this post has multiple titles... ;)
What a week for NYC Coworking; Coworking at the Tank NYC; it's time to build cafeBricolage; Future of Coworking Manhattan...

Back in December, at the end of year Tech Meetup, I innocently jumped onto the microphone and predicticed there would be, unlike the cube farms today, there will be more organic office environments. The man who got on the mic after me said that the city will have more sunshine studios... little did i know that his firm invested heavily in sunshine... in the end, the only thing i care about is building interpersonal relationships that foster the growth of self and community. if sunshine can do it great, but the real importance is on organic, self-sustaining structure.

the past few weeks have been quite interesting for the coworking community in NYC. on 23 jan, charlie introduces a long conversation to the NextNY community about the future of NYC's startup community. Then on 2 Feb, fellow buckeye, Nate Westheimer, posts his's interpretation of Coworking and calls it cafeBricolage. I blog saying the Tank NYC wants to do this; Nate and I talk about our communal interest and agree to wait until after 28 Feb's Next NY event.

then on Monday, Business Week posts an article; it hit Boing-Boing on Tuesday, and on Wed nextNY hosts Big Apple 2.0 – New York’s Present and Future as a Startup Hub. thursday night ABC News runs an evening news segment talking about alternative working spaces featuring my buddies at 116 west houston. finally on friday, 1 March marks the six month anniversary of Brooklyn Coworking and the one year anniversary of Jelly NYC; Nate announces it's time to pull the trigger on cafeBricolage and solicit support; at the same time, David Chen posts to the NextNY list with his desire for NextNYCoworking.

There are several reasons why this timeline is important...

• One, i'm excited to see the history!
• Two, i think we have reached a critical mass of ideas and support.
• Three, there is enough room for everyone.

In my eyes, Wed's nextNY meeting was cathartic and progressive. The drinking session / post-meeting conversations was more progressive than any other tech meeting i've seen since moving to the city... one group to my right wanted to set up a quarterly review to compete with tech-crunch, and a bunch to my left started debating the exact location of a future cafe shop. when everyone left, i knew what should happen... EVERYTHING!

for the past two days, conversations on and off the nextNY list have floated a multitude of ideas. if the nextNY community is truly representative of "the next generation of digital movers and shakers," this is going to be one heck of a year for NYC... heck, even have my fellow DrupalCamp buddies are itching for another Barcamp... everyone now see the importance of building a social technology community...

...but this community doesn't need "leaders," it needs stewards who will facilitate conversation, creation, and community.

why am i making this so damn long???

at the beginning of feb, when nate published his cafeBricologe manifesto, i was relived and scared - relieved to know that someone else was thinking the same thing; scared to think that after working on idea of "coworking" that someone would attempt to brand it something else... alas, i am way over that now, but i am not over the notion that these are two separate ideas... they are one in the same... born from the fruit of inspiration for the productive soul.

according to tara hunt, paris is about to open up an OpenSpace cafe. this space, partly funded by the city and private enterprise, comes after much sweat and tears from the progressive technology community in Paris. from eailer document seems to be exactly what cafeBricolage is attempting to create. sadly from my own research into locations, people don't understand, let alone want you to have a space..

after having agents question our frequency of elevator use, (shish, this is nyc... elevators were made to go up and down...) i threw up my hands, not in discuss, but in discovery... after the 2006 election i had one of many ahha moments, i came to the understanding that we aren't talking about the meat and potatoes, which has led me to launch my global research project - on the luck of seven. i am now overwhelmed and have less time to make the outreach that i once had done. coworking and it's derivatives must happen, they are the counterculture to the walled gardens everyone calls cubicles!

where does the future nyc coworking community stand???

the most reasonable location that combines the elements of a cafe, manhattan accessibility and reasonable availability - you shouldn't look any further than the tank. the tank nyc is home to nyc's hope, and the world's up and coming performing and visual arts. formed shortly after the 2004 presidential campaign, the tank bounced from location to location. finally, firmly rooted it self in the basement of collective unconscious.

after several of my posts to the nyc dorkbot and a few political email lists, Mike Rosenthal, the Tank's Managing Director, called me and we have since entertained/discussed/planned on utilizing the Tank's daytime hours for a productivity space. outfitted with a mini-cafe, sound system, projector, stage, tables, couches, and with ready access to the subway - the tank is a perfect fit for productivity...

the original idea would have limited the use only to paying members, but that quickly evolved into if the concept if "coworkers" could find 100 people to donate a $1 dollar a day to the Tank, the space would pay for itself... if you cared to break it out even further and with a reasonably large pool of people could be cut even further...

members of this Coworking @ the Tank would have three extended benefits from normal tank membership:

1. daytime use of the the space.
2. the ability to host one happy hour a month.
3. the ability to host one evening of programming pending the tank's calendar.

pictures of the tank do not accurately represent the current layout, but if you've noticed they are hosting quite a few salons. (see saturday's event) mike and i have had two "come to jesus" meetings, but with mike becoming the managing director and my recent propensity to lift off for European conferences our momentum has stalled a bit...

if you are looking for an immediate cafe like atmosphere/solution, i am more than willing to assist in building a solid relationship with the tank. before i leave for SXSW and then Europe, a tuesday or wed happy hour would be great!

what's needed? for this to move forward there needs to be five stewards who are willing to shape coworking at the tank or any other similar location... also understand that this group would have practical knowledge in building and setting up an infrastructure ready to prep for a future laid out in Nate's call to arms cafeBricolage post...

consider this a study group to build the future...

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