Chris Messina is literally a factory of ideas. He’s one of the most selfless people I’ve ever met. He also possesses the only reality distortion field I’ve ever seen that actually stays with you when he’s not around. Hats off to you Chris; the selfless viral reality distortion field guy that’s doing amazing things every single day. Now put him together with his partner-in-crime, the original Pinko marketeer, Tara Hunt you’ve got a recipe for some amazing things. (full-disclosure: I’m an adviser to their company Citizen Agency).
One of my favorite of their creations is the concept of co-working. The idea is simple:
Coworking is cafe-like community/collaboration space for developers, writers and independents.
Or, it’s like this: start with a shared office and add cafe culture. Which is the opposite of most modern cafes.
I had a chance to visit the Citizen Space a couple of weeks ago and I was amazed. Its an open space with desks, white boards and a conference room. Its shared by multiple companies. The cross-pollination possibilities are endless. In an age when we spend more and more time on-line, its amazing what having some face time does to the creative process. While there, I attended the Citizen Summit which was joined by 25 really, really sharp people with amazing ideas and strong convictions.
A couple of weeks ago at the Portland BarCamp planning meeting there was quite a bit of discussion about co-working in Portland. Dawn and Raven are leading the charge and I’d really love to see something like this take off. With the eclectic culture and big batch of 30-somethings in Portland, co-working would be ideal. We know for a fact that there are lots of self-employed hackers living in Portland as well as lots of people who work for big companies from all over the globe but choose to live in Portland. I can see co-working spaces in NE, SE, the Pearl, etc. I can see events at each of these every week that help seed the next businesses, the next ventures. Connecting smart people and doing amazing things is just a few mouse clicks away.
The other really amazing thing about these co-working spaces is that they could lead to a federation of spaces across the globe. Imagine being able to travel anywhere in the world and find like-minded technocrats such as yourself and quickly and easily engage with them. Mix in a free desk for visitors (or a nominal fee) with wi-fi and you’re set.
If you’re interested in learning more, head over to the Co-working Portland wiki and sign-up, join in and make it happen!