A Tidy Desk
Wausauians gain online/offline collaboration space By Emily Thierfelderreprinted with permission from VolumeOne.org
With today’s increasing pressure on personal and professional success, the benefits of networking – that crazy concept of socializing to exchange ideas and advice with others – are obvious. In the past year, two unique Wausau-based enterprises have 
been created to promote these benefits: CitizenWausau.com, a web site devoted to encouraging community conversation, and CitizenDesk, an office that provides work space for independent professionals. Both enterprises are based on the concept of “coworking,” a social process similar to networking that unites people who are interested in benefiting from teamwork-driven synergy.“We all have goals, and we can all help each other achieve our goals.” With this as his mantra, Marcus Nelson, owner of the web-design company Superstarch, created CitizenWausau.com and CitizenDesk to provide hard-working individuals with co-working opportunities.By redefining the traditional workplace into a more community-oriented space, co-working centers enable people to “establish a regular workspace, facilitate collaboration among the regulars, and enjoy the necessities that serious business professionals need,” says Neil Takemoto, the founding director of CoolTown Beta Communities, a company committed to developing these centers. For instance, if a freelance writer needs design advice and a freelance designer needs writing advice, they can work together in the same coworking center to collaborate on their individual projects. In the cases of CitizenWausau.com and CitizenDesk,then, users are given opportunities to network both online and in person with like-minded individuals.At CitizenWausau.com, these opportunities are provided through a blog-like practice of posting community events and providing discussion topics. Site users can then submit their opinions of, say, he latest town hall meeting minutes, andread the opinions of others.“We wanted to see the political process be more open and transparent,” says Nelson. He points out the limitations of single-session, hour-long community meetings, while these discussions areaccessible by anyone, any time. Thanks to echnology, CitizenWausau.com is a way or residents to enjoy “open dialogues,” and if desired, work together to facilitate changes.Similarly, CitizenDesk also enables teamwork between users. Inspired by the lack of office options for independent professionals, this coworking space provides office amenities like desks, conference rooms, and Internet connections for rent on a month-to-month basis. Open for business since August, its success relies heavily on tenants’ ability to build a cooperativecommunity of individuals for the benefit of the group.“It’s a way for people to have a place to rest their laptops and cell phones and collaborate with other people,” Nelson ays. At CitizenDesk, people can “have some of the freedoms and luxuries that they had when they were in an office environment.”CitizenWausau.com and CitizenDesk aren’t just methods of promoting coworking benefits – in a city of 39,000, they’ve lso produced some exciting economic attention. According to Paul Schroeder, the marketing/public relations director of the Wausau Region Chamber ofCommerce, these enterprises have created a strong awareness of the area.“As people from the outside look in, it really shows different perspectives for the community,” says Shroeder. “Any community that really has an interest in showing what it is all about … would benefit from something.”Coworking not only provides opportunities for peer collaboration; it’s a chance for any group of people to make themselves heard. And that is the overarching goal of both CitizenDesk andCitizenWausau.com.
“Life should be open, transparent, and collaborative,” says Nelson. “We seek to empower contributors.” Learn more at www.citizenwausau.com and www.citizendesk.com.
Dino Corvino said:
GTD also helps keeping your desk clean.
December 12th, 2007 at 2:24 pm #