[hackerspaces] Inclusivity, alienation and a lame duck

Fri Feb 20 02:00:34 CET 2015

Humour me, Matt. Can you provide me a couple of examples of when
hackerspaces have effected "far-reaching or profound reform in the
existing order"?

On 20 February 2015 at 00:08, matt <matt at nycresistor.com> wrote:
> A hackerspace that could content itself with external reforms would not have
> the slightest chance of success in the general struggle for life among the
> hackerspaces of the world. A movement that would confine its mission to such
> adjustments, which are certainly right and equitable, would effect no
> far-reaching or profound reform in the existing order. The whole effect of
> such measures would be limited to externals. They would not furnish the
> hackerspace with that moral armament which alone will enable it effectively
> to overcome the weaknesses from which we are suffering today. In order to
> elucidate this point of view it may be worth while to glance once again at
> the real origins and causes of the cultural evolution of mankind.
>
>
> -openfly
>
> On Thu, Feb 19, 2015 at 6:31 PM, Mark Rosenblitt-Janssen
> <dreamingforward at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> The best thing you can do in such a situation, is get the "eye of the
>> tiger".   Get so good at something, something that is respected there,
>> and then YOU can become the dictator.
>>
>> Cheers!  ;^)
>>
>> Marxos
>>
>> On Thu, Feb 19, 2015 at 2:15 PM, Morgan Gangwere
>> <morgan.gangwere at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > My hackerspace has 3 problems that are feeding into each other:
>> >
>> > (This is somewhat scattered -- read all the parts or you'll lose
>> > context).
>> >
>> > 1. The board (you'll see a recurring theme soon) has declared that we
>> > must
>> > be "Inclusive" -- and so a task force (lead by a board member, who is
>> > also
>> > wife of the president of the board) reached out to people who had at one
>> > point expressed an interest in joining but had not yet. This came down
>> > to
>> > "inclusivity."
>> >
>> > Don't get me wrong, I'm far from being the typical cis-het-white-male,
>> > and
>> > I'd love to see more non cis-white-het-male folk in our space. The
>> > following
>> > note is *my view* of this and I'm trying very hard to *not* point at any
>> > one
>> > person.
>> >
>> > The inclusivity policy was enforced by the president of the board,
>> > before it
>> > was actually presented to the membership for discussion, over what came
>> > down
>> > to a mis-communication between himself and the person who had just
>> > simply
>> > vented (who is also on the board; We'll get to her later)
>> >
>> > The board held a straightforward, but very heated conversation with the
>> > membership. El Pres makes everything about him (and how it's not his
>> > doing),
>> > the one who wrote it made it (somehow) all about sex, and one who
>> > originally
>> > vented and started this insanity rumbling made it all about how she
>> > doesn't
>> > like men.
>> >
>> > We hammered it out, with the members that care enough to show up (about
>> > 20,
>> > out of a population of 80ish) being mostly upset at the process: a
>> > member of
>> > the space, who has done quite a bit of the space, was alienated on a
>> > policy
>> > he had no idea existed, over a misunderstanding that would have been
>> > solved
>> > with someone asking some basic troubleshooting questions.
>> >
>> > 2. We've moved into our second space. Over the last about 2 years, we've
>> > had
>> > a hell of a ride, with an indiegogo to kick off the party. One of the
>> > perks
>> > of getting us moving money was to be able to name a room. One of the
>> > rooms,
>> > the electronics lab, was named after an MLP fan-video-gone-viral. There
>> > was
>> > some argument over if this was appropriate and overall, the whole
>> > process
>> > was fairly unorganized and frustrating for those involved. Some were
>> > confused as to how long the name lasted, etc.
>> >
>> > The individual that named the electronics lab that did it to make people
>> > think, confront their discomfort, etc. It's been a bone of contention
>> > among
>> > some of the membership.
>> >
>> > Over the week, the board has used the name as a means to beat on
>> > members.
>> > The actions of several board members (notably, the ones already
>> > mentioned;
>> > there are 6 on our board, plus president, who is the longest standing
>> > board
>> > member with 1 year terms). Several of our members are older guys. Yes,
>> > the
>> > name is a bit annoying, but they have their own qualms, and the board
>> > has
>> > used this as a means to (subversively) ostracize and alienate those
>> > members.
>> >
>> > For those quietly attacked, it feels like discrimination. For pretty
>> > much
>> > everyone else? *nobody gives a damn*.
>> >
>> > 3. The president of the board is useless, has no leadership skills, and
>> > has
>> > become in some ways a lame duck; He is a non-voting member of the board
>> > according to his bylaws, but can still enforce power as president to
>> > make
>> > things happen. I cannot attest to this, but it seems like many are
>> > speaking
>> > behind his back, actively trying to usurp his power. At the moment,
>> > there's
>> > no way for the membership to remove a president from their position. The
>> > fact his spouse serves on the board raises concerns for some of us.
>> >
>> > Our previous president moved on due to his promotion in the military. He
>> > was
>> > trained to lead and manage. Since leaving, our space has become prone to
>> > infighting and argument over semantics with the board.
>> >
>> > I've considered calling for a vote of no confidence by the membership,
>> > but
>> > there's a problem: A majority of the membership doesn't even really show
>> > up
>> > nor care at this point. Yet that silent majority keeps the doors open.
>> > Our
>> > bylaws state that votes need a quorum of the membership (defined as 70%)
>> > and
>> > *three times in a row* we've had to come to a board-decision to lower it
>> > down to 50% in order to pass the board vote.
>> >
>> > There are members, people who are in the space and who are much more
>> > suited
>> > to be president, and who have come up in the past as being on the
>> > ballot.
>> >
>> > A note on processes: The space meets once a month, meeting to discuss
>> > things
>> > within the space and give progress reports on projects, bring up any
>> > input
>> > from the membership, etc. The board meets once a quarter, and that's
>> > when
>> > any actions that the board enacts happens. Recently, the board has been
>> > meeting more regularly than the membership meetings and having
>> > conversations. These are not often announced. The board is in some ways
>> > a
>> > set of BDFLs (several members of the board have been there since the
>> > inception of the space) and there is rarely any major discussion that
>> > happens at the membership meetings, which are run on timers and a "Let's
>> > just get this over with" mentality.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> > Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
>> > http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>> >
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-- 
Russ Garrett
russ at garrett.co.uk