Ron, I'd say that while NYCResistor seems largely "maker" space. They house a pretty close to equal distribution of hackers ( maybe not infosec but soft engineers ) makers and crafters. In that regard... they are a single org. And while balancing concerns between the three is hard, the point is not the capabilities of the space, but the community it fosters. Cross pollination is a good thing.<br>
<br>I think most spaces figure that out eventually. <br><br>-Matt<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 6:31 PM, Ron Bean <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bucketworks@rbean.users.panix.com">bucketworks@rbean.users.panix.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;"><div class="im">Far McKon <<a href="mailto:farmckon@gmail.com">farmckon@gmail.com</a>> writes:<br>
<br>
>Just to play devils advocate, I worry about some of the themes coming<br>
>out in this thread.<br>
<br>
</div>I do too, but for different reasons (and I'll note that some of our<br>
local members will disagree with me about this)<br>
<br>
It's nice to think that we could inspire more people to become Makers,<br>
but as a practical matter I don't think it's going to happen very<br>
often. In order to pay the rent, we need to attract the type of people<br>
who are 80% convinced the moment they walk in the door. Since targeted<br>
publicity is hard, we need general publicity as well, but the purpose<br>
of that should be to encourage people to pass the word to others who<br>
are already predisposed to join us. If that doesn't happen, we won't be<br>
around very long, because people who need a lot of convincing are going<br>
to balk at the cost, and we won't have enough members to be<br>
self-sustaining.<br>
<br>
This brings up an important difference between a "hackerspace" and a<br>
"makerspace"-- a "hackerspace" just needs enough room for people to<br>
hack on their laptops, so it can rent less space and therefore charge<br>
less for membership. A "makerspace" requires more square footage for<br>
shop space, and therefore has to charge more for membership. It has to<br>
find a large number of members who are willing to pay that higher cost<br>
for years at a time, and we need to focus on locating people like that.<br>
It's OK to also have members who join for a few months and then drop<br>
out, but you'll never attract enough of those to keep the doors open<br>
over the long run.<br>
<br>
Alternatively, if you want to be an educational institution, you will<br>
have to focus on that, at the expense of less time hacking on your own<br>
projects. You'll have to put some serious effort into getting grants to<br>
pay the costs of all that outreach. That will result in a very<br>
different organization. In theory you might be able to do both under<br>
one roof, but it would have to be two organizations sharing space,<br>
rather than one organization that can't decide what its real goal is.<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
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