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Where were you doing in August of 2005?

I had never even thought about working for myself, wasn’t active on a single social media site (late adopter) and the iPhone was just a twinkle in Steve Jobs’ eye.

Thankfully, while I was still dreaming of an office job, a few fearless creatives were brewing up the biggest opportunity for independent professionals since the laptop.

It was six years ago today Brad Neuberg publicly blogged about “coworking”–a term he coined–for the first time, announcing the first regular “coworking” get together.

Since that time, coworking has grown from a temporary experiment in collaborative work to a worldwide movement with thousands of coworking communities in dozens of countries.

Now, every year on August 9th, members of this global community celebrate International Coworking Day to remember the movement’s humble beginnings and imagine the future of work through coworking.

Here are some scenes from coworking spaces all over the world that have come together to celebrate!

Locus Workspace in Prague, Czech Republic hosted its first Jelly, and informal coworking gathering for all who want to attend.

Coworking Seattle, a cooperative effort of all the coworking spaces in the Seattle area, are hosting their Coworking Day celebration in Seattle at Gasworks Park. Free internet access is donated by a local company, and there are snacks on the grill!

Independent workers and small business owners all over Argentina are celebrating Coworking Day with the launch of this new resource: coworkingargentina.info, complete with a directory of all the spaces in the country!

Cohere Community in Colorado is hosting a free open house to which the entire freelancing community is invited! Coffee, cupcakes and high-fives served up all day for free!

Gravy, a member of the San Diego Coworking Alliance, is hosting its Coworking Day celebration at a local climbing gym. Attendees are asked to pay an entrance fee of $10 which goes to benefit the local Boys and Girls Club. In exchange, participants get access to an entire day of workshops and the chance to win great prizes from Gravy member businesses!

PAX Coworking and Satani, Kyo joined forces to create this gem: a slideshow history of coworking in Japan!

20110803coworkingYou can also watch this map of Coworking Day celebrations as they pop up all over the world today!

Are you a coworker? Tell us how you’re celebrating this revolution in collaborative work!

Beth Buczynski

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Beth Buczynski

Beth is a freelance writer and editor living in beautiful Colorado. She loves sharing so much, she wrote a book about it. "Sharing Is Good" is a practical guide


Things I share: Transportation (I love my bike!) Office space (yay coworking!) Money (Credit Unions do it better!)