With so many coworking spaces out there now–not to mention all the coworkers–it’s hard enough to keep up with the big picture of coworking these days, let alone the day-to-day activities of your favorite coworking space. Enter Twitter. The other day on the Google group, someone asked which spaces and workers twitter. Lo and behold, a lot of us do (including Office Nomads).

So if you’re interested in following the day-to-day goings-on of coworking the world over, head over to the coworking wiki twitter page, and follow away. While your at it, send us a tweet or two.

While the rest of the world quivers in fear of our shared economic doom, a stalwart group of entreprenurs the world over is quivering a bit less. Coworkers are less fearful of the recession because recessions can be powerful incubators for innovativon. As more and more people lose their jobs, more finally try out the unique ideas they’ve been baking in their heads for years. In this scenario, not only does innovation (and innovators) thrive, but so do coworking spaces. It’s a concept I’ve written about before here (thanks to a post I read on the Launchpad Cowworking blog). Now that idea is starting to gain currency in the mainstream media too.

Yesterday, Reuters ran a piece called “Co-working [sic] has a wider appeal in recession.” The thesis is that people are flocking to coworking spaces (note the lack of a hyphen in “coworking” Reuters!) as they lose their jobs in search of community.

But the recession has made the idea of working amongst strangers appealing to a broader range of people, from those that recently lost their jobs to consultants eager to stay in the loop.

Sound familiar? Anyway, it’s a good piece and worth a read in these bleak economic times. If nothing else, it’ll help ease the mind of anyone who might be thinking of launching their own space in these strange times.

Oh, and it mentions our Pink Slip Special at the very end, so there’s that too!

I couldn’t help re-use this image I originally found when searching Flickr for “Looking Up.” Orange kitties just rock. Thanks to Flickr user ex.libris for putting it there under the Creative Commons license.

Seems like interest in a our very own Capitol Hill Stimulus package is high. Before I could even get a post up on the blog about our just-launched Pink Slip Special, it got picked up by both Seattlest and Slog.

Yeah, it’s pretty great, and the iffiest aspect in the abstract–the “community”–is the most impressive part in reality. All my fears about “Community!” were patiently dispelled by a roomful of individuals with shit to do, who nevertheless come together momentarily throughout the day to make small talk or big talk or laugh at videos of cats running into sliding glass doors. From what I can tell, the natural ebb and flow of the socializing is just about perfect. (Meaning, not once did I ever have to remind someone I was there to work, not communitize.)

With coverage like that, who needs a press release?

What’s the Pink Slip Special you ask?

For a limited time, first-time visitors to Office Nomads who show proof they were laid off can get a free one month daily-drop-in membership – a $375 value! You’ll get a desk and free high-speed Internet access, and be a part of a strong, fun office community again. And even if you’re not ready to commit to a month, your first day is always free. So come down, meet the other Nomads, and get started on your next big thing.

In short, we all thought that this recession is a bummer of an event to be living through and being laid off is one of the worst things that can happen to a person so we wanted to do something to help folks not feel so adrift. We’re all here for the community that we missed when we willingly left our jobs with offices, so it just seems that the loss of that community would be felt even more by those forced to leave it.

So if you or someone you know is feeling adrift during the “normal” workday and is sick of sitting in coffee shops while looking for jobs, c’mon on down and bring your pink slip. We’ve got a place for you!

The image is called Goodbye Party Work and is by Flickr user snofla who gave it a Creative Commons license. Check out the pink slip in the hand of the guy on the left. This recession sucks!

We may be okay with the first rainy day in a bit, but we still dream of warm beaches.

The first week of February is not generally known as a particularly happy time (not in this soggy, dark neck of the woods anyway) but folks here at Office Nomads had a pretty happy week this week.

• On Wednesday, a crowd of us Nomads went over to the Honey Hole for the weekly office Happy Hour and had a fine time of it. Almost 15 of us crowded in around a few tables, ate some yummy sandwiches, imbibed some stiff drinks, taught Susan some useful life lessons, and generally shook off the weight of a regular work week together. Sitting around drinking and carousing with all these folks was a really good time and got me thinking: One of the reasons we all use for being a part of a coworking space is the desire  to be a part of that specific type of community that forms in offices. But I need to modify that a bit. Most offices I’ve worked in have been fun, but rarely did I want to spend much time with the people there outside of work. After all, I was forced to be with them 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. As a coworker though, we’re here and with each other by choice. And apparently that choice extends into non-work hours too. Certainly makes for a better work environment if you ask me.
• Late yesterday, one of the gurus of coworking came to Office Nomads: Alex Hillman of Philadelphia’s IndyHall dropped by after visiting Workspace in Vancouver, B.C. to say hi. Besides being honored to play host to what we decided is the first person to visit two coworking spaces in two countries on one day, Henrik, Susan and I chewed the fat with Alex for a bit and I have to say I felt a bit startstruck. It’s silly I know, but Alex is one of those cats you hear a lot about and from on the Google Group and in coverage of coworking. Having him here was a happy moment indeed.
• Finally, this story doesn’t start happily, but it ends well. Last week we had someone from Bainbridge Island drop in for a free day to check out the space and see if it met his needs. As many people from Bainbridge do, he bikes to the ferry and rides his bike around Seattle all day long. Apparently it’s his only form of transport which made the call Susan got a few minutes after he left all the more distressing: Someone had snipped his cable lock and stolen his bike. Susan was horrified (we all were) but he was pretty mellow. He made it clear he wasn’t calling to lay blame, just to warn (and see if we “happened” to have a webcam pointed out the window. We don’t.) Anyway, just today Susan got an email from him saying that he’d posted the loss on Craigslist and offered a no-questions-asked reward and amazingly, got it back! Even the cops were shocked.

Finally, I think it’s important to point out that it’s Friday (almost always a cause for joy), but it’s one that seems special. It’s gray and rainy in Seattle for the first time in awhile here and that usually brings out the “grrr” in people, but there’s definitely a generally happy mood out there today. We’re celebrating it by starting an Office Nomads Twitter feed and hope you’ve found some goofy way to enjoy the day too!

The image above is by Flickr user LDCross and used thanks to the Creative Commons License.

Ideas can spread like wildfire. Sometimes all you need is a spark to set one off. Last week, Susan provided that spark to some members of the coworking Google Group by announcing the release of an Office Nomads video tour of the space (It’s our second video, as a matter of fact). Said video is now available on the main page of our site, and, well look at that! It’s right below this paragraph as well!

Funny how that works.

Susan’s announcement inspired some other coworking spaces to post and share their videos as well (a happening that I think is an excellent metaphor for coworking communities, by the by…). Before you knew it, there were announcements by CoHabitat in Dallas of a video of their space, and a couple by OfficeSpace CoWorking in Akron, Ohio including a full-fledged commercial they’re running on local stations there and one of some live music in their space.

Now, I KNOW those aren’t the only coworking videos out there (in fact, I featured a couple from Affinty Labs in Washington, D.C. and BlankSpaces in LA late last year which are worth watching again), but they’re the ones I know about. So, if you have more, let me know in the comments, on the Google group or in an email. I’d love to get video of as many different coworking spaces as I can up here.