Jessica Stillman's Get Ready for Coworking 2.0 in GigaOm covers an interview with me on the shifts we're seeing in the coworking space. She uses the analogy of the waves of change in the feminist movement to help describe the evolution occurring in coworking.
I have to admit I don't know much about Feminist Theory, but based on what little I know I think the analogy is accurate. Coworking was founded as a social movement. The core values of coworking - collaboration, openness, community, accessibility and sustainability - reflect the social orientation of the movement founders and many of today's coworking adherents.
But coworking has moved beyond the intial intent of the movement founders, and now includes a wide range of approaches, spaces and companies. The Rise of Coworking, from the Economist, does an excellent job describing the spread of coworking to new areas, including large corporations. I really like their definition of coworking:
"The concept of co-working is elastic but at its broadest means working alongside, and often collaborating with, people you wouldn’t normally."
To us, this nicely defines Coworking 2.0 because it describes coworking as style of work instead of a place, and it's loose enough to allow for the growing diversity of the coworking ecosystem.
Just as the 3rd wave of Feminism builds on the achievements of earlier waves but also embraces diversity and change, Coworking 2.0 is expanding on the success of the coworking movement while also broadening its reach and impact.
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