Whistle While You Co-work

I think one of the terms you're going to be hearing a lot about in 2007 is 'co-working'. Co-working is described here as being a "café-like community/collaboration space for developers, writers and independents." Already a hit in Silicon Valley, this concept is starting to spread like, um, BarCamps. Kinda. There are two models:

1) You go to a coffee shop, plug in your laptop and work away. (Remember to tip your server well!)
2) You go to a shared space, a quasi-office space, and plug in your laptop and work away.

Toronto blogger David Crow announced recently that there's a space in Toronto that will open up following Model 2 up above. There's a pricing guide available, and the following notice of an upcoming Open House:

Friday, Jan. 12, 2007
5:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Indoor Playground
Suite 503
364 Richmond Street West
Toronto, ON

The joint opens on Feb. 1, 2007, by the way.

But you say you don't live in Toronto, but live in Ottawa? Fear not! The following piece of (admittedly unsolicited) e-mail has come to this writer's e-mail box at least four times in the past few weeks. (It seems more arts oriented, but perhaps there's a space for tech in here -- pun intended.) Something's bound to come of this, assuming anyone can get past the rather verbose prose:

The City of Ottawa has engaged a team of consultants lead by LORD Cultural Resources to conduct a planning study focused on maximizing the potential of the Ottawa Arts Court as a multi-tenant arts and creative sector facility. In order to understand the unique demand for space in the broader region, Artscape Inc. is conducting a web-based survey of individual artists, cultural organizations and creative sector businesses.
(snip).

To access the surveys, click here or paste www.torontoartscape.on.ca/ottawasurvey into your web browser.

Yeah, I'm not sure what the City of Ottawa is doing having a Toronto arts organization conduct a survey on its behalf, either. But that's bureaucracy for you, I guess.

And you say you don't live in Toronto and Ottawa? Well, maybe co-working is being set up in your own backyard. Check out:

WorkSpace (Vancouver)
WiFi Cafés (Calgary and Québec)

Anyone co-working elsewhere yet? I don't know about you, but wouldn't it be neat if someone were doing this in Yellowknife?!

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Whistle While You Co-work

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