It was just over one year ago that Dell launched the Digital Nomads community. It’s been a great year and our community of nomads has grown tremendously. Our roster of bloggers has grown to several dozen, all individuals like you that have interesting observations and tips for living a digitally nomadic lifestyle.
Some of the most widely read and most commented-on content includes a post from Jay White of the site Dumb Little Man entitled “So You Want to Become a Nomad, Eh?” in which he shares what to expect if you embrace this style of working; my kick-off post on exactly what this community is all about entitled “Where Do You Work? I Work Everywhere”; and, a post featuring a Big Think interview with Dave Stewart on his use of technology. We’ve talked about technologies that enable one to be mobile, have given countless tips on travel and remote working issues, and profiled a number of people who embody what it means to be a nomad.
We were not the first to use the term Digital Nomads - that honor goes to many others including Mike Elgan, Chris Brogan and Tsugio Makimoto and David Manners, authors of the 1997 book Digital Nomad. The use of the term digital nomad is increasing in its use while other similar terms workshifting, location independent professional and road warriors are also used.
We’d love to do more and engage more of you on this community. If you have an interesting story to tell, let us know. I think we’ve done our fair share of top-ten lists but maybe you’ve got an idea for one we hadn’t thought of. If you aren’t following us on twitter, give us a try. If you ever tweet something that has a nomadic, mobility angle to it, add the hashtag #digitalnomads so everyone can find it. If you’re interested in our list of nomad stories, check out our Delicious list of articles that will increase your knowledge of nomadic issues. We’ve also got quite a few videos for your perusal on YouTube.
It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since this site launched. I can say from a personal perspective inside a large, multi-national corporation that my view on what makes for a productive, collaborative work environment is different than what it was when we started down this road. A year ago, privacy would have ranked much higher on my work environment requirements than it does today.
Asked what my ideal workspace would look like today and I’d describe a workspace with no walls, large open-air spaces with lots of open tables for impromptu meetings and team collaboration. I’d also be listening to Nature Sounds Radio on Pandora in a set of noise canceling headphones to block out the “loud laughers” that invariably would find me where ever I sat.
It would look very much like a place I worked out of a few weeks ago while spending some time in San Antonio with my family. We had relatives in from out-of-town and because I had recently returned from some time away and had deadlines to hit, wasn’t able to take the full time away. It was my first experience with co-working, the idea where individuals from different backgrounds come together in a workspace and work together, but alone. “Working alone sucks” is the mantra of the co-working community says C4 Workspace’s founder Todd O’Neill.
In this video, Todd gives me a tour of their humble space, open for just two months, and describes the type of people they’re attracting. If you’re ever in San Antonio and don’t feel like working from a coffee shop, I’d encourage you to look them up.
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[...] were included in his first anniversary post, One Year of Digital Nomads, for Digital Nomads which we consider quite an honor. He wrote some very kind words about us… [...]
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Nomad Contributors
by Todd O'Neill / August 20, 2009
Thanks for the kind words. We really appreciate it! Hope you can come down again aand visit!
I’m glad the site has been successful. It is a fantastic resource, along with all the other sites your post mentioned.
by Chris Brogan... / September 6, 2009
But you wear it well, so congrats and I’m so glad that you’re doing what you do. Your blog was definitely a strong inspiration for us to launch Workshifting.com, as we felt we had a slightly different angle, and could be a companion. I still read you daily. : )