Far, I hold almost the complete opposite opinion from you on the direction of hackerspaces, and here's why.<br><br>To me, hackerspaces, makerspaces, community workshops, whatever other term one wants to make for it, is about making things. Everything else either supports that goal or is a distraction from it. That's why I'm starting a company, so I can start generating income I need to live without having to spend all my making time making things for my employer. And in the course of starting a startup, I'm making products that I'm interested in. I network with people when I need to in order to make my startup work better, so I can get back to making things purely for fun faster. 501c3 status gets the hackerspace access to easier money to keep the doors open and the tool shelves stocked, so that reduces the distracting work space organizers have to do to enable making things.<br>
<br>Reclaiming the word hacker? It'd be nice, but it doesn't really affect me. I really think it's almost hopeless. Teaching people our education system is failing? Don't people who want to learn already know that? I think creating an environment that fosters learning for them to find is more important. Open network / sane copyright / culture laws? Important, but outside of the scope of an individual hackerspace in my opinion. Getting in to that invites a lot of politics into the space's culture, and I think that's too much of a distraction from making things.<br>
<br>I guess your point is that hackerspaces are groups that care about your three items and makerspaces are groups that care about my three items. In that sense you may be right, and if so I guess I'm not a part of the hackerspace movement.<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 2:39 PM, Far McKon <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:farmckon@gmail.com">farmckon@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
Just to play devils advocate, I worry about some of the themes coming<br>
out in this thread.<br>
<br>
I worry that the socially aware 'we need to keep our agility and<br>
ability to do what we think is best' hackerspace movement is shifting<br>
into a 'we need good PR, and to create more startups' makerspace<br>
movement.<br>
<br>
Both are legitimate ideas, and both are legitimate movements. I<br>
personally have lot more interest in things like<br>
* teaching the people our education system is failing, and<br>
* reclaiming the term hacker<br>
* advocating for an open network, and sane copyright/culture laws<br>
<br>
and a lot less interest in :<br>
* creating a startup incubator<br>
* watch well educated white males meet and network with more well<br>
educated white males<br>
* make friends with city council, making 501(c)3 status, etc.<br>
<br>
Each of these small changes in direction are not too bad, but each one<br>
alters the velocity and direction of the community, and (IMHO) is<br>
steering it away from a direct action, hands on community I originally<br>
got interested in.<br>
<br>
Fablabs/Makerspaces overlap a lot with hackerspaces, but I think we<br>
should let them split apart more. I think 'makerspaces (and I include<br>
my own space in that group) are watering down the original spirit of<br>
hackerspaces, and undermining what I love(d) about the community. It's<br>
activism, it's hand-on, and it's distrust (and avoidance) of<br>
out-of-the loop 'authority' systems.<br>
<br>
Other opinions?<br>
<font color="#888888">- Far<br>
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