<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 21 July 2011 15:51, Jerry Isdale <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:isdale@gmail.com">isdale@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
It does make a difference. I've been involved with starting two spaces - CrashSpace in metro Los Angeles, and Maui Makers in middle of pacific ocean.<br>
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Crashspace quickly accumulated a critical mass of people to cover rent, etc and have interesting events.<br>
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The island (Maui) is fair sized with a total local population of about 120,000 (whole bunch more visitors too), that is fairly well dispersed. It takes about a half hour to get from my home to what passes for city here. We are fortunate to have some high tech biz here including a supercomputer center. Finding a space that was convenient to enough people was problematic. There are a couple population areas that are geographically isolated with 1+hr drive (Hana is 4hrs away on a good day). I have settled (for now) on an equally inconvenient location thats about 15-30min from most people. It is also rent-free, which greatly helps keeping membership rates where people will consider it.<br>
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Its been slow building up membership, given the small community. There are not that many hacker/makers around. Many of the Makers that are here already have their own decent workshops (some pretty dang awesome ones!). These folks while kindred spirits, are not interested in community workshop. They might come by and talkstory sometimes. We are only just beginning to get our space settled in. Our initial 40' container has filled up with work benches and a little storage. We dont have enough space for people to sit and talk comfortably anymore.<br>
</blockquote><div><br>You're projects look really exciting, I'll have to pass the URL around and explain how you guys started as inspiration to other members. <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
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I also helped kickstart the Honolulu hackerspace (Hi-Capacity). They have benefit of a big city with lots of high tech. Once I got them started meeting up for dinner, etc they took off quickly. They dont have a permanent space yet, but do have a fair number of people who show up regularly to events.</blockquote>
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What sort of public/community spaces exist in your village at present? </blockquote><div>There's a largeish domain (tused mostly for the soccer club and the A & P[1] show) which has a two story hall available for events. We also have a public caravan park that might be useful.<br>
<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">Is there a library, </blockquote><div>Writing from there. <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
youth/adult/community center? </blockquote><div>Not exactly. We have a few separate groups that provide parts of that sort of thing, including a member of the district council who organises teen / pre-teen activities in the holidays.<br>
<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">How many hacker/makers do you think are within a 40minute drive?<br></blockquote><div>
Hmm. There's me, a neighbor who used to design electrical and guidance systems for aeroplanes, various clan-armies of vintage tractor enthusiast. Probably more I'm not aware of. One of the guys at the auto-electric place seemed keen as well.<br>
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If you can identify 4-5 people quickly, with another 5-10 possibles, you might be able to get something going. Try getting them together for a techie dinner.<br></blockquote><div><br>Sounds like a good way of starting. Maybe a picnic so I can save a little money though. We'll have to use a very broad definition of techie as well. <br>
</div><div>[1] Agricultural and Pastural show. I'm not sure if this term is used overseas. A rural trade show with country fair on the side.<br></div></div>