Hi guys –  Sorry for the late announcement, but I said we’d have these meetings every week — So tonight, from 5PM-10PM, for those wishing to meet-up with other web/Internet/computer folks - We’ll be hosting another evening of camaraderie and community building.

Last time we talked about changing the name to something other than Jelly.  The designer from Web414 has offered to whip up a logo for us using the same template he designed for Web414 & Web608 in Madison.  If you’re interested in being a part of that decision, come by tonight!

Please ping me back if you’re coming - and if you are, bring some snacks or drinks to share!!!

Hey all!!

Just posted our next Jelly Meet-Up information on the Jelly Wiki.  I’m looking at Thursday, April 17th as our time to meet.  As you can see from the schedule, we changed it up a bit - the co-working is during the day, and then a “Happy Hour” is from 6PM-10PM.  This is how other Jelly’s are being run, so we’ll give it a whirl.

Make sure to invite other web-related workers & designers - looking forward to another great meet-up!!!

marcus

We had a good time at Thursday’s Jelly event -  I’m pretty sure everyone who attended would agree that these sorts of events should be happening more often.  I really want to thank all of you for coming out and chipping in to make it all the more special - especially Zina’s peanut butter Rice Crispie Bars - those were a huge hit!!!

For those of you who could not attend, here are some links that we all talked about - if I forgot any, please send them to me and I’ll add ‘em right away:

http://web414.com/
http://indyhall.com/
http://tv.winelibrary.com/
http://garyvaynerchuk.com/
http://twitter.com/
http://microformats.org/
http://factoryjoe.com/blog/
http://www.horsepigcow.com/
http://www.sxsw.com/
http://tastyblogsnack.com/
http://brian.shaler.name/

Also - we’ve all added Twitter to our list of tools to keep in touch.  If you haven’t already signed up for Twitter, please go sign up and then “friend” us up at CitizenDesk.

Looking at Thursday, April 17th as the next event - Does that work for everyone?

Let’s start out this entry with a confession.

I am a hypocrite.

In the spirit of wishing to unify the local Web community, I got sidetracked. With opportunities, work, etc. - I make no excuses - Should have stayed the course and built the community. In that respect, I’ve done little to perpetuate it’s momentum. So admitting that, it’s time to change and get back on track.

Earlier this month, I was hugely re-inspired by my good friends in Philidelphia & Milwaukee — Wouldn’t it be cool to see Central Wisconsin Web people getting together and making Sh_t happen like that? It’s exciting to see what people are doing around here - and I’m sure you agree — But in many ways, we’re not doing enough in supporting each other’s efforts.

It’s time to get people meeting, talking, and dreaming out loud. I know most of you - but you may not know each other — yet! Off the top of my head, I can think of several people who should be in the same room together:

Aaron Saray - PHP RockStar
Grant Dobbe - Drupal Expert
Melissa Sullivan - Blogger - Central Wisconsin Mommy
Zina Harrington - Marketing & Design - Data Dog Marketing
Eric Sorensen - Designer & Entrepreneur - PushMedia.info
Adrian Balfe - PHP Ninja
Dino Corvino - Writer, Podcaster - Citizen Wausau
Dave McMahon - Thinker, Tinkerer - Eastbay
Jim Carlson - Search Engine Guru - Eastbay
Patrick Hills - Designer
Nick Sweeney - ColdFusion & Entrepreneur - Big Fat Designs
Dan Guite - Code Monkey - Fiserv
Rob Mentzer - Writer & Blogger - Daily Herald
Peter Philleo - ColdFusion & Entrepreneur - Digital Dialogue

And there are sooo many more — All of these people should be talking and creating together — which is why I’d like to introducing something - it’s called “Jelly” - which will be the first of many bi-weekly meet-ups at Citizen Desk. Put people in a place and see what happens!

What is Jelly?

Jelly is casual co-working / social interaction. We invite people to work from Citizen Desk for the evening (or all day if you wish). We provide chairs, desks and sofas, wireless internet, and interesting people to talk to, collaborate with, and bounce ideas off of.

You bring a laptop (or whatever you think you need to work), a six-pack of beverage or some sort of chips - and a friendly disposition. Just don’t come empty handed!

Who can come to Jelly?

Anyone! We want to see designers, developers, and internet types, but we’d also like musicians, cooks, sound designers, tea sommeliers, product designers, photographers, writers, and more. Feel free to invite others!!

Some of us are entrepreneurs or freelancers. Others work in an office most of the time, but we’re hoping that by working at a Jelly, you’ll gain fresh ideas and experience a change of pace. No matter what you do or what you create, you’re welcome to come to Jelly and share your talent and learn from others.

When Is It?

Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 – 6PM-10PM
300 N. Third Street - Fourth Floor (penthouse)
Washington Square, Wausau
715-203-4125

Telecommuters and the self-employed avoid isolation by renting shared workspaces.

By Chris Gaylord
The Christian Science Monitor
Published: March 3, 2008 edition

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. - When Mike Jones signed on to be marketing director at an e-book publisher, one of the advertised perks was the chance to work at home full time. Two years later, he loves the job, but hated the location.

“I was totally cut off from the world,” Mr. Jones says. “I was only working four or five hours a day because I’d keep looking for things to do just so I could get out of the apartment.”

After months of searching for alternatives, Jones found Office Nomad, a shared workplace in Seattle that sells itself as “individuality without isolation.” The studio plugs into a new and flourishing philosophy called “coworking.”
|Read the Rest of the Entry…

By DAN FOST
New York Times
Published: February 20, 2008

CONTEMPLATING his career path a couple of years ago, a young computer programmer named Brad Neuberg faced a modern predicament. “It seemed I could either have a job, which would give me structure and community,” he said, “or I could be freelance and have freedom and independence. Why couldn’t I have both?”

As someone used to hacking out solutions, Mr. Neuberg took action. He created a word — coworking, eliminating the hyphen — and rented space in a building, starting a movement.

While coworking has evolved since Mr. Neuberg’s epiphany in 2005, dozens of places around the country and increasingly around the world now offer such arrangements, where someone sets up an office and rents out desks, creating a community of people who have different jobs but who want to share ideas.

“It’s nourishing on a fundamental level,” said John Vlahides, the executive editor of 71miles.com, a travel site covering Northern California, who rents a desk for $175 a month at one of Mr. Neuberg’s original sites, the Hat Factory. “And if you’re not nourished, how can you be creative?”
|Read the Rest of the Entry…

Ilana DeBareSan
Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
Published: Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Working at home was too lonely for Summer Powell, a 35-year-old freelance graphic designer who had recently moved to San Francisco. She tried working in cafes but found it too distracting. So Powell called a friend and together they joined a communal drop-in office space called Sandbox Suites - an example of a new and growing work arrangement called co-working.

“This seems more like in between home and office,” Powell said, sitting with her laptop in a carrel last week in the airy main room of Sandbox Suites, while several other freelancers typed quietly nearby and two Web entrepreneurs conferred over lunches and laptops at a big table on a second-floor landing. “It gives me a scrappy startup feeling in a good way.”

Laptop nomads - that growing tribe of folks who can be found typing away at any cafe with wireless Internet access - are starting to put down roots. And some, like Powell, are doing it through co-working, a 21st century twist on the old idea of the shared artists’ studio.

In co-working, a group of freelancers or other solo entrepreneurs share one big office space with perks that they might not get at home, such as conference rooms, espresso machines and opportunities for socializing.

Co-working sites usually give members the option of renting a desk that becomes their own reserved space. But most also provide a drop-in option, where people can stop by and work in an unreserved common area for a lower fee - or sometimes even for free.

|Read the Rest of the Entry…

nytimes.com
By RALPH GARDNER Jr.
Published: January 3, 2008

BEFORE they were married in September, Nicci Young and Richard Wiese first had to split up. The problem was not romantic, but spatial: Ms. Young Wiese, who organizes community development safaris to Africa, and Mr. Wiese, a writer and explorer, found that their Upper East Side one-bedroom was not big enough for the two of them after both decided to work from home.

“He kept talking to me about his work, which is very interesting, but it was really taking time out of my workday,” Ms. Young Wiese said. “And when I was alone there was a sense of loneliness and procrastination.”

Mr. Wiese, who is writing a how-to book about exploration for teenagers, acknowledged the problem. “Nicci tends to be a lot more intense,” he said. “Especially with lighter work, I can be watching a ballgame. If I saw a funny e-mail coming through I’d want to share it. I’d get these glances from her, like, ‘I’m working!’”
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Tired of the home office? Shared office spaces, for rent by the day or the month, are popping up all over.
By Matthew Amster-Burton
December 26 2007: 11:24 AM EST  ___ reprinted from CNN Money

SEATTLE (FORTUNE Small Business) — As a sole proprietor who works primarily online, every day I face a painful decision: work from home or go to a coffeehouse?

Working from home is awesome. No boss hanging over your shoulder. No need to shower. No human contact. No incentive to stay on task.
|Read the Rest of the Entry…

Wausauians gain online/offline collaboration space
By Emily Thierfelder
reprinted 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.
|Read the Rest of the Entry…