Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Telecommuting

[Fred H Olson WB0YQM (fholson]

The Telecommuting subject first (recently) came up on the list came up in 
a message:
Date: Tue, 30 Aug 94 17:31 CDT
From: Bob M. LKG1-3/A11 226-7570 <morrison [at] took.enet.dec.com>
Subject: Cohousing within reach of "middle-middle class"?

Where Bob suggested setting up a "telecommuting center" in cohousing
which would interest me.

Interestingly it also came up in a query from a potential subscriber
a couple days ago (who has not subscribed yet but will soon I hope).
I quote from my response to her:

On Sun, 28 Aug 94 13:29:12 CST, 
Fred H Olson  WB0YQM  <fholson [at] maroon.tc.umn.edu> wrote:

>On Sun, 28 Aug 1994 11:02:45 -0400 (EDT), 
>Laura C. Johnson  <lcjohns [at] epas.utoronto.ca> wrote:
>
>>I've read in the Summer 94 issue of CoHosuing about your Electronic
>>CoHousing Forum.  I would appreciate receiving information on
>>accessing Cohousing-L.  I am a sociologist researching and writing on
>>housing which incorporates shared, family-oriented amenities. I am
>>particularly interested in the idea of the shared office/workshop, as
>>a way of supporting "telework". Thanks in advance. Laura Johnson.
>>
>
>Subscription info enclosed.  "Telework" ( aka telecommuting ?) has not
>been discussed on Cohousing-L to date that I recall but I suspect
>it would be a topic of interest as a possible feature of a community.
>There was some discussion of computer nerds (folks that use computers 
>a lot) in cohousing.  It might require a conversation about common 
>features used by and supported by a portion of the community (rather
>than the whole community).

Has anyone had experience with any subgroup common facilities?

Till recently I (Fred) did part-time contract computer programming 
for nearly 10 years. I worked for two small to medium sized companies 
both about 70 miles from where I live (different directions...). I got 
together with them in person maybe once or twice a year on average 
depending on how much work and how many problems arose.  It worked well for 
the most part tho it does have it's shortcomings.  Somewhat more on-site 
time would be helpful.  One company has hired a full time person to take 
over what I was doing.(at my urging - I wanted a change).  I'd strongly
consider some "telecommuting" aspect again for some portion of a job or 
other endeavor.

Few people would argue and certainly I would not that email can 
"replace human contact". I would argue that it can supplement other kinds 
of contact. And replace some communications that could be done in person.
I sometimes pick up the phone to call someone local (say Judy Baxter) 
rather than send email.  On the other hand email can be better and faster
than phone tag...  Depends on what/when I need to communicate 
and how well I know the other person's schedule and phone access and the
likelyhood they will want to chat a bit as well.  

I would not advocate making "technology a centerpiece of a community"
but as my response above suggested, a subgroup should be able
to pursue and pay for technology if they choose.  If there are people who
would not be part of a community that included a subgroup that pursued 
technology I would wonder how open they would be to other differences.
Or whether I'd want to be in the same community.

The community as a whole may want to include features such as conduit or 
even cabling that passed each unit to allow future connections.

Actually I expect eventually most people will use something like email 
in much the same way most people use the telephone now.  Each has 
unique advantages. Neither will replace the other (tho they eventually
may use a common underlying techonology)

A "telecommuting center" would offer some of the advantages of having 
work peers for folks who might otherwise be working in more isolation at 
home.  One of the things I missed working at home was the "water cooler 
chats" and the availability of someone to talk thru a problem with.
It's amazing how explaining a problem to someone else in detail can help 
rethink it or how their "uniformed" questions can give needed focus.  Even 
when the other person doesn't understand all the details.  Some of this
might be able to happen over a break at the common house without
a telecommuting center for people who work at home.

Fred

--
Fred H. Olson   fholson [at] uci.com   (612)588-9532  Amateur radio: WB0YQM
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