[hackerspaces] Post: i3 Detroit: The Making of a Hackerspace

Wed Apr 22 16:25:54 CEST 2015

Glad to hear i3 is making progress on these!

On Wed, Apr 22, 2015 at 10:20 AM, Charlie Rysenga <cpryseng at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Rachel,
>
> As a current member of i3 i must disagree on a couple points.
>
> 1) Harassement, sexism, racism.
> This is a problem for every community and at i3 I think we have gotten a
> lot better since the incident that Ed mentions. During my current tenure as
> a officer we have had one complaint of homophobic/sexist statements made by
> a member that was reported and handled by the board. The board took action
> to council the offending member as to how what they were saying was hurtful
> to others and we have not had a problem from him since.
>
> 2) Cost and classism.
> We currently have a thriving scholarship program. We have 4
> current recipients who are all very active in our community. Two are
> involved in the maintenance of i3 (one is our lead
> membership coordinator and the other a warden) and the other two are just
> regular people who come to make things.
>
> I may follow up later with an expansion on these after I get off work,
> Charlie
>
> On Wed, Apr 22, 2015 at 9:47 AM, Edward L Platt <ed at elplatt.com> wrote:
>
>> Great question Rachel.
>>
>> I've discussed this both on and off list int he past. In particular:
>> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/pipermail/discuss/2013-January/007129.html
>> https://elplatt.com/hackerspaces-and-inclusion
>>
>> There are a range of factors. Here is a non-exhaustive list. Note that
>> I've been less involved the past couple years, so some of this may have
>> improved recently.
>>
>> Founder effect. The founders were all middle-class white men. We were the
>> ones who were tapped into the tech scene and had the resources to start the
>> space. The space has become more diverse, but slowly. I should mention that
>> the photo was taken in the earlier days, so the space has become a bit more
>> diverse in recent years.
>>
>> Lack of outreach. Even if a space is doing nothing to discourage
>> diversity, nothing will get better. As far as I know, i3 hasn't made any
>> coordinated outreach efforts.
>>
>> Harassement, sexism, racism. i3 has been ahead of the game on
>> implementing a harassment policy, but the one time a complaint was filed,
>> the then-CEO killed it without explanation. During the years I was at i3, I
>> always heard that women felt surprisingly comfortable and welcome there. In
>> more recent years, I've heard complaints that women are sometimes treated
>> like either someone's girlfriend or hit on. I've also heard complaints from
>> black men who believe they're being treated with suspicion. After hearing
>> details, it's not clear that they were, but in an environment like Detroit,
>> if you can't tell if someone's racist or not it has the same chilling
>> effect as being racist.
>>
>> Segregation. Metro Detroit is one of the most segregated areas in the
>> country. While i3 is only a half-mile outside the city limit, the immediate
>> area is not very racially diverse. Although still much more divese than
>> some of the outer-ring suburbs.
>> https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/14ce129a10af0d4a
>>
>> Cost and classism. Membership and materials are expensive. There is an
>> attitude among some members that "if you can't afford membership, you don't
>> belong here." While I was on the board I pushed very hard to pass a
>> need-based "makership" which created a free membership for every 10 paid
>> members, but it was never implemented. A large portion of the minorities in
>> Metro Detroit fall into the poorer, working class.
>>
>> Transportation. This is really related to cost, but Detroit is *huge* and
>> Metro Detroit is *really huge*. Public transit is abominable, and many of
>> the poorer and minority residents can't afford cars. The legacy of racism
>> is built into the road infrastructure as well. Many through-streets
>> dead-end just before 8 Mile Rd (the city limit) and it's often illegal to
>> turn onto the ones that don't.
>>
>> -Ed
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 22, 2015 at 9:10 AM, Rachel Uwa <info at schoolofma.org> wrote:
>>
>>> hi Edward,
>>>
>>> thanks for sharing! one thing that came to mind is that the main image
>>> has not much diversity for being in Detroit. What does the community
>>> attribute this to out of curiosity? Do you also do events for the public or
>>> just have members pay to use the space?
>>>
>>> no judgement, I know diversity doesn't always come easy if ever, but
>>> it's definitely worth it to
>>> think about.. no doubt you all have I assume? thanks in advance for your
>>> reply:)
>>>
>>> kind regards,
>>> Rachel
>>>
>>> On Wed, Apr 22, 2015 at 2:45 PM, Edward L Platt <ed at elplatt.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Here's a post I wrote reflecting on being a part of i3 Detroit over the
>>>> first several years. Thought y'all might find it interesting.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> https://readfold.com/read/elplatt/i3-detroit-the-making-of-a-hackerspace-HJbifeqd
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Edward L. Platt
>>>> http://elplatt.com
>>>> http://civic.mit.edu/users/elplatt
>>>> http://i3detroit.com
>>>> @elplatt <http://twitter.com/elplatt>
>>>>
>>>> This electronic mail message was sent from my desktop personal
>>>> computer.  Please forgive any long-winded, overly-prosaic ramblings.
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Discuss mailing list
>>>> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
>>>> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> ///////////////////////////////////////
>>>
>>> *Founder / School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe  |   *
>>> http://schoolofma.org/
>>>
>>> ///////////////////////////////////////
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Discuss mailing list
>>> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
>>> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Edward L. Platt
>> http://elplatt.com
>> http://civic.mit.edu/users/elplatt
>> http://i3detroit.com
>> @elplatt <http://twitter.com/elplatt>
>>
>> This electronic mail message was sent from my desktop personal computer.
>> Please forgive any long-winded, overly-prosaic ramblings.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Discuss mailing list
>> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
>> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>
>

-- 
Edward L. Platt
http://elplatt.com
http://civic.mit.edu/users/elplatt
http://i3detroit.com
@elplatt <http://twitter.com/elplatt>

This electronic mail message was sent from my desktop personal computer.
Please forgive any long-winded, overly-prosaic ramblings.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.hackerspaces.org/pipermail/discuss/attachments/20150422/314f74f3/attachment-0001.html>