Amanda Buhman | Bay Area Community Exchange

The Tools That Are Changing Coworking

24-02-2012

Uncategorized

What started out a few years ago as a loose community of tech entrepreneurs and freelance writers working out of wi-fi-enabled warehouses and coffee shops has turned into the face of the future of work. As more workers are able to work remotely, the need for structure and resources–even just camaraderie in the morning coffee routine–will grow.

These days, coworking has its own wiki page, its own international conferences, its own mission statement.

“Beyond just creating better places to work, coworking spaces are built around the idea of community-building and sustainability. Coworking spaces agree to uphold the values set forth by those who developed the concept in the first place: collaboration, community, sustainability, openness, and accessibility.” -Coworking wiki

All that’s good and well, but there are still challenges the coworking model must address. Like how to connect the nomadic worker to the space owner with a spare desk. Or how to bill hours when some workers use a space for a day only and others want months-long contracts. How about connectivity and communications among a network of coworkers? Or something simple like coordinating a group happy hour? Turns out, there are apps for that. Of course.

SharedDesks

Like CouchSurfing, but DeskSurfing

What AirBnB has done for homeowners looking to rent out their pads, Vancouver-based startup SharedDesks is doing for the owners of corporate spaces. The site offers a directory of space profiles to connect coworkers with spaces around the world. With over 500 listed spaces, SharedDesks provides one of the largest communities for coworking professionals. It’s great for business and space owners who want to match up with workers based on specific needs. The site is pretty easy-to-use and growing rapidly.

Desktime

Managing the nitty gritty

Like SharedDesks, Desktime started as a listings site for workers looking to rent a desk for a day, a week, or a year. Twenty-six year-old founder Sam Rosen created Desktime to make management of the Coop, his large coworking space in Chicago, more efficient. The unpredictability of scheduling and payments created challenges that the software itself could potentially solve. Now Desktime will offer features like booking and billing features, with more enhancements down the pike. It will be tested on a 50,000 square foot space opening as a coworking hub for tech entrepreneurs.

OHours

Virtual open office hours

Many independent professionals who cowork need things only other people can provide: advice, ideas, networking and relationship-building. Ohours is about those relationships and nothing else. You can set up an appointment to meet a professional in a video chat. The site can also be used to set up meetings face-to-face. It bypasses all the awkwardness of roaming networking events, and it creates the missing link for those working alone: virtual colleagues.

The future of coworking? It looks bright. Plus, the spaces just keep getting cooler and cooler. Loft-like floor plans, multi-use spaces, espresso bars, yoga rooms, converted historic buildings. The cubicle pales by comparison.

*Photo courtesy of CoCo Mpls.

As Technology Becomes Ever-Present, the “Tech Detox” Movement Gains Steam

By: Amanda Buhman

17-02-2012

Uncategorized

How fast and far we’ve come in the advancement of technology! A mere century ago, the U.S. was industrializing rapidly–and creating new technologies to speed assembly, improve communication, increase leisure time, and make work and life all-around more efficient.

It’s more efficient now. Like, 24/7 efficient.

Now we stare into screens by day and night. We have SMS conversations under the dinner table on dates. We wake in the middle of the night to harvest fictional Farmville crops. We still somehow fit in 6 hours of television. Portlandia’s technology loop is funny because it’s real.

If this is not an addiction, can you give it up? Can you disconnect the computer, the phone (it’s smart, after all), the TV, even the GPS? Are your hands, still clutching your iPad and Blackberry, getting clammy just thinking about it? March 23-24 is National Day of Unplugging, and it’s a great opportunity to disconnect from devices and reconnect to your family, your mate, your health and your free time.

Signs that National Day of Unplugging is taking off are evident in the fact that this year the movement is going to the most plugged-in place in the country: South By Southwest in Austin, Texas. At SXSW Interactive’s first ever Unplugged Party at the Lodge, the price of admission is checking your cell phone. And if you’ve been to SXSW or know the demographic, you know that if this crowd can unplug, anyone can. At the event, entrepreneurs and tech titans will share their secrets to unplugging, and how they gain more power and time in their day-to-day lives by creating sacred “no connection” time every week.

If you have to really get away to make your detox work, just know it might cost you a pretty penny. Caribbean nation St. Vincent and the Grenadines is offering travelers the chance to leave smartphones and tablets behind as part of a new tech-weening vacation package. The package comes with a guidebook and a life coach so you don’t have to go it alone. In Ukiah, California, a program called the Digital Detox offers retreats complete with yoga and hot springs off-the-grid. The real doozie for domestic top-of-the-line disconnection accommodations is the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur, CA. At $2285 a night, rooms pointedly don’t come with TVs.

With wifi and smart phones spurring the spread of connectivity and coverage, in the future it may become increasingly difficult to truly go “off the grid.” How much could be gained, though, by the time away from devices? Memories might be sharper, conversations deeper, work less distracted. It’s worth taking the time to find out, if only to reassure ourselves we can.

Stay tuned to Insteading.com–in March I’ll attempt a weekend-long tech vacation and, of course, blog about my findings afterwards.

Going “Halfsies” Could Curb American Obesity and Feed the Hungry at the Same Time

By: Amanda Buhman

15-02-2012

Uncategorized

It’s the day after the National Holiday of ~~Hallmark~~ Love. Perhaps you, like millions of Americans, overindulged on a nicer-than-usual restaurant dinner. Were your eyes bigger than your stomach? Or did you just pack it all in to the point of discomfort (and less amorous energy)?

About 40% of the food produced in the U.S. isn’t consumed. It’s wasted. This percentage has grown over recent decades as our portion sizes have continued to creep upwards. At the same time, many of us are eating plenty, as obesity rates can attest to. So the fact that 50 million Americans still face food insecurity seems a cruel contradiction to logic. We’ve heard it all before. What’s the solution?

According to Paula Minahan in the article, “Food Waste in America: A Growing Concern,” the amount of food required to eliminate hunger in the U.S. is only 5 billion pounds annually. The USDA says that if a mere 5 percent of food scraps were recovered, it would equal a day’s worth of food for 4 million people; recovery of 25 percent would feed 20 million.

We have to go right to the source of food waste in order to eliminate it.

That’s why Austin, TX-based start-up Halfsies is partnering with restaurants (major food waste culprits) to offer diners an option that reduces portion sizes, eliminates food waste, and funds organizations that fight food insecurity worldwide. Restaurants add a Halfsies logo beside specific menu items to signify they can be ordered as half portions, with remaining proceeds donated (60% locally and 30% internationally). The initiative will start locally with Austin restaurants and expand to NYC and then other cities in the coming year.

The Halfsies model may be a hard sell to diners used to leftovers or ordering with value in mind, but it’s certainly a move in the right direction. For restaurants, there is no loss of revenue or additional food costs; plus it offers the establishments a chance to brand themselves as conscious and engaged. For consumers, it’s a way to reinforce healthy eating habits and normalize smaller portion sizes.

Image Credit: Flickr – dinnerseries

Pop-Up Public Spaces: Watch A NYC Parking Space Become A Commons

By: Amanda Buhman

07-02-2012

Uncategorized

Making the most of every square foot of public space in an urban area is a great way to build community and achieve that lost sense of a “commons” that is so vital to healthy cities.

Founded about two years ago, the Pop-up Café Program by the NYC Department of Transportation teams with local restaurants to provide outdoor public seating in areas where sidewalk seating was previously unavailable. They use small but well-designed parcels of sidewalk or parking space to create miniature patios for warm weather seating. The seating is open to the public and no purchase at the partner restaurants is required.

The pop-up café at Local (144 Sullivan St.) in Greenwich Village was installed last July, creating a public space for a dozen or so people to hang out that would otherwise have been occupied by a single car. In the time lapse video below, the space is visited by 96 people in one day.

Craig Walker, the owner of Local, says that the newly installed public space is “definitely good for business, especially in a way that creates new space for the community.”

Similar programs are “popping up” in California, Pennsylvania and Canada, with more on the way.

Video Courtesy of NYC DOT

Top Image Credit: Flickr – miggslives

What Pinterest’s Meteoric Rise Can Do for DIY

By: Amanda Buhman

03-02-2012

Uncategorized

Are you “pinning” these days? Have you added the verb to your social Web vocabulary? Are you curating Pinboards full of design ideas and fashion trends? There’s no doubt that Pinterest, a social bookmarking site where users “pin” content to interest areas, is here to stay.

According to site analytics, Pinterest’s popularity has exploded from 1.2 million users in August of 2011 to over 11 million in December 2011 alone. The social bookmarking network has proven appealing to investors as well, securing over $27 million in venture funds.

While there is something very organic about the way Pinterest has come onto the scene and grown with devoted members in the two years since its founding, there is no mistaking the fact that marketers and retail companies are eager to capitalize on it. I’ve been a member of the site for several months, and watching the precipitous spike in followers, I wondered what role this site will play in our already jam-packed virtual social identities.

Is it merely a forum for consumerism? Can Pinterest create a community for sustainability rather than just more social shopping?

According to American Express Open Forum, the number one use for Pinterest is to promote a lifestyle. And because of a very specific majority demographic of younger, urban women (at least in these early days of the site’s rise), popular pinboards reflect home decor, cooking, fashion and DIY trends. A kind of homespun site design makes browsing pins feel like a peek inside a crafter’s workshop or a very stylish friend’s kitchen.

If Pinterest is designed to bring people together and highlight common interests, there’s evidence there of a strong interest in the DIY movement. Pinterest users are tagging repurposed garden tools, refinished furniture, hand-knitted scarves, homemade cookies, terrariums, etc. Just search for keywords like “solar” or “compost” to see a vast landscape of inspiration. Repinning also means link love for small online retailers. Pinterest can drive traffic to Etsy or other marketplaces where artists and designers create original work.

Apartment Therapy offers a handy article featuring 10 DIY project ideas from Pinterest: Why Didn’t I Think of That? 10 DIY Ideas from Pinterest

Rather than merely more online shopping in a different guise, this site creates a prime opportunity to share visual ideas about sustainability and living simply. Insteading readers, how are you using Pinterest?