re: Seth.<br>>it makes me very uncomfortable whenever one person defines what a hackerspace is or isn't. <br><br>I get your point, but I also think that the local centric definition can destroy a community/group/movement. The 'green' movement is currently getting watered down to the point of being meaningless. In part, that is because they don't have a clear sense of what 'green' is and what it isn't, and they can't exclude. A company that sells baby-killers that packages their products in 1% recycled cardboard claim 'green' while others do not. Same thing with 'Orgranic' foods and 'humane' raised meat-foods. Religions especially suffer the plauge of 'are you part of us or not' continually splintering and then re-syncing. <br>
<br>I'm interested in your thoughts on that problem, and how to avoid hijacking and watering down an idea/movement that uses the 'it's anything you want it to be' approach. <br><br>I'm also interested in who/why stopped participating over what discussion. And why they choose to simply leave, rather than begin a discussion and maybe teach some folks some new ideas, or talk things out?<br>
<br><br> My viewpoint:<br>I would like to clarify what are key elements of a hackerspace-ness . I think it would be awesome for us as hackerspace-leadership to hash something out. I don't think we can force the idea on anyone, but it would be good to have a central concept we agree to, which makes it clear what our common ground is. Something along the lines of the Rochale Principles* for hackerspaces.<br>
<br>I'm thinking something like (still open for tons of modification/updates/correction/expansions):<br>"There as as many hackerspaces and hackerspace structures as there are stars in the mikyway. But there is always a shared core of identiy and goals that eacn of these spaces agree upon. We (the undersigned spaces and groups) welcome and recognize as a hackerspace any group or community whose goals and actions meet at least 5 of the 6 core concepts of a hackerspace.<br>
<br>The core concepts of a hackerspace:<br>1) Owned and Run by it's members in a spirit of equality<br>2) is a nonprofit orgnization, and open to the outside world on a (semi)regular basis <br>3) Shares tools, equipment and ideas without discrimination<br>
4) A strong emphasis on technology and invention<br>5) Has shared space (or is working on a space) as a center of the community<br>6) A strong spirit of invention and science, based on trial, error, and freely sharing information<br>
<br>As agreed to by the following spaces and groups, on the date of XXXXX<br>-INSERT LIST OF HACKERSPACE, DATE, ETC"<br><br><br>What do you folks thing? I'm interested in any/all feedback, especially fleshing out a robust and flexible definition of a hackerspace that all (or at least a large number) of us can agree to, and to better express our ideals to the outside world.<br>
<br>as always, hack on,<br>- Far McKon<br><br>* <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochdale_Principles">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochdale_Principles</a><br><br>----<br><a href="http://www.Hive76.org">http://www.Hive76.org</a> "Making things awesome, making awesome things!" <br>
<a href="http://www.FarMcKon.net">http://www.FarMcKon.net</a> "Creatively Maladjusted"<br>