[hackerspaces] Taxonomy of maker spaces

[Robert Ward]

I think the Freemasons would fall into the same category, they're all  
service organizations.  They exist to serve their local communities,  
in whatever capacity the members are strongest at.

The Lions club in my hometown ran a very nice public park, that the  
city could never have afforded to keep maintained.  The Rotary club  
there ran a student exchange program that is the best I've ever seen.   
And there are a lot of other examples of these clubs doing good works,  
mostly in the towns where they're located.  They do also serve their  
members however, as they are a valuable networking resource for  
businessmen and professionals of all types.

I see hackerspaces in much the same light.  We do exist to serve our  
members, but we also want to reach out into the community to get  
people, young people especially, excited about technology and making  
things.

~Bob

On Oct 23, 2009, at 9:12 AM, quemener.yves at free.fr wrote:

> Is that some kind of... freemasonry ? Not sure I understand the  
> wikipedia article right. What do they DO in those lodges ? Is it  
> similar to Malta Knights ? I see what the Rotary is, but here it is  
> basically seen as a richs people club.
>
> I usually describe hackerspaces as the university electronics club  
> for people who are not at university anymore.
>
> Iv
>
>
> ----- "Robert Ward" <robert.t.ward at gmail.com> a écrit :
>
>> Our universal answer for the question "What is a hackerspace?", when
>>
>> asked by people who wouldn't really get a longer explanation is,
>> "We're like an Elks lodge...but for geeks.".
>>
>> As I write this it's occurring to me that I don't know if anyone has
>>
>> these types of organizations outside the US, e.g. The Elks, Eagles,
>> Rotary, etc.  Well, at least stateside it does make some sense to  
>> your
>>
>> average Joe.
>>
>> ~Bob
>>
>> On Oct 23, 2009, at 3:25 AM, Koen Martens wrote:
>>
>>> On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 10:24:34AM +0200, Koen Martens wrote:
>>>> Hya,
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 01:41:09PM -0700, Jerry Isdale wrote:
>>>>> So as a help to noobs like me, I'd like to discuss some of the
>> terms
>>>>> used for various biz models for the generic term of 'Maker
>> Space'.
>>>>> Terms like hackerspace, fab lab, tech shop, and names for
>> variants
>>>>> outside those.
>>>>
>>>> I have been asking myself 'what is a hackerspace' a lot lately,
>>>> because i'm
>>>> just starting one and need to explain this to eg. potential
>>>> landlord. I don't
>>>> think there is one single answer, this is already evident in the
>>>> great number
>>>> of different hackerspaces: some nothing more than an office unit,
>>
>>>> others in
>>>> multi-story buildings with rooms varying in function, others not
>>>> having their
>>>> own space at all..
>>>>
>>>> Ask anyone on this list what a hackerspace is, and you are likely
>>
>>>> to get
>>>> very different answers.
>>>>
>>>> I, for one, would not want to come up with a single, fits-all
>>>> definition of
>>>> the term, simply because that would deny the great variety that
>>>> makes all
>>>> these spaces so interesting!
>>>
>>> Oh, and I forgot: as for the other terms like fablab, tech shop,
>>> maker space,
>>> etc.. I think they're all in one blurry Venn diagram, overlapping
>>> here, differing
>>> there. Any single space might be in any number of circles in the
>>> Venn diagram.
>>>
>>> Gr,
>>>
>>> Koen
>>>
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>>
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