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.
