Moworking: Community for Mobile Workers

May 20 2008 – 07:10pm

You’ve decided that working in an office isn’t for you. You don’t like doing the same tasks over and over again, you can’t stand the politics, and the commute is killer. More than anything, the idea that you have to sit in a certain spot between certain hours of every day is just asinine to you. So you go it alone – maybe you’re a business consultant, a writer, or a freelance designer.

You try working at home, but you get so lonely you start talking to your cat – and he just can’t hold up his end of a conversation when it comes to foreign policy.

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So you hit the cafe. The freedom to change venues based upon your whim suits your creative line of work, and at least now there are some people around; but you don’t know any of them, and every time you try to strike up a conversation with the Barista, he just glares blankly from under his emo bangs and offers you a scone. Every couple of hours, you’re faced with The Laptop Dilemma.

Then you hear about coworking. “Brilliant!” you think, and sign right up. You love having access to a whiteboard and a meeting room now and then, but then it sinks in that you’re paying $500 a month to commute to the same place every day again, and you’re pretty sure the guy in the desk next to you has never used a Kleenex in his life.

Can you identify with any of this? Then Moworking is for you. Moworking allows independent professionals to gather together to work in the same location at the same time. You get the variety of working from wherever you choose, with a community of like-minded people that you can trade tips with, do business with, or just use to watch your laptop while you take a walk around the block.

How Moworking…Works

Moworking works by protocoled use of Twitter‘s hashtags and wiki knowledge sharing to allow independent workers to gather to work in a particular location at the same time.

Start a Moworking “Pod”

Start working in any publicly-accessible place with good Moworking amenities (WiFi and power outlets are key), like a cafe, for example.
Twitter “#[moworkingcityhashtag] at [locationnameandrelevantdetails], http://moworking.org” (the link to Moworking helps spread it)

Find/Join Moworking Pods

Track the [moworkingcityhashtag] of your choice on Twitter. Make sure your device updates are on, and you’re set up to receive updates on your Mobile Device. To track a City Tag, just Twitter “track [moworkingcityhashtag]”
When you get a tweet that includes [moworkingcityhashtag], go to the location mentioned in the tweet. If you know the person who sent the tweet, then finding them will be easy – otherwise, hopefully they have a clear picture on their Twitter profile.
Briefly greet the Pod member(s) and start Moworking.

Moworking in Motion

David is feeling social today, so instead of working from home, he decides he wants to Mowork from a cafe. He lives in San Francisco’s Mission District, but decides he wants to try a different neighborhood. He checks out the Moworking Directory, and sees that there’s a Moworking-friendly cafe Downtown called Golden Gate Perk. So, he hops on the train and heads to Golden Gate Perk. He’s happy to see that it has WiFi, plenty of outlets for his laptop, and staff that doesn’t seem to mind him getting some work done on his laptop.

David is happy at Golden Gate Perk, but would like some company. So, he starts a Moworking “Pod” by Tweeting according to the Moworking Protocol: “#moworkingsf at Golden Gate Perk, Downtown http://moworking.org.”

Rob is just getting up for the day, and is thinking it’s a good day to hit the cafe circuit. Rob Moworks with David often, so when he gets David’s Twitter message, the decision is easy for him as to where to go. He hops on the train and heads to Golden Gate Perk. When he gets there, he greets David and checks in according to the Moworking Protocol.

Fayza is running some errands Downtown, but is hoping to get some work done this afternoon. Since she tracks “moworkingsf” on Twitter, she gets both David and Rob’s messages directly from her phone. “There’s quite the Pod developing at Golden Gate Perk!” she says to herself. She knows David, but hasn’t met Rob before, though she remembers seeing his picture on the Moworking Wiki. She steps into Golden Gate Perk and sees David and Rob, plugging away on their laptops. After David briefly introduces Fayza and Rob, Fayza checks in according to the Moworking Protocol, and the three of them are one happy Moworking Pod.

They get the pleasure of working at the cafe, but don’t have to do so alone – and they have friends to watch their laptops when they go to the bathroom!

Find out more about Moworking, and add your favorite venues on the Moworking Wiki.