Qik | jmunn | California HoneyDrops at the Cheeseboard
Testing out Qik on Android at the Cheeseboard listening to East Bay band the California Honey Drops.
A new space. Take two.
Last week Dave Winer said he liked my post about the need for a new type of space in Berkeley. I thought I’d write an update to keep track of where my idea on this has been going.
We need a free, collaborative, publicly accessible space in Berkeley to host meetups. The problem is this is a new culture, a new way of organizing, a new way of interacting when together, and we don’t have spaces really designed to support it yet.
For instance, I heard about nerdnite last week. This is something Berkeley should be able to do and do well but I don’t know where we should make it happen. I got some suggestions from friends online but none of them seemed to really fit. This event needs beer, but it needs classroom type functionality as well. A friend on twitter suggested the Albatross which might be the pre-internet version of this kind of place. It sustains small to medium sized groups of people hanging out, playing games, drinking and having fun. If I designed the Albatross today it would sustain larger groups and the type of “fun” would switch to something revolving more around the internet (darts, pool tables, games, and quiz night will never loose their place btw).
Important Elements for a New Space
- Size of groups - want the ability to host medium or large groups
- Collaboration functionality - want wireless, outlets, projector, printer, whiteboard, online community, backchannels etc.
- Cost - want cost of bar or cafe (but with no purchase necessary for reservations)
- Public access - want bar or cafe type access not coworking/conference rentals
- Fun Factor - can’t all be stale office space or classroom
- Is work possible - can’t all be noisy bar cafe
- Hours - want cafe hours
So to me this becomes a space that is open long hours like coffee shops. Has a large malleable or permeable space that can switch easily between small, medium and large groups while giving some groups privacy when necessary. It is financially supported like a cafe or bar so it is open to all. It is more social than an office or classroom but is not entirely a loud bar or cafe. It might allow other food in. It might list suggested donations for large groups or accept tips in exchange for space (instead of purchases). It will have wireless, outlets, projectors, printer, whiteboard, online networks, a calendar for public use, 1 to many communications, and many to many communications available in the space.
I would like to actually start working on making something like this happen for Berkeley. If you have any ideas or suggestions please leave a comment.
Below are some of my notes.
Pros and cons of present spaces
Bars
- Pros
- Social
- Big Groups
- Fun
- Good hours
- Cons
- No internet
- No whiteboard
- No projector
-
Have to buy food and drinks
Cafe
- Pros
- Cheap Wireless
- Lots of people - kinda social
- Work gets done
- Good hours
- Cons
-
Kinda social
- Solo or very small groups
-
Have to drink coffee, buy snacks
- No larger collaboration
- No projector
Classroom
- Pros
- Collaborative
- Big Groups
- Projector
- Internet & Power
- Office type utilities
- Cons
- Private, not just open to public
- No fun
- No food or drinks available
- Short hours
Conference Spaces
- Pros
- Collaborative
- Big groups
- Cons
- Costs money
- Not just open to public
- No food or drinks available
Offices
- Pros
- Collaborative
- Medium Size Groups
- Cons
- Not just open to public
- No food or drinks available
- Not really fun
- Short hours
Coworking Space
- Pros
- Collaborative
- Work gets done
- Good setting
- Cons
- Cost money
- Not just open to public
- Short hours
CoWorking Possiblities for Berkeley and Elsewhere
While drinking coffees and dunking scones in grungy local cafes the last few weeks I started thinking about how there are so few places that really are built for the new connected world we are living in. Cafes and libraries are the only places that are filling the wireless needs of the unemployed, the self-employed, and college aged students by allowing them to access a signal and spend lots of time online. Cafes and libraries aren’t designed to do that, they are just filling the void until a better thing comes along. For the self-employed, coworking spaces are definitely a step in the right direction.
Coworking offices are designed for the lonely self-employed geek. There is at least one space that I know of in Berkeley, quite a few around the country, and it seems like the numbers are growing. They provide a consistent place where workers can collaborate, socialize and get to know each other while still getting their work done. Many coworkers would otherwise spend their days working alone from home or quietly hunched over their laptop in a cafe where socializing isn’t so much of any option and where rent comes in the form of multiple snacks and shots of espresso.
With all the empty store fronts in Berkeley, its abundance of students, self-employed geeks, and new-thinkers, I think there is a great opportunity to design a space similar to a coworking office that is intended to support the kinds of activities that the connected cafe goers of today really want to partake in. What kind of place would this be, what are the needs of the users, and what do the users really want to do? I tried to answer honestly the following questions.
When on the internet do I want to:
- Drink coffee? Not necessarily.
- Sit at a table by myself? Not necessarily.
- Be antisocial? No.
- Feel bad for being on there all day? No.
- Feel bad for not buying enough stuff? No.
- Talk and connect with people? Usually.
- Meet new people? Would be nice.
- Share things? Yes.
- Learn things? Definitely.
- Teach things? Sure.
- Suggest things? Usually.
- Affect things? Yes.
- Get work done? Sometimes.
- Play? Usually.
- Create things? Sure.
- Collaborate with others? Yah.
So for the laptop toting, cafe nomad that is not self employed and looking for an “office” but still feels stifled by the cafe or library what is the next option going to be? I think it will have elements of coworking setups, cafes and bars, as well as a more communal element that I have not put my finger on yet. Something that will more enable the sharing and collaborating types of activities that we are online to experience in the first place. Will this place have a community classroom? Will the space be funded by memberships since people don’t want to be forced to buy food? Will it even sell food, coffee or alcohol? Will people bring their own?
I think there will be value for customers and businesses in letting people have access to the internet, all the amenities of a nice office and a social setting without forcing them to buy food or drinks to stay. I think that like successful websites of today this space’s value will come from the community that it creates and the loyalty of its members.
Qik | jmunn | California HoneyDrops at the Cheeseboard
Testing out Qik on Android at the Cheeseboard listening to East Bay band the California Honey Drops.
A new space. Take two.
Last week Dave Winer said he liked my post about the need for a new type of space in Berkeley. I thought I’d write an update to keep track of where my idea on this has been going.
We need a free, collaborative, publicly accessible space in Berkeley to host meetups. The problem is this is a new culture, a new way of organizing, a new way of interacting when together, and we don’t have spaces really designed to support it yet.
For instance, I heard about nerdnite last week. This is something Berkeley should be able to do and do well but I don’t know where we should make it happen. I got some suggestions from friends online but none of them seemed to really fit. This event needs beer, but it needs classroom type functionality as well. A friend on twitter suggested the Albatross which might be the pre-internet version of this kind of place. It sustains small to medium sized groups of people hanging out, playing games, drinking and having fun. If I designed the Albatross today it would sustain larger groups and the type of “fun” would switch to something revolving more around the internet (darts, pool tables, games, and quiz night will never loose their place btw).
Important Elements for a New Space
- Size of groups - want the ability to host medium or large groups
- Collaboration functionality - want wireless, outlets, projector, printer, whiteboard, online community, backchannels etc.
- Cost - want cost of bar or cafe (but with no purchase necessary for reservations)
- Public access - want bar or cafe type access not coworking/conference rentals
- Fun Factor - can’t all be stale office space or classroom
- Is work possible - can’t all be noisy bar cafe
- Hours - want cafe hours
So to me this becomes a space that is open long hours like coffee shops. Has a large malleable or permeable space that can switch easily between small, medium and large groups while giving some groups privacy when necessary. It is financially supported like a cafe or bar so it is open to all. It is more social than an office or classroom but is not entirely a loud bar or cafe. It might allow other food in. It might list suggested donations for large groups or accept tips in exchange for space (instead of purchases). It will have wireless, outlets, projectors, printer, whiteboard, online networks, a calendar for public use, 1 to many communications, and many to many communications available in the space.
I would like to actually start working on making something like this happen for Berkeley. If you have any ideas or suggestions please leave a comment.
Below are some of my notes.
Pros and cons of present spaces
Bars
- Pros
- Social
- Big Groups
- Fun
- Good hours
- Cons
- No internet
- No whiteboard
- No projector
- Have to buy food and drinks
Cafe
- Pros
- Cheap Wireless
- Lots of people - kinda social
- Work gets done
- Good hours
- Cons
- Kinda social
- Solo or very small groups
- Have to drink coffee, buy snacks
- No larger collaboration
- No projector
Classroom
- Pros
- Collaborative
- Big Groups
- Projector
- Internet & Power
- Office type utilities
- Cons
- Private, not just open to public
- No fun
- No food or drinks available
- Short hours
Conference Spaces
- Pros
- Collaborative
- Big groups
- Cons
- Costs money
- Not just open to public
- No food or drinks available
Offices
- Pros
- Collaborative
- Medium Size Groups
- Cons
- Not just open to public
- No food or drinks available
- Not really fun
- Short hours
Coworking Space
- Pros
- Collaborative
- Work gets done
- Good setting
- Cons
- Cost money
- Not just open to public
- Short hours
CoWorking Possiblities for Berkeley and Elsewhere
While drinking coffees and dunking scones in grungy local cafes the last few weeks I started thinking about how there are so few places that really are built for the new connected world we are living in. Cafes and libraries are the only places that are filling the wireless needs of the unemployed, the self-employed, and college aged students by allowing them to access a signal and spend lots of time online. Cafes and libraries aren’t designed to do that, they are just filling the void until a better thing comes along. For the self-employed, coworking spaces are definitely a step in the right direction.
Coworking offices are designed for the lonely self-employed geek. There is at least one space that I know of in Berkeley, quite a few around the country, and it seems like the numbers are growing. They provide a consistent place where workers can collaborate, socialize and get to know each other while still getting their work done. Many coworkers would otherwise spend their days working alone from home or quietly hunched over their laptop in a cafe where socializing isn’t so much of any option and where rent comes in the form of multiple snacks and shots of espresso.
With all the empty store fronts in Berkeley, its abundance of students, self-employed geeks, and new-thinkers, I think there is a great opportunity to design a space similar to a coworking office that is intended to support the kinds of activities that the connected cafe goers of today really want to partake in. What kind of place would this be, what are the needs of the users, and what do the users really want to do? I tried to answer honestly the following questions.
When on the internet do I want to:
- Drink coffee? Not necessarily.
- Sit at a table by myself? Not necessarily.
- Be antisocial? No.
- Feel bad for being on there all day? No.
- Feel bad for not buying enough stuff? No.
- Talk and connect with people? Usually.
- Meet new people? Would be nice.
- Share things? Yes.
- Learn things? Definitely.
- Teach things? Sure.
- Suggest things? Usually.
- Affect things? Yes.
- Get work done? Sometimes.
- Play? Usually.
- Create things? Sure.
- Collaborate with others? Yah.
So for the laptop toting, cafe nomad that is not self employed and looking for an “office” but still feels stifled by the cafe or library what is the next option going to be? I think it will have elements of coworking setups, cafes and bars, as well as a more communal element that I have not put my finger on yet. Something that will more enable the sharing and collaborating types of activities that we are online to experience in the first place. Will this place have a community classroom? Will the space be funded by memberships since people don’t want to be forced to buy food? Will it even sell food, coffee or alcohol? Will people bring their own?
I think there will be value for customers and businesses in letting people have access to the internet, all the amenities of a nice office and a social setting without forcing them to buy food or drinks to stay. I think that like successful websites of today this space’s value will come from the community that it creates and the loyalty of its members.
