Who's that knocking at my door?

Next time you hear the tap-tap-tap or, for those of you in apartment buildings, the buzzer, rest easy. It's probably not an Obama canvasser, a Jehovah's Witness, or even a neighbor. Might be a "Jelly." Turns out that the isolation of working at home is too much for some and, seeking the real stuff, people are now gathering in Jellies to brainstorm and swap ideas. Thanks to the Queen of Telecommuting, Ms Stella, whose identity remains unknown (at least to me), I found this interesting report by Jessica Marquez, "Around the World, Jellies Are Spreading: Thousands are taking part in the new type of casual co-working, where 15 to 29 people with laptops father to work and brainstorm,"  in/on Workforce Management. Will make a point of looking for one nearby and report back - or if any Bostonians are indulging, please let me know:

As workers arrive at Nancy Hoffmann’s loft in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, they are asked to take off their shoes and put their business cards in a bowl on the table.

Hoffmann, who runs an online branding company called TomatoDesign.net, offers up coffee. Doughnuts are supplied by Heather Quinlan, a telecommuting producer for Discovery Science Channel’s Web site. On one side of the room, freelance programmer Ken Smith works on software to enhance GPS technology. On the other is Tony Bacigalupo, a telecommuting project manager at Desktop Solutions Software, a Hauppauge, New York-based Web design company, who catches up on his e-mail while chatting with Quinlan about her site.

This is the world of Jelly, a new type of casual co-working that thousands of workers participate in worldwide. Each week in cities from Melbourne, Australia, to Birmingham, Alabama, workers get together to participate in Jellies, which got their name from jelly beans, according to Amit Gupta, a 25-year-old Web entrepreneur who founded the first Jelly three years ago.