Building a global online library for coworking research. And why.

Today, the next big update of CoworkingLibrary.com was officially announced on stage in Barcelona at the 3rd RGCS Symposium, introducing the public, filterable and searchable index of 100+ research publications and counting.

I recently partnered up with the two inspiring and highly-dedicated co-founders of the non-profit Coworking Library project.

From the middle of November, I’ve been responsible for the technical implementation of their hard work over the last 3+ years to building and run a global free index of all the world’s coworking research.

There’s so many reasons why a global searchable repository of coworking research needs to exist, but for some brevity I’m going to focus on the 3 that drove me (and included.co) into dedicating tech and strategic resources into supporting another non-profit initiative in the coworking sector.

I truly believe that a resource like this will save a tonne of valuable time; ensure research and data isn’t lost; and, inspire further deeper studies into the ways coworking is changing the world.

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⏳ Wildly-similar Surveys and Studies waste a tonne of valuable time.

Community managers and members of coworking spaces are constantly being asked to complete surveys on their space, work styles, businesses, etc.

Many times these surveys are repetitive, with multiple requests for the same exact info from multiple students, agencies or researchers.

For years I’ve been looking for a way to shrink that time wastage, or at least make sure that the time invested is more rewarding for the participants, the students and the wider sector.

This brings me on to reason two…

🤷‍ A lot of the time, valuable data and insights are ‘lost’.

For many many many of these surveys and studies, the results never see the light of day. This doubles down on the ‘wasted’ time of both community managers and their members across the globe.

With coworking becoming understandably more popular; the number of students, businesses and researchers exploring the sector and its immense socioeconomic implications will only increase more rapidly.

With the simple step of more and more survey takers or interviewees insisting that the end results of these studies should be shared publicly via the coworkinglibrary.com, this data is put back into the sector, allowing us all to learn from it.

💡 Through sharing, further and deeper research can be inspired.

By having an outlet for publications to be shared, indexed, and discovered; I believe that it will inspire researchers and students alike to dig deeper into the sector.

Like with many research sectors, the sharing of knowledge, data and finding will allow future researchers to enhance, extend, prove or disqualify previous and/or possibly outdate studies.

This drives even more research, findings and further propels forward a sector that enables millions of passionate people every day.

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Got questions, suggestions or just want to chat about coworking tech? I’m @inztinkt on twitter. 

 

 

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Hey, I'm Hector 👋

I lead strategic initiatives for people, brands, and projects at the intersection of tech & work

I’m part web dev, part guerrilla marketer, and all geek.

I love working on interesting ways to build campaigns, implement tech, elevate voices, and drive revenues for market-defining personalities, brands, and platforms.

In 1999, I hit upload on my first “website”, and 12-year-old me was immediately hooked on the ways the internet would become a force multiplier for people, brands, and ideas.

Since then I’ve worked on over 850 strategic initiatives across media, advertising, non-profits, proptech, e-commerce, marketplaces, productized services, and more.

I’m currently a co-founder of Syncaroo.com and curate the This Week In Coworking newsletter.

Previously I founded included.co and led the growth of the global perks network to 700+ communities, supporting over 133,000 members and businesses.

In my blog and on stage I share thoughts, observations, and undercurrent trends at the intersection of workspaces and technology.

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