Coworking Ireland

Paul Giguere had a alternative view on our post about coworking and informal learning -

“I think however that the idea of informal learning and coworking, as described, are a bit off. I agree that informal learning can incorporate the social aspects of learning by and through other people, but in and of itself, this definition is only a part of the equation… The content is important (Corbett would have you believe otherwise) and workers need access to that content when they need it and in the manner they need it to meet the contextual requirements of the task at hand.”

Read Paul’s full post for context. Matt posted a comment which is keeping the conversation going -

“One of the things about Co-Working is that it’s an exploration into what might be possible if people start to consider other methods of working. I used to “co-workâ€? in university more than a decade ago. It was just the way we worked…. Content plus co-working plus good people plus whatever else may make for a compelling learning environment for some disciplines.”

Evert Bopp announces on twitter that he’s, “Thinking about setting up a hotdesking facilty/business incubator in Tipperary. Anybody interested in participating?”

Teemu Arina is partner and CEO at Dicole, a company focused on understanding the role of social technologies in knowledge work and networked learning in organizations. Robin Good interviewed Teemu and asked him for his views on informal and mobile learning. I found his answers inspiring and highly applicable to the goals of coworking -

“Well, let’s take conferences as an example: when people go to conferences they usually do it because of other people, not because of the content. The content is just the share object for people to meet. I think we have to emphasize the social interaction that takes place in such situations when people meet. And that’s when mobile technologies become useful.

I am now in Rome and for me learning is about meeting people; I have been meeting you and your friends here and that’s the same as meeting people in conferences. So mobile technologies enable me to see what other people are thinking and get behind their interests, which creates the opportunity for us to share a conversation.

Read More…

David Copithorne of Cork based startup Waveson has the following proposal for Enterprise Ireland -

“There have been parallel conversations between people about the lack of small tech company support, looking at Enterprise Ireland (EI), and around co-working. How about somebody proposes to EI to simply do the following:

At some trial location they provide 24×7, hotdesking facility. During this trial anybody who’s engaged in generating invoices or in a business generating cashflow (not necessarily profit) pays for the privilege of using the facility. BUT any startup gets a three month waiver on the fees, thereafter paying like everybody else. The startup would pay some sort of deposit in case things go pair shaped. Read More…

Just a quick reminder that the next SoHo Solo meeting is on in Cork this coming Monday morning 8.30am at the NSC, Mahon. Jenny Kent tells me that there’s quite a bit of interest among the group in the idea of coworking so please come along if you’re interested in bridging the two initiatives.

In response to Matt Johnston’s suggestion for a pushpin map charting Coworking locations I jumped into the new Google MyMaps feature and produced this quick draft of Coworking Locations in Ireland.

I thought it would be useful to have the following colour scheme for pushpins -

• Red = possible (requiring a lot of negotiation)
• Yellow = probable (being actively pursued)
• Green = confirmed / active

Any suggestions?

Chris Byrne of SpinnakerPro suggested contacting Fionnan at the Dingle Technology Park, a wonderful looking business facility that I was totally unaware of even though I’m a regular visitor to the town. Dingle is less than two hours drive for me and I love the place so I was delighted to learn about the Business Center at Milltown.

So delighted in fact that I got straight on the phone to Fionnan and had a great discussion about hotdesking, coworking and so on. Unfortunately they don’t yet provide the kind of flexibility probably needed by coworkers, requiring a minimum of one month’s lease on their hot desks, but I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to work together to get around that.

One concern is regarding security but Fionnan had a great suggestion about compiling a membership list of coworkers who register with their own local agency, enterprise board, etc. Thanks Fionnan and thanks Chris.

Technorati Tags: hotdesking, dingle

Silicon Republic reports on the new €21m Government investment in Community Enterprise Centres (CEC) -

‘The CEC Scheme is a community led initiative in the form of a partnership between the local community and the State whereby the local community provide business space in a centre and Enterprise Ireland fund up to 50pc of the costs of the centre. The remainder of the funding is actively raised by the community itself from local sources.Announcing the latest investment, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin TD described the CEC scheme as a partnership between the State and the local community “where business space is provided in a supportive environment for emerging entrepreneurs.â€?’

I’m wondering if this scheme is something that’s compatible with the aims of Coworking? Could hotdesking space be set aside for nomadic independents? Or could they help to take up the slack? Read More…

Chris Messina, one of the main drivers behind the coworking initiative Stateside, left a comment to Damien’s post about Cowork location Twinning, endorsing it as an idea that’s very much in line with his vision for coworking -

“Just imagine — wherever you — a place to shack up in and work, meet with the locals, be inspired and have a good time… all while living sustainably. Not bad methinks — and can’t wait to make it over to Ireland to see what you guys have going on!”

In fact Chris originally wrote about nomadic coworking nearly two years ago -

“I envision cults of traveling hackers, venturing from one city to the next, war driving and shacking up at homes and offices, seeking caffeine, a decent work environment and space for sleeping bags. Such places need not be permanent destinations, but rather convenient, temporary quarters for such hacking gatherings. Stay-overs may last as little as a day or may carry on over a week; indeed, it’s doubtful that more than a fortnight would even work for such a situation (for that, perhaps we would need hacker hostels).

Perhaps sleeping bags is all we’ll need to bring along on Paddy’s tour of the Valley. And then we can reciprocate by facilitating our Valley colleagues. Because, as Chris said -

“If such a networked, Meetup-like system were developed and I knew that I could plan a trip across Europe just stopping off at such hacker havens and not pay for anything but transportation, I would surely do so!”

Hopefully Chris you don’t have long to wait until you’ve a choice of locations in Ireland.

Tom Corcoran, who manages the WIT Research and ArcLabs Innovation Centre in Waterford, and was one of the organizers of BarCamp South East, contacted us yesterday, saying – “I’m interested in looking at the possibility of using some of the ArcLabs Innovation Centre at WIT for co-working. The infrastructure and services are already in place.” W00t!

I got the opportunity to see ArcLabs in January when I attended the excellent BarCamp South East. Afterwards I joined the universal chorus of approval for the location so it’s difficult to imagine a more attractive coworking facility. Thanks Tom!

Technorati Tags: coworking, ireland, waterford, arclabs