[hackerspaces] Establishing hackerspace and getting people actively involved

[Ron Bean]

David Raison <david at hackerspace.lu> writes:

>However, and this is where the bright side comes in, participation,
>self-activity, all will improve with a physical space. Not in the
>first two months, but after four to five months.. people will start to
>join your space and they will actually start very interesting projects
>of their own.

I agree that a physical space makes a huge difference, the problem is
how to pay for it while you're ramping up membership. In our case we got
some help from a landlord who offered us a deal for the first 6 months
(we plan to sign the lease this week). We didn't expect this to happen,
and I don't see how we could have planned for it. But it does happen.

Most of the projects I'm interested in working on do require a physical 
space, otherwise I would have done them already. And not every member
will be interested in or able to contribute to every project.          

It can help to have some members who have their own workshop space, and
try to match projects up with people who can help with them. We've done
some of that here. One summer I rented a co-worker's garage for three
months-- not ideal, but cheaper than renting a "real" space.