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On Monocultural Coworking

Single-demographic coworking misses the point – the thickest value of coworking I’ve seen is in creating a work construct where people who wouldn’t likely sit next to each other to work, find that possibility for themselves, and the possibilities derived from that opportunity are endless. But a room full of designers thinking like other designers, or a room full of realtors thinking like other realtors, miss out on that experience.

Developing these monocultural workspaces is a step in the wrong direction, and undermines the “possibility engine” and serendipity factor that coworking is so good at.

The rub is that a monocultural workspace do provide value. But I’m not convinced that it’s enough value to sustain past the idea of coworking being trendy.

The distraction of creating coworking that provides some value is inhibiting the ability to achieve FULL coworking value. It’s akin to the news and publishing industry being so reliant on advertising. YES, advertising is a multi-billion dollar industry – but it doesn’t generate enough thick value to keep the industries it supports afloat. The worst thing about advertising – and monocultural coworking – is that it works at all.

It just doesn’t work enough.

 


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16
Apr 2011
AUTHOR Alex Hillman
CATEGORY

coworking, indyhall

COMMENTS 5 Comments
TAGS

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  • http://www.facebook.com/themightychris Chris Alfano

    Coworking spaces with an industry focus, while definitely missing out on a lot of the cross-discipline pollination that a space like IndyHall catalyzes so well, have the potential to provide stronger support structures for newcomers to their trades and specialized resources.

    With a future where more people are working indy-style and looking for workspaces that suit their individual needs, I think we need both models.

  • http://www.dangerouslyawesome.com alexknowshtml

    “Indy-style” is a trend, and a pendulum that will swing. Coworking has an opportunity to have a larger, more timeless impact on industries regardless of the “place” where people work, as the leaders of tomorrow’s workplace work from a diversely populated Coworking communities. The organizational patterns that will emerge from those companies are going to be awesome, disruptive, and valuable.

    Silo-working provides more infrastructure, yes, but it’s infrastructure as we knew it. It mirrors, at worst, or is derivative, at best, old work constructs too much to move things forward long-term.

    Obviously, I’m speaking about the ends of the spectrum. There’s a continuum to be considered.

  • http://sorebuttcheeks.blogspot.com/ Anabolic Steroids

    I like the idea of coworking spaces don’;t think there are any in my city yet. steroids

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