[hackerspaces] Children in hackerspaces.

[Paul Bohm]

On Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 8:48 AM, Nick Farr (hackerspaces.org)
<nick at hackerspaces.org> wrote:
> What I'm most worried about is the aging of our community.  In Europe,
> perhaps not as much, but I'm not seeing as many kids clamoring to
> become a part of this scene as before.  Where are they all?  I could
> speculate as to where they are--but I see connecting with kids as a
> mission hackerspaces should pursue.

dude, you won't believe how much europe's hacker community has aged,
because you weren't there - but let me tell you, the answer is a lot!
:p

however i think the blame actually does not so much lie in excluding
children, but in a strong conservatism that prevailed for at least a
few years (best exemplified through "don't use the web, it's evil").

problem with that, i think, was that a lot of the smart kids that
realized new tech like the web was here to stay and wanted to develop
for it, didn't feel at home with the hacker culture. and once the
brightest and most forward-looking of a whole generation were lost,
there was less incentive for the next generation after that to join.

it seems to me that what attracts the brightest minds to a place, is
other bright people. thus being open to change and new inputs is
vital, otherwise you might lose a generation, and it's really hard to
recover once your average age keeps going up year after year.

enki