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Those are some very good points. Without a thriving community, a
hackerspace is just a box with tools. <br>
<br>
Despite Kwartzlab's original mandate was more or less 'by members,
for members', we do a lot of outward-facing events. We team up with
other organizations to teach skills. We have repair cafes and other
things to interact with the community at large. We don't really do a
lot of member-specific events anymore... the AGM is about the only
one. <br>
<br>
We focused on community a lot in the early days -- spontaneous
hackathons, talks, parties and what not. It also helped that we all
contributed to building the actual space together, which created a
lot of camaraderie. When we moved in 2013, we gained some core
members by building out our 2nd space in a similar fashion.<br>
<br>
I'm thinking we need to do more like this... at least get everyone
in the same space more often.<br>
<br>
Ben<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 7/5/2016 1:40 PM, Silence Dogood
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAP_sDUGP7CaVNtjWF1ob_BLixH=LDvSHxSHbSO-DtXcz_-AD=w@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">I think one good question anyone in this list needs
to ask themselves is who their hacker space is servicing?
<div><br>
</div>
<div>For some on the list the answer is 'the public'. For
others the answer is some specific 'community' or
'communities'. For still others it is more of a, if I build
it, they will come mentality. I think the latter approach is
doomed to failure. The first and second approaches are
specific and very very different.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>NYC Resistor focused on community first. From the very get
go, the organization pulled in the people it wanted as members
to help contribute back to it's community and advance it. As
a result, we've enjoyed a relatively mild eight ( jesus has it
been that long? ) year run. And the fact that we are a
homogenous community whole makes that a lot easier to
achieve. Our membership operates with the full force of the
organization behind them. And we are pretty much on board
with agreeing with consensus decisions. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>A public oriented space faces the problem of community
hijacking. Hackerdojo saw this. And it was regrettable, but
not ultimately destructive to the organization. One community
ended up being edged out by another, but the organization
lived on as something new. In a similar way, even NYC
Resistor has changed as members have come and gone over the
years. But, there is a difference between a gradual shift in
culture, and a sudden and abrupt shift that leaves some
feeling as though they have just been robbed of their
investment.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Other issues facing a 'public' space are many. So the
questions of who does your space serve will have a huge impact
on what the criteria are for success, and what models will
work for you.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
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<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jul 5, 2016 at 1:24 PM, Ben
Brown <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:ben@generik.ca" target="_blank">ben@generik.ca</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Finance-wise,
Kwartzlab has never been in the red. This has been<br>
achieved by being fiscally conservative of extra spending
and proper<br>
reporting -- we always know where money is and for what
purpose. Keeping<br>
the doors open and lights on is the priority, we've never
considered a<br>
new space that we can't sustain with our current membership.
Most of our<br>
big tools have come from grants/donations and member-driven
group buys.<br>
We've also kept an emergency fund of three full months of
operational<br>
expenses (rent, hydro, etc) that we've never used, but it's
good to have<br>
just in case.<br>
<br>
Our biggest problem is we don't have enough new members
interested in<br>
the general day-to-day operation of the space. Traditionally
the board +<br>
small number of volunteers take care of most things -
cleaning,<br>
upgrades, new tools, etc. However a lot of our core group
(including<br>
myself) is burning out after seven years of operation. Our
last two<br>
boards were appointed without a vote because we didn't have
enough<br>
interested nominees.<br>
<br>
If anyone's got some insight on successful ways of combating
member<br>
apathy I'd love to hear what worked!<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
Ben<br>
<div class="HOEnZb">
<div class="h5"><br>
On 7/4/2016 6:11 PM, Shirley Hicks wrote:<br>
> Hey everyone,<br>
><br>
> For those of you who visit other hackerspaces, who
has the best financial and operational model? What
organizational models have you looked at/borrowed from
in order to improve your space? Looking for a couple to
study in an effort to improve how the Red Mountain
Makers is operating.<br>
><br>
> Shirley Hicks<br>
> Red Mountain Makers<br>
> Birmingham, AL<br>
> _______________________________________________<br>
> Discuss mailing list<br>
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