[hackerspaces] hacker passport, international hacker memberiship, resources sharing

Mon Jun 13 08:20:23 CEST 2011

A Hackerspace passport is an interesting concept.  I am open to having visitors to our space and recognizing their membership in some other hackerspace/fablab. However, there area several issues

1) trust/verify the membership (addressed in other replies) - how do you know they are really a member of some other 'real' space (which opens the question "what is a real space?")
2) time = money limits - for a short visit (few days) perhaps free recognition is ok, but if you are staying for an extended period (2wks to months) then a visitor really should pay the host space a (visiting) member fee.  The host does still have to pay the rent and replenish supplies the visitor uses.
3) member benefits - voting rights, N hours free access to equipment, X amt of supplies, % discount on classes, etc.  How much of these would you give to someone who is just passing through? Are they the tie-breaker vote on some contentious issue being voted on? Do they get essentially free access to that laser cutter that all other members are contributing some portion of their dues to use?

Some spaces in high visitor traffic cities (NYC, SF, London, etc) might get a LOT more visitors than spaces in less traveled locations (Helena MT - which I'd actually like to see someday).  The high traffic spaces would bear a larger burden, even from 1-day visitors.  If 20 people/mo visit your space and using hacker-pass get to take a free class, you might not make rent that month.

This gets real complicated quickly. 
I'm going back to the beach to think about it (or nothing).

Jerry Isdale
http://MauiMakers.com

On Jun 12, 2011, at 2:13 PM, Frantisek Apfelbeck wrote:

> From: aestetix aestetix <aestetix at gmail.com>
> To: Frantisek Apfelbeck <algoldor at yahoo.com>
> Cc: Noisebridge <noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net>
> Sent: Sun, June 12, 2011 10:36:38 PM
> Subject: Re: [Noisebridge-discuss] I'm switching for hiatus status
> 
> >> This actually makes me ask whether we could consolidate a "hackerspaces membership" where someone could pay a set fee and be 
> >> considered a member of several different hackerspaces. That way if you travel to Seattle, Chicago, NYC, etc, you'd already have a group >> of friends and be trusted to member-level use of resources.
> 
> >> Has this been considered at all? I know we were playing with the idea of a "passport" a while back.
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Aestetix & all,
> I've been asking in various hackerspaces about the membership/resources and it looks like that if the hackerspaces which you are visiting and where are you from are connected, the situation is quite easy to sort out in a positive way, generally paying in one of them and it is fine.
> 
> However I've to say that from my point of view the most easy way would be pay in your home hacker center and temporarily in the other one which you are visiting. Bit more expensive but most simple. Option number two would be to create some group of hacker spaces which would recognise each other so also the status of the members etc. However what about resources/money. If I'm now at 091 labs as a member of Noisebridge, to whom shall I pay, how much and who is going to keep the resources. The arguments may vary from point of view that you are using resources in a place so you should support it. Or other point of view is that you were using resources in another place before, these help you to create something which you are applying/teaching in the "new" space so again, who gets the resources the helpers at the beginning? Maybe Mitch could you comment? Is your project about the passports about this too, is it going to be revealed soon? :-)))
> 
> It may sounds materialistic but I'm learning more and more that strong/good financial base/habits are very important for creation, running and finishing the projects. I've plenty to learn, but I'm trying.
> 
> Anyway I would love to hear your feedback and I'm posting this also to the hackerspace.org
> 
> Which remind me that I'm around four days behind paying my membership at 091 labs .... 
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Frantisek
> 
> 
> 
> On Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 8:09 AM, Frantisek Apfelbeck <algoldor at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi to All!
> I want to announce that I'm on hiatus status for now and I've been for several
> months, sorry for not announcing publicly before (Kelly was informed, with delay
> ...) .
> 
> 
> The reason for that is my financial situation which is improving but it is still
> not good enough to support multiple memberships. I'm trying to apply the system
> of becoming a member and paying member fees at hacker spaces where I'm active
> (091 labs right now). As soon as I've sufficient funding, I'd like to pay at
> least my starving hacker fees at Noisebridge + the fees of the place where I'm
> temporarily active. This may take me several months, hopefully not more than
> year.
> 
> So best of luck with funding, once I can afford it, I'll join the "in good
> standing" club :-))
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Frantisek
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