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Greetings all,
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A little over a year ago I got the ball rolling on a Maker community for my area. As we've grown and developed guidance and governance (we have established a nonprofit foundation for Makerspace facilitation, managed by a board of around 12) we've run into the usual potholes and fences. Unfortunately the sticky ones are personal and political.
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In particular, my philosophy is to start every endeavor, every Board meeting with the *default* attribute of openness/transparency and only restrict general member attendance when absolutely necessary (security, venue limitations, etc). Caveat being that attendance != participation. It's a given that you can't cram 170 general members into a 12 ft x 12 ft room, nor should Board meetings be spectacles. But when assemblies are restricted for whatever reason, it's my belief that proceedings be made fully available to the general membership.
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However I've been met with some resistance on the very subject of openness. Based on some push back, I feel out of place in the very organization I started. After years of involvement in open source communities, I have strong feelings on the subject but I'm willing to listen to opinions from all directions.
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What I'd like to ask everyone on this list is: what are YOUR thoughts on this topic? And can anyone point me toward policy that supports or even argues against my beliefs?
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Thanks,
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Randall (Randy) Arnold
<br/>founder/director, Tarrant Makers
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