[hackerspaces] Next steps -
Yves Quemener
quemener.yves at free.fr
Mon Apr 15 02:28:57 CEST 2013
Do you have any partnerships in the Old World?
I think that there are many differences between US and European spaces and
that would make it sensible to use a slightly different approach. Here in
France for instance there is not much bureaucracy involved in running a non
profit, but the hunt for public funds can potentially lead to much greater
rewards if done in pack.
There had been talks about a loose federation of sorts a few months
(years?) ago but it didn't reach any conclusion as I can tell.
On 15/04/13 02:00, James Carlson wrote:
> Yves, we accept any space that is, in general:
>
> * Not a private club i.e. there is some way a member of the public can
> become a member of the space
> * Not for profit
> * In general supporting some level of learning activity by hosting or
> offering at least one class or event periodically which is for members and
> non-members to learn something or practice some skill (this could even be
> open hack day.)
>
> We also work with a lot of groups that are forming their space--in this way
> we act like an accelerator to help new spaces form.
>
> We do help spaces find grants; often it is the space that finds a grant and
> then we help them make it bigger, or we find a grant that can apply for
> many spaces and then, because the program or idea can apply in many cities
> at once, we can enlarge what is being asked for and have a greater impact.
>
> We also coach spaces and share between spaces the ideas that we can use to
> raise funds without grants, such as event rentals, or sponsorships, or
> other activities. The idea is to keep spaces financially sustainable
> through a mixture of sources.
>
>
> On Sun, Apr 14, 2013 at 5:01 PM, Yves Quemener <quemener.yves at free.fr
> <mailto:quemener.yves at free.fr>> wrote:
>
> This just looks awesome. Thanks for sharing it. A lot of things on your
> site seems tied to the US system, which is fine : I think that a federation
> can only grow by starting regionally. Can you tell us a bit more how you
> choose to accept a space or not in your federation?
>
> Do you help spaces to find donations and grants?
>
>
> On 14/04/13 22:26, James Carlson wrote:
> > I've been following this conversation and appreciate the discussion.
> >
> > In the U.S., we've formed the Space Federation
> > -- http://schoolfactory.org/spacefed -- which is 53 spaces and is
> growing.
> > It's federated, decentralized, and since we do the taxes for everyone, we
> > know it is also profitable--i.e., for the 23 spaces for which we act
> as the
> > charity and process funds, in 2012 the ecosystem of spaces created more
> > money than it spent.
> >
> > We're transparent, democratic, and open--not controlled by private
> > interests, a public charity.
> >
> > In other countries, we've been trying to stimulate the start of more
> spaces
> > through efforts like GEMSI (http://gemsi.org <http://gemsi.org/>) and in
> > '11, went to CCC to share the story of the Space Federation and learn
> from
> > other spaces what's working, what's not, and share collaboration.
> >
> > We've been doing this since 2009 (our organization was founded in 2002),
> > and what we've learned is:
> >
> > * It works
> > * We can have our autonomy and independence, and collaborate too
> > * It doesn't have to be top-down
> > * Spaces are financially sustainable
> > * Ecosystems of spaces are financially sustainable
> > * We can get a lot of financial resources but not come to depend on
> them:
> > in 2012, if we subtract the gifts from foundations and corporations,
> > the spaces were /still/ profitable (see finances from 2012
> >
> <http://schoolfactory.org/content/space-federation-2012-financial-results>)
> >
> > Our goal and aim is to imagine the future in which these spaces are 'the
> > schools'--they take the place of what we currently see / think when
> we say
> > 'school' because we're pretty sure the current implementation of 'school'
> > needs refactoring. That future is a way off, but it's getting closer and
> > closer all the time.
> >
> > I'd appreciate the chance to collaborate with hackerspaces.org
> <http://hackerspaces.org>
> > <http://hackerspaces.org/> on this. We've got a healthy model in the U.S.
> > and even though the laws and taxes are different in each nation, we can
> > separate what changes from what stays the same and provide an active
> > support to each other.
> >
> > What can we do to help?
> > 1. Host the site?
> > 2. Manage it with accountability to the community?
> > 3. Assume the costs?
> >
> > Thank you.
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Apr 14, 2013 at 3:04 PM, James Carlson
> <james at schoolfactory.org <mailto:james at schoolfactory.org>
> > <mailto:james at schoolfactory.org <mailto:james at schoolfactory.org>>> wrote:
> >
> > I've been following this conversation and appreciate the discussion.
> >
> > In the U.S., we've formed the Space Federation --
> > http://schoolfactory.org/spacefed -- which is 53 spaces and is
> growing.
> > It's federated, decentralized, and since we do the taxes for
> everyone,
> > we know it is also profitable--i.e., for the 23 spaces for which
> we act
> > as the charity and process funds, in 2012 the ecosystem of spaces
> > created more money than it spent.
> >
> > We're transparent, democratic, and open--not controlled by private
> > interests, a public charity.
> >
> > In other countries, we've been trying to stimulate the start of more
> > spaces through efforts like GEMSI (http://gemsi.org) and in '11, went
> > to CCC to share the story of the Space Federation and learn from
> other
> > spaces what's working, what's not, and share collaboration.
> >
> > We've been doing this since 2009 (our organization was founded in
> > 2002), and what we've learned is:
> >
> > * It works
> > * We can have our autonomy and independence, and collaborate too
> > * It doesn't have to be top-down
> > * Spaces are financially sustainable
> > * Ecosystems of spaces are financially sustainable
> > * We can get a lot of financial resources but not come to depend on
> > them: in 2012, if we subtract the gifts from foundations and
> > corporations, the spaces were /still/ profitable (see attached
> > finances dashboard)
> >
> > Our goal and aim is to imagine the future in which these spaces are
> > 'the schools'--they take the place of what we currently see / think
> > when we say 'school' because we're pretty sure the current
> > implementation of 'school' needs refactoring. That future is a
> way off,
> > but it's getting closer and closer all the time.
> >
> > I'd appreciate the chance to collaborate with hackerspaces.org
> <http://hackerspaces.org>
> > <http://hackerspaces.org> on this. We've got a healthy model in the
> > U.S. and even though the laws and taxes are different in each nation,
> > we can separate what changes from what stays the same and provide an
> > active support to each other.
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Apr 14, 2013 at 1:45 PM, Yves Quemener
> <quemener.yves at free.fr <mailto:quemener.yves at free.fr>
> > <mailto:quemener.yves at free.fr <mailto:quemener.yves at free.fr>>> wrote:
> >
> > > which involves admitting that none of us
> > > knows the perfect answer - and come up with a solution that
> most
> > think
> > > will work
> >
> > I am not sure if this will qualify as 1. or 2. but I still don't
> > understand
> > the problem you are trying to solve. I think I read all the
> messages in
> > this discussion, and I only identified three things that could be
> > solved by
> > a central entity :
> >
> > A. centralization of legal resources (for which countries?)
> > B. giving a Goal, an Aim and an Inspiration to the
> hackerspaces of
> > the world.
> > C. Give a sens of unity to the movement.
> >
> > There has been other proposals, but all the other I have seen can
> > be or are
> > currently solved by independent projects that it makes sense to
> > rely on.
> >
> > More importantly, I see no task that any hackerspace would be
> > willing to
> > give money for, except maybe the legal help, but then again, the
> > EFF may be
> > a safer bet if you are in US. IF you are targeting hackerspaces
> > outside US,
> > are you ready to cover all the legal systems out there?
> >
> > B. requires a charismatic leader or a strong driver in an awesome
> > project.
> > This is a pre-requisite, you have to have it first before
> making a
> > foundation or council.
> >
> > C. is actually doable without funds but has been attempted
> before.
> > It could
> > take the shape of a charter (maybe a modular one, a la creative
> > commons?),
> > that hackerspaces agree or not to follow. Fablabs actually have
> > this sort
> > of things.
> >
> >
> > On 14/04/13 17:12, Sean Bonner wrote:
> > > The way I see it we have two choices at this point.
> > >
> > > 1. We decide to work together - which involves admitting that
> > none of us
> > > knows the perfect answer - and come up with a solution that
> most
> > think will
> > > work (I'm aware there is no way to ever make everyone
> happy) and
> > try to
> > > create a resource that is valuable to people interested in
> starting
> > > hackerspaces as well as valuable to people already involved
> with
> > them.
> > >
> > > ~or~
> > >
> > > 2. We continue being snarky and bashing/insulting each other.
> > >
> > >
> > > I'm cool with either option. While I think there's massive
> > potential for a
> > > shared resource and I point people to the hackerspace patterns
> > all the
> > > time, my hackerspaces won't live or die based on anything that
> > happens on
> > > hackerspaces.org <http://hackerspaces.org>
> <http://hackerspaces.org>
> > <http://hackerspaces.org>, one of the benefits of a
> > > decentralized system such as this. And I have over 9000
> hours of
> > trolling
> > > experience so I can just sit around laughing in everyones faces
> > too. Either
> > > way.
> > >
> > > -s
> > >
> > >
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