Israel “Izzy” Hyman’s passion is video. He’s a video podcaster who makes a living producing three different online shows:
Izzy Video — How to shoot and edit video. It covers a wide range of topics like cinematography, lighting, recording good audio, gear, editing and distribution.
Paperclipping.com — This show is hosted by Hyman’s wife, Noell, and it’s all about scrapbooking and design principles.
Rolling R’s — This show is hosted by Hyman’s friend, Larry Keim, and teaches people the Spanish language.
All three are membership sites where some of the content is available for free, but the majority of the material is available to paid members only. I caught up with Hyman to ask him a few questions about the work he does, and how he does it. Below is an edited transcript of our interview:
Simon:How did you originally get into video? And what made you decide to start blogging about it? Read the rest of this entry »
A friend of mine who’s worked in a slew of web jobs that have sorely disappointed him has finally found a role he thinks will be fun, challenging and rewarding.
He knew of the company, met multiple times with different team members, had been taken on a tour of the office space, and was happy with the offer they’d negotiated. It all looked good. But before he jumped in and signed up, he made one final check that all web workers should undertake.
He called a friend of his who used to work for the company to get the inside story on what it’s like there. Read the rest of this entry »
Screensharing application Yuuguu is an old favorite of WebWorkerDaily. Today, the company launched support for Skype users, bringing its screensharing expertise to one of the largest communication platforms in the world. We caught up with CEO Anish Kapoor to learn a little about the features announced today and the company’s future plans.
Imran: Could you outline the new features announced in the latest edition of Yuuguu?
Anish: This new edition was all about making it really easy for Skype users to instantly screenshare and collaborate in real time with anyone, on any major IM network, not just Skype. Read the rest of this entry »
I first met Linda Broughton — head of NTI Leeds, part of Leeds Met University — in May 2007, at a meeting on the use of open-source software in the public sector where I planted the seed of an idea to develop a coworking community in Leeds in Northern England.
Within a few months, Linda had launched the “met:space” coworking community at Old Broadcasting House, which has now become the hub for most of the city’s web and new media community (also see my previous interview with OBH resident, James Ward).
I spoke with Linda about the development of OBH and her thoughts on coworking.
Imran: Tell us a little about the background of OBH. What were the motivations for coworking in Leeds?
Linda: It started out as an idea space for our graduates to move on to. We recognized that many of the students’ final year projects had the potential to become commercial businesses, so we wanted to develop a space that could support them in the early days. Read the rest of this entry »
Alex Hillman is the co-founder of Independents Hall (colloquially known as IndyHall) a “coworking space and community” in Philadelphia. IndyHall is home to designers, developers, writers, artists, entrepreneurs, scientists, educators, small business owners, telecommuters, marketers, videographers and game developers, amongst other industries.
I spoke with Alex about his motivations for bootstrapping IndyHall, the experience of running the community, his hopes for the future and advice for others. Incredibly, Alex recorded an extraordinary and engaging 30 minutes of video for us, telling the fascinating story of IndyHall’s history and future.
We edited together some highlights on the background of IndyHall, along with plans for the future of Philadelphia’s coworking community as a single video here for readers who want a brief introduction to the IndyHall story.
You can find the full set of questions, answered as short video clips, over on YouTube:
Incidentally, the relaunch of the IndyHall web site site just a few days ago is noteworthy in its approach to cohering and aggregating the community of coworkers in the city, providing a platform and a voice for their agenda.
If you’re interested in the experiences of coworking community founders, you should also check out our earlier interview with Stephanie Booth, founder of Lausanne’s Eclau coworking community.
Like Stephanie, Alex’s insights and experiences are invaluable. Do share your own experiences of coworking or founding a coworking community in the comments below.
James Ward is a member of Leeds’ Old Broadcasting House (OBH) coworking community in Northern England, working as freelance “digital coach.” I spoke with James on his thoughts and experiences over the last few months as one of the most active evangelists of his coworking community.
Imran: How did you first encounter coworking as a concept and what drew you to it?
James: I heard about an event for freelancers, GoingSolo, being held at OBH in Leeds. I had started working freelance just a few months earlier but from past experience working on my own I had learned the importance of getting out and making connections with other people. Working on your own every day in the spare bedroom can get pretty lonely and soul-destroying.
For me, attending this event was one of those serendipitous moments in life that lead to changes more profound and beneficial than I could have imagined. First off, it was my introduction to a network of professional peers all talking about the same challenges and issues as I recognize: managing finances, clients, confidence. The exchange of ideas was exhilarating. I came away from the day on an absolute high…and I had also discovered coworking. Read the rest of this entry »
Eclau (pronounced eck-lo) is a coworking space in Lausanne, Switzerland, founded by Stephanie Booth. Booth spoke with me about her motivation for starting Eclau, her experiences running it and her future plans, and offer up some tips for anyone thinking of starting a coworking space.
WWD: Tell us a little about the background for Eclau — what were the motivations for coworking in Lausanne?
Booth: I’d heard about coworking, and visited Citizen Space in San Francisco. I thought it would be lovely to have a coworking space in Lausanne, but at the time, I was quite happy working from home. A couple of other people in the area were interested, but I was in “follower” mode — not “leader” [mode].
In autumn 2007, a friend of mine approached me. He had some free space in one of his shops that he wanted to transform into a community office for freelancers and other local innovators, and wanted to know if I could take care of it. I told him about coworking and he said, “That’s it!”
Amber is a blogger for her own blog The Amber Show and a podcaster with her own local show Hey Brooklyn, a weekly chat with the owner of a small creative businesses in the borough. She’s 26 years old, lives in Brooklyn, is married and has three dogs.
Got Flickr? Amber does and here’s how she uses it.
Israel “Izzy” Hyman’s passion is video. He’s a video podcaster who makes a living producing three different online shows:
Screensharing application 
Eclau
Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
