back to that coffee shop.

i have to let you in on secret. well, it isn’t really a secret, but one of those NYC underutilized facilities… last summer, beka and i banded together to create Brooklyn Coworking at Not An Alternative (NAA). we broke free from hourly coffee purchases and created a space for new york’s alternative working community – a cafe-like community and collaboration space for programmers, net-artists, online organizers and independents.

about a month ago, brooklyn coworking undertook a metamorphosis, tore down some walls and is no longer limited to a cozy café environment. if you attended Glowlab‘s Conflux, you’ve seen the spaciousness!

are you tired of complaining to your cat about broken code or a bad client?

wondering what is the next wave of social software?

looking for an invigorating environment to call an “office?”

if you are in NYC on friday, 21 september, join my best friends for williamsburg’s coworking open house and happy hour! i promise you an absolute delight!

you’ll find all the deets on Not An Alternative’s Blog.

XOXO from india,

noel hidalgo

photo courtesy of the NAA’s blog post…

The Philadelphia Inquirer loves IndyHall

A reporter and photographer spent several hours at IndyHall this past Wednesday and the product of their work hit newsstands this past sunday morning…we’ve got a bunch of printed copies of the biz section of Sunday’s Philadelphia Inquirer but if you’re not near a copy (or your newsstand doesnt carry it) you can read it here! If you do grab a copy, we’re on the front AND back page of the business section.

Photo of the front page via Mika Kania

Inky

The local response and support has been absolutel incredible, lots of drop ins coming out of the woodwork to check out our space.

Our grand opening is September 1st, if you’re in or near Philadelphia I encourage you to RSVP and attend!

Updates from the Philadelphia Front

Indyhall 2.0 Screenshot

A lot has been going on in Philadelphia! Our ever-growing group of creative and independent business people is about to come together to open our first coworking space! We have a bazillion things to do to prepare for signing our lease on August 15th (everything from space planning to purchasing equipment to scheduling broadband installations…nevermind signing member agreements and collecting payments!). We plan to soft open as quickly after that as possible with a grand opening soon to follow. We’ve got a wonderful space in Old City Philadelphia (32 Strawberry Street, map), which puts us in an awesome neighborhood with easy access, lots of restaurants, as well as regular foot traffic. Really, it couldn’t be more ideal!

To ring in this excitement, I’ve relaunched our website to now include a group blog, allowing contributions from our members. Our membership plans are posted on the site as well, as well as much of the information regarding our plans. As dates harden, I’ll be sure to post here again so people can attempt to make it down for our opening if they are nearby!

Philadelphia Jelly = Cream Cheese Sessions?

This is a repost from my personal blog, dangerouslyawesome.com because I thought that the coworking community might be interested in this.

Cream Cheese Session

I just left the inaugural session of Philadelphia Jelly coworking. As per a suggestion from Jacob Patton, with a twist from one of the participants, I am considering dubbing this Philadelphian version, Cream Cheese Sessions. Alternatively, we could simply adopt something along the lines of “PhilaJelly”, but I’m a pretty big fan of Cream Cheese Sessions, especially if we can invent some kind of ridiculous back-story :-). I’m open to ideas in the comments.

At any rate, I would call the event a success. Over the course of the day, there were 8 on-site participants (most of whom were there for the entire day). The campfire backchannel that I set up was visited by about a half dozen off-site “drop-ins”, some from Philly, as well as one couple from Rochester that are moving to Philly soon and a friend of mine in Maryland. Additionally, Geoff from P’unk Ave dropped in during the class that he teaches at UArts, and I gave the class a quick overview on Coworking and Jelly via the campfire room.

The cafe that we crashed was the Chapter House at 9th and Bainbridge. Honestly, I felt kinda bad because I didn’t give them a heads up that we were taking over but they were kind enough to not kick us out, this time. Next time I’ll provide some warning and maybe arrange some kind of compensation. But we all bought drinks and most people bought some food.

The spread of talent and skills and “titles” was varied. Everything from designers, developers, project managers, general creatives…there was a good representation across the board. Really, anyone who works alone, or in a non-creative setting, could have benefited from today’s session. And really, you don’t need to even be an indie. A few of our coworkers either “worked from home” (and thats what we are, a home away from home), or took a vacation day to work on side projects.

The response was positive from all of the participants, and a few photos can be seen on flickr, as well as on the Independents Hall Homepage.

Will we do it again? Absolutely. As Roz said:

“I felt so much more productive working in an independent yet collaborative environment. I could focus on my work, but draw inspiration from the random moments where we’d all stop briefly and chat about an idea or concept. I hope to make coworking a regular part in my work process.”

And I’d agree.

I’m considering contacting twitter to set up a “PhillyCreamCheese” group that people can join, and I’ll send out an notice (or anyone, really) that I’m working from location “X” today, and anyone can join me. Impromptu Coworking at it’s finest, dontcha think?

This was a great experiment and I can’t wait to see where it takes us as we continue down the road to having an established coworking presence in Philadelphia.

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CoworkingLA meetup April 24

There’s been some recent activity on the Coworking mailing list seeking support towards the establishment of a coworking space (or spaces) in LA.

Heather has invited folks interested in the coworking concept to attend the 12th Geek Dinner coming up on April 24th at Shakey’s Pizza in Hollywood to discuss ways forward.

Harold Johnson has suggested talking to UnUrban, a smallish cafe that could use a boost in patronage while Heather has proposed Little Radio, the ongoing host of BarCampLA.

If anyone’s interested, do make an effort to attend the Geek Dinner or get in touch with Heather.

How to get involved…

Just as a refresher to those just joining us and since there were a couple of questions about this on the mailing list, here are a few ways you can get involved in the Coworking movement:

  1. Join the Google Group mailing list (and join in! ask questions!)
  2. Check out the wiki to see if someone in your area is interested in coworking (or already has a space or is in process of setting one up) and make a coffee date to chat about it!
  3. If there isn’t anything on the wiki that indicates activity in your area, start a page!
  4. Tell everyone you know about the concept: collaborative work environments/the coffee house meets office space…and how it’s growing!
  5. If you have extra space in your office, consider opening it up to be a coworking space
  6. If you know someone who has extra space in their offices, ask them to consider opening it up to vagabond coworkers
  7. Support your local coworking spaces by actually dropping by or even becoming a resident!
  8. Support your local coworking spaces by: telling everyone about them, donating office equipment, donating time/expertise (website? marketing? accounting? creating a piece of art?), holding your meetups/gatherings in their space…
  9. Put an ad in your local paper to see how many people work out of their living rooms/coffee shops – have a meetup and talk about the possibility of creating a shared space
  10. Talk to local reporters about helping you promote #9

There are lots of ways to get involved. It’s a super rewarding experience. 🙂

Brooklyn Coworking March Open House

BrooklynCoworking_Feb2007
Tired of arguing with your cat about a bad client?
Wondering what is the next wave of social networking technology?
Looking for an invigorating environment to call an “office?”

You are invited to Brooklyn Coworking’s monthly open house and happy hour!

Break free from hourly coffee purchases and grab a slice of Williamsburg’s alternative working community – Coworking @ The Change You Want to See – a cafe-like community and collaboration space for developers, writers and independents. These types of grassroots coworking spaces are popping up all over the world, from San Francisco, to Paris, to a few here in New York City…

Join us this Friday, 30 March, at The Change You Want to See gallery for COWORKING BROOKLYN. From 10 am to 5 pm, our doors will be open for anyone to come on by and give us a try. Bring a laptop, a snack or two, manuscript, screenplay, or killer app and leave the kats behind.

From 5 pm to 7 pm, we will host a happy hour(s)! Bring a treat or two and get ready to let your hair down.
Who are we? Writers, Programmers, Organizers, Artist, Philosophers, Activist, Bloggers, and Adventure Seekers…

When you join the Brooklyn Coworking space you get:
• a community of like minded folks
• a low monthly rate
• a flux of interesting people
• networking and expertise
• wifi
• printer and scanner
• coffee
• beer-o-clock
• quiet spaces to work in

If you have questions feel free to email us at brooklyn.coworking[a/t]gmail[d0t]com

Cost: Free!!!
When: Friday, 30 March, 10AM – 5PM (Happy Hour 5pm – 7pm)
Where: The Change You Want to See Gallery, 84 Havemeyer, Willamsburg, Brooklyn
Map: OnNYTurf Subway map

Want more info?
Join the new NYC Coworking Google Group –
http://groups.google.com/group/coworkingnyc
Check out The Change You Want to See Gallery:
http://www.notanalternative.net/wordpress/
See the Coworking Wiki: http://wiki.coworking.info/
See the Coworking Blog: http://blog.coworking.info/

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Barcamp Austin 2 – Coworking Meeting on Saturday

for those of you who are at SXSW interactive and Barcamp Austin 2, TODAY (saturday) at 3.30, we’ll be meeting to talk about the coworking movement. please spread the word to your fellow attendants…
Saturday, 10 March @ 3.30 pm
Barcamp Austin 2
508 East Sixth Street, Austin, TX

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