the real social

I have spent the last decade naturally evolving towards a work day that largely takes place in coffee shops. Having written my MA largely at the Second Cup in Guelph and turned to the Starbucks before that to do business planning, I currently spend the bulk of my time at the Second Cup in Westdale. During this time, I have evolved from relying on pen and paper to hopelessly attached to my laptop. That same appendage has gone from tethering to an electrical outlet to craving attachment through wireless connectivity. The way in which I work away from the office or home has evolved, technically and socially.

The pen and paper days also involved a good book and allowed for reading during the day. As data connectivity has progressed, direct social connectivity has decreased. Yet, I am increasingly unable to be productive in an environment where I am not at least socially ‘exposed?’. I pay my rent (an expensive latte every morning) and then work within the milieu for the next 4-12 hours. People come and go and sometimes I notice, sometimes I don’t. I experimented with wearing headphones (with and without music) to create a sense of isolation within the environment, but have actually found I usually don’t need them. The tone and pitch of voices dictates…there are some voices that are just more piercing and I am unable to shut them out. If I key on a phrase in ambient conversation sometimes I can’t pry myself away and have to resort to audio distraction. Traffic and the occasional re-arranging of furniture sometimes distract…there is of course certain rules that not all may be aware of. That’s a topic for another time. I talk less with the people around, and am able to usually be quite productive. Environment is crucial to this productivity however and the Westdale Second Cup works quite well as it has huge windows that I focus on and away from the cafe proper. If its sunny I am in full productive mode. If its inclement, I am sometimes depressed by that. Increasingly so. The bottom line is I like to work in private in public.
And I don’t think I am alone in this. How many laptops clicking within a 25 foot radius here…5 (and that’s a low sample). 16 people…just over 25%. Its often considerably higher here. There’s transiency and better time for some than others. I sense I tend to work longer than most. What do I need? An electrical outlet, wireless access (although for writing tasks I find I do better without it), my table and some commotion. I tend to work through the day fairly consistently, but I used to take breaks and engage with someone for an hour or two and then go back to work. So we digital nomads have certain needs, but they differ amongst the group I am sure.
Which brings me to the point at hand…Josh joined the Queen Street Commons in Charlottetown when he was in PEI last summer for an extended spell. To me it was a unique development that offered social networking, stimulation and public private place to work. It is not unique and there are many cooperatives springing up through which individuals are creating specialized environments to support his need. Quite often these are digital nomads. On another area of the spectrum is the Core Club, which Dave pointed me to yesterday. It is also a group of individuals coming together to create an environment to support their social needs. In this case its by invitation only which raises a sense of elitism, yet they are dedicated to embracing diversity….and providing a wide variety of social and cultural events to stimulate their membership.
Which raises one of the larger questions in my mind: how much of the social can actually be engineered from without? I was just speaking with an acquaintance here who admitted that there are a limited number of places to find to work in this nomadic coffee shop environment in Hamilton. She admitted to knowing of a club downtown that was trying to encourage the social workplace and matching it with stimulating events, but that from experience, it lacked the critical mass of participants to recreate an appropriate milieu. So there are some pereiveable parameters that go along with the factors that ‘we’ are looking for. How much of this can actually be turned into metrics? What are these critical masses? Inquiring minds want to know….

to be continued….