[hackerspaces] A New Hacker Has Joined Your Party!

[Chris Hardee]

In certain aspects see your point and I foresee an unfortunate consequence
where too much money and politics get involved and much of the original
spirit is lost (one example I can think of is the 'open core' aspect of the
open source movement).

That being said, I think the argument that branching out to the community,
local economy is soiling the purity of hackerspaces is ridiculous. Much like
the example of open cores, it's an exception but doesn't break the rule and
like the free software movement, the freedom to use the tools is what makes
it strong.

Hackerspaces will remain hobbyist clubhouses, unless, the community becomes
involved. Involved in all levels too. Schools won't care unless we can show
we can teach. Local businesses won't care unless we can show our tools can
help them compete and grow. The local city council might declare a
"Hackspace" a den of thieves and shut us down if we don't get them to
understand and care. In fact I believe it to be utterly essential to future
of hackerspaces, and the hacker movement in general to become involved.

On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 2:39 PM, Far McKon <farmckon at gmail.com> wrote:

> Just to play devils advocate, I worry about some of the themes coming
> out in this thread.
>
> I worry that the socially aware 'we need to keep our agility and
> ability to do what we think is best' hackerspace movement is shifting
> into a 'we need good PR, and to create more startups' makerspace
> movement.
>
> Both are legitimate ideas, and both are legitimate movements.  I
> personally have lot more interest in things like
>  * teaching the people our education system is failing, and
>  * reclaiming the term hacker
>  * advocating for an open network, and sane copyright/culture laws
>
> and a lot less interest in :
>  * creating a startup incubator
>  * watch well educated white males meet and network with more well
> educated white males
>  * make friends with city council, making  501(c)3 status, etc.
>
> Each of these small changes in direction are not too bad, but each one
> alters the velocity and direction of the community, and (IMHO) is
> steering it away from a direct action, hands on community I originally
> got interested in.
>
> Fablabs/Makerspaces overlap a lot with hackerspaces, but I think we
> should let them split apart more. I think 'makerspaces (and I include
> my own space in that group) are watering down the original spirit of
> hackerspaces, and undermining what I love(d) about the community. It's
> activism, it's hand-on, and it's distrust (and avoidance) of
> out-of-the loop 'authority' systems.
>
> Other opinions?
> - Far
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