[hackerspaces] How do you define YOUR hackerspace

[Deech]

At Arch Reactor, we feel much the same way.

We are the board. We are Hackers. When our board hat is on, it's not our job
to tell hackers what to hack. It's just our job to keep the lights on and
the soldering irons hot and occasionally deal with situations as they arise
to keep the peace.

We've discussed this a few times and we feel we are a community workshop.
Our first priority is to build. Our second is to find other people who need
us and bring them in. We are not politically or religiously motivated, in
fact, we disdain that sort of talk in the shop at all. Keep your rants at
home.

We try really hard to let the members lead the way. If there is a need, we
form a group to do it that's outside of the board structure. If enough
people want it to happen, it happens, if they don't, it doesn't.

One thing that I push as Pres, and this is me, is community inclusion. I
want to make sure we make an effort to involve people. For instance, we're
staring American Sign Language classes in a couple weeks so we can include
our friends in the deaf community. I think everyone has a point of view and
you need someone to pick some big goals and follow them.

-Deech


On Fri, May 6, 2011 at 6:32 PM, Ross Smith <rsmith at i3detroit.com> wrote:

> Who out there has actually had a discussion about the feel or definition of
>> their space and what direction you want to go in? Has it always just been a
>> natural progression, or have you actually sat down to discuss what you want
>> to be? I get the feeling that PSOne must have had some discussion of this
>> type when you got offered funding and turned it down.
>>
>
> OK, I'll bite.
>
> At i3Detroit, we've talked about it at length and decided on two things:
> first, that our space as an organization with an elected board of directors
> is a somewhat different organism from its members; and second, that the
> "organization"'s job is to make it as easy as possible for the members to do
> all the interesting stuff - build statues, run 2600 meetings, etc.
>
> As a result, the job of the board of directors is to arbitrate big
> resource/conflict decisions, keep the lights on, the paperwork tended, and
> the real world off our backs.  Then our members go about their business, be
> that welding, movie props, hardware hacking, or stationary trapeze
> performance.
>
> The benefit of being this vague and open is that our members do use our
> space for all those things.  Our members bring their own purpose and use the
> space for it.  In this way, the space doesn't have a purpose until a member
> gives it one.
>
> Being open like this doesn't mean we have no focus; we have several, but
> they are only as strong as the members who lead them are determined.  In my
> mind that's how it should be - you get out what you put in.
>
> --
> Ross Smith
> i3Detroit President
> www.i3detroit.com
>
> "Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right."
> -- Henry Ford
>
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>
>
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