[hackerspaces] Inter-Hackerspace Cooperation and Membership

[Paul Bohm]

hey koen,

that sounds great - it seems like you're solving a real problem in
.nl, and i think that might make a lot of sense there, especially if
people from these hackerspaces already know each other well or some
people travel a lot between the spaces. i wasn't trying to discourage
you from finding a good solution for these people that want to support
and be a part of multiple hackerspaces in your area at all. what
you're talking about sounds like a pragmatic solution, and i commend
you for that.

however regarding the larger discussion that spawned this thread, i
believe that agreements like this only work if they're making a
structure that is in essence (in this case through strong social ties
and physical proximity) already there, explicit. people at
hackerspaces generally are already very welcoming, and i don't think a
structured program that vastly exceeds existing social boundaries
could improve this. you can't decree that strangers will be friends -
all you can do is introduce friends to each other and hope they'll
become friends in turn.

enki

On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 2:50 AM, Koen Martens <gmc at sonologic.nl> wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 10:37:19AM -0800, Paul Bohm wrote:
>> guys, why is it suddenly a good idea to solve the potential problems
>> of a potential future with complicated rules and inter-hackerspace
>> contracts?
>>
>> i'm still on the don't try to fix problems that don't exist page!
>>
>> if you're about to travel, having your friends introduce you to their
>> friends in other cities and countries is the way to go.
>>
>> no one's gonna be friendly to you because of some international
>> bilateral contract, no matter how many pages long, but because you're
>> cool, and your friends have introduced you to us as being cool.
>
> Hum, i'm trying to solve an existing problem actually. I'm not suggesting international
> bilateral contracts, just writing down some thoughts that I have discussed with several
> people. And the scope is really limited to Dutch hackerspaces, which is nice and easy
> to oversee (.nl is a really small country and basically everyone in the community knows
> everyone else).
>
> The existing problem is that there are more than a handful of people who want to support
> the local hackerspaces movement, which is currently upcoming in our small country, but
> don't want to commit to one specific hackerspace.
>
> Instead of letting that pool of support go to a waste because it is not accommodated,
> i want to create conditions for that potential support to convert into real support.
>
> Best,
>
> Koen
>
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