[hackerspaces] National Fab Lab Network Act of 2010 (111-HR6003)

[Bryan Bishop]

On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 2:04 PM, David Powell <davepow16 at gmail.com> wrote:
> When I think of Fab Lab I think of the commercial version of a Hackerspace.

Technically, you should be thinking of a fablab as that initiative out
of the MIT Media Lab. They are usually built under a grant from NSF or
some other academia/grant body. An example of a commercial hackerspace
might be TechShop. Most hackerspaces are community owned and operated,
although they tend to be their own organizations yes (like a co-op,
LLC, or 501c3).

> Although it would be non-profit would it also be inexpensive? I'm all for

The fablab initiative out of MIT is not entirely inexpensive. Last
time I checked they bought most of their equipment from suppliers.

http://fab.cba.mit.edu/about/fab/inv.html
http://diyhpl.us/cgit/skdb/tree/doc/BOMs/comparison/fablab.yaml

For comparison, techshop's equipment usually includes:
http://diyhpl.us/cgit/skdb/tree/doc/BOMs/comparison/techshop.yaml

> creating a network of Hackerspaces. But I don't feel educated enough to
> write congressmen in support of this bill. I don't think know the people
> behind the bill. How can I be sure they have my best interest in mind and

No, you're absolutely right. I have found that the MIT Media Lab can
be like a clique sometimes, and particularly avoiding of hackerspaces
in general.. I could be wrong, maybe they have hit on Nick Farr before
or something, who knows. But yeah, so far it has been primarily an
academic pursuit for them (Neil Gershenfeld wanting to answer the
question "what would people make?"). What would be really amazing is
having hackerspaces brought on board to this initiative- i.e., using
the already established hackerspaces in the United States, instead of
building everything from scratch.

> are not trying to make 7 figure living through this "non-profit" like many

:-)

> do in other non-profits in our country. How can I be sure this is really
> about the science and technology and not about money? I would need to be
> better educated before making a decision.

- Bryan
http://heybryan.org/
1 512 203 0507