What is Coworking: a 2.0 social structure in the making?

A relatively new word has emerged from the geekspace: coworking. The concept has emerged from the challenges in working from home led by an increasingly nomadic, restless and innovative "web 2.0 workforce". Frustrated with the isolation of home-based work environments, and rejecting the viability of working out of internet cafes, a growing tribe of (mostly) tech and media self-employed workers have been voraciously developing cohabitation schemes that sit somewhere between play groups and incubators! With the growth trends on specialized information workers, the spiraling costs of gasoline, and the sucky reality of working from home, this is an idea whose time seems to have come. Think of this as a 2.0 social structure of sorts - rooted in many ways to new web technologies - but fundamentally driven by the social realities of isolation and human productivity. Some people seem to refer to this as a place-based trend (focusing on the shared office spot), but to me it feels more like a lifestyle thing.