‘I like the “buzz”, but I also suffer from it’: Mitigating interaction and distraction in collective workplaces

Collective workplaces – such as coworking spaces, open workplan offices, maker or fab labs are founded on one central premise: working alongside others leads to interactions, collaborations and access ‘buzzing’ knowledge. Yet, at the same time, users of these places go there do their (often freelance) work, requiring a productive, therefore usually quiet, work environment. Drawing interviews ethnographic fieldwork in Netherlands, this research explores how collective navigate paradox: need for quiet desire social interaction. It shows interactions emerge through rituals especially routines, describes spatio-temporal conditions under which may lead successful forms exchange community formation.