[hackerspaces] Order vs anarchy - how do you deal with that

Mon Nov 12 22:58:31 CET 2018

At Melbourne Makerspace in FL, USA

How do you organize your hackerspace?
5 board members meet monthly to go over financials, old business and new
business.  We also plan events and classes, and anything else that needs to
be done to keep the space running and the bills paid, etc.

Does really anarchy/actocracy work for you or do you have some set of more
specific rules?
We have rules but if something needs to be done and it won't hurt anyone or
the space or break anything, just do it and let the board members know.  We
have an email address that automatically emails all 5 of us at once for
everyone and the public to use.  For example, our laser cutter broke by
cutting its own water cooling lines (we kept the bucket underneath the
cabinet thinking it had a metal sheet under the honeycomb, it does not) and
one of our new members fixed it by replacing the hoses and another new
member built a wooden "table" that fits underneath to protect the hoses.
Kinda like a do-ocracy of sorts?

How do you deal with mis-behaving members ?
We have a vote by members and board members and then disable their RFID
key.  We haven't had anyone steal anything and have security cameras in
every room with off-site video storage for insurance and safety.  We were
able to see for example the last person that closed the garage door and
forgot to lock it.

How do you deal with equipment having damaged/stolen?
Damaged equipment gets fixed whenever the person/people that knows how to
fix it has time to fix it.  So some things like our wood band saw has been
sitting broken for a few weeks now.  Or in the case of the laser cutter we
sometimes have members that take the initiative and just fix it and ask for
forgiveness later.  He sent an email with pictures of everything he found
and each step of fixing it.  Great to see!  Then apologized if he had
overstepped by fixing it.

Do you reward members having put some efforts in hackerpace running or
just all members are equal?
We do offer half price membership to anyone that wants to help open the
space and give tours and help with projects during our 7 days a week open
house hours.

How do you deal with general mess made by people?
We have a snack area with sodas, water, chips, candy, crackers, etc. that
we buy at a big box store and charge a little extra like 50 cents for a
soda and 50 cents for a bag of chips but $1 for chocolate candy.  We make
enough from this to pay one of our members to clean and tidy up the space
once a month.

How do you deal with abandoned dust-covered projects whose owner doesn't
care about these anymore?
We have a rule that no one can leave projects out on any of the tables so
you have to store it in your member storage box (cardboard bankers box from
Staples).  If it doesn't fit then take it home.  If your project is drying
glue or paint, etc. then put a note on it with your name and date you'll be
back.  After that date we start sending emails.  Then after a few days we
email again and call you.  If no response then it gets broken down into
parts to be used by other members in their projects or thrown away.

On Mon, Nov 12, 2018 at 3:41 PM Bilal Ghalib <bg at bilalghalib.com> wrote:

> This is a simple thumbs up. I just wanted to double underline the
> principles and signage parts :)
> Thanks Ed!
> +BG
>
> On Sun, Nov 11, 2018 at 7:30 AM Edward L Platt <ed at elplatt.com> wrote:
>
>> Sounds like the space might be growing faster than it can support. It
>> really helps to have a common vision between members. Several of the design
>> patterns I wrote about here (
>> https://elplatt.com/new-hackerspace-design-patterns ) are relevant, in
>> particular: principles, signage, and physics.
>>
>> Happy hacking,
>> Ed
>>
>> On Sat, Nov 10, 2018 at 11:23 PM Christopher Agocs <chris at agocs.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> At the South Side Hackerspace in Chicago, we started off with a set of
>>> bylaws that defined how the space was going to be run. The bylaws defined a
>>> board of directors, who could appoint members to be responsible for various
>>> spaces within our hackerspace (woodshop, electronics bench, 3D printer
>>> zone, etc.). These "area captains" take ownership in making sure tools are
>>> maintained and things are put away. We believe very strongly in actocracy,
>>> but we also believe that there needs to be some structure to keep
>>> things moving.
>>>
>>> The bylaws allow for members to be banned (this has only come up once).
>>> They also allow members to propose rules by which the space must be run.
>>> One of the rules defines a means storing half-finished projects in the
>>> space, so long as there is the owner's name and date they'll finish the
>>> project. If a lot of clutter is building up in the space, a board member
>>> can put tags on abandoned projects, take pictures of them, email the
>>> membership, and give people a week to respond before projects are thrown
>>> out. There's very little email drama around it because people understand
>>> the rules.
>>>
>>> We believe that most people are generally doing good, and so any
>>> leadership from the board is a light touch.
>>>
>>> The bylaws are available here: https://wiki.sshchicago.org/wiki/Bylaws
>>>
>>> To answer your questions directly:
>>>
>>> > How do you organize your hackerspace?
>>> We have a group of 5-7 members who serve on the board of directors. The
>>> positions are elected every year, and any member in good standing may run.
>>> The board selects members to act as area captains; they're responsible for
>>> making sure tools are maintained, the areas are cleaned, and supplies are
>>> bought. They spend some of their time at the space taking care of the space.
>>>
>>> > Does really anarchy/actocracy work for you or do you have some set of
>>> more specific rules?
>>> More specific. Actocracy works well in early stages when a small core of
>>> people are building the space, but it doesn't scale well I've found.
>>>
>>> > How do you deal with mis-behaving members ?
>>> The board has the power to ban a member, but it's only happened once and
>>> after a lengthy series of warnings and uncomfortable conversations. If a
>>> member messes up, we talk to them, explain what they did wrong, and help
>>> them improve. If they don't want to do better, well, that's a problem.
>>>
>>> > How do you deal with equipment having damaged/stolen?
>>> Equipment breaks. We set aside some money to fix it. If we find a member
>>> is intentionally damaging equipment, that's a problem that we deal with.
>>>
>>> > Do you reward members having put some efforts in hackerpace running or
>>> just all members are equal?
>>> We have two tiers of members with keys to the space: Full members donate
>>> more money every month; they can vote and get a storage locker. Partial
>>> members get keys to the space and access to the tools, but they can't vote
>>> or get a locker. The board can, and does, give people membership upgrades
>>> to taking on additional responsibilities around the space.
>>>
>>> > How do you deal with general mess made by people?
>>> We grumble and clean it up. Area captains spend a couple hours a month
>>> making sure their areas are usable. Personally, if I've noticed a lot of
>>> tools left out, I'll spend some time working on tool storage rather than my
>>> own projects.
>>>
>>> > How do you deal with abandoned dust-covered projects whose owner
>>> doesn't care about these anymore?
>>> Create a rule that the membership finds reasonable that lets you give a
>>> lot of warning that something will be thrown out if the owner doesn't
>>> remove it or petition for it to be saved in an entirely reasonable amount
>>> of time. Give plenty of warning, and err on the side of leniency, but you
>>> can't let your hackerspace become an unusable pile of electronics waste.
>>>
>>> Good luck!
>>> -Chris
>>>
>>> On Sat, Nov 10, 2018 at 5:47 PM Robert Holub <mrholub at hotmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dear all,
>>>>
>>>> I'm a member of one of hackerpace that is having interpersonal issues
>>>> now
>>>> that could be described like this:
>>>>
>>>> Although it has about 50 of paying members, only few of these are
>>>> actually
>>>> active ( i.e at least showing up sometimes in  place).
>>>> It is practically impossible to ban somebody for anything (stealing
>>>> etc.)
>>>> as there is no any rule for this and as you can imagine single
>>>> mis-behaving person can be a pain and there is no official way how to
>>>> deal
>>>> with it.
>>>>
>>>> Hackerspace has moved to the new place and it was a lot of work to
>>>> rebuild
>>>> it, some of members has put great effort in that while majority didn't
>>>> care.
>>>> There was a great mess in all of stuff after moving in, some of
>>>> members
>>>> has categorized stuff like parts, tools, wires etc.
>>>> There were many dust-covered non-working projects project abandoned
>>>> years
>>>> ago so it was decided put these on the table and put it on mailing list
>>>> in
>>>> order to let owners know and let decide what to do with these.
>>>> There was a huge flame war around this despite the fact that NO
>>>> creations
>>>> were intended to be thrown away just sort these out somehow (only junk
>>>> like old PC power supplies having wires cut off were thrown out).
>>>> Most of people didn't care about these old projects so these were put
>>>> in
>>>> the box and again NOTHING was thrown away.
>>>> Now the place is more or less built up but there is no much of
>>>> activity
>>>> there as there are 2 movements in the hackerspace:
>>>>
>>>> First movement insists on actocracy but the problem is that leads in
>>>> long-term to damaged projects/equipment of other people etc.
>>>>
>>>> Other movement would like to set more specific rules, for example:
>>>> - option to ban persons acting against interest of hackerpsace
>>>> (stealing
>>>> etc.)
>>>> - reward members putting efforts in making hackerspace running etc.
>>>> - avoiding damaging of equipment so members wouldn't need worry about
>>>> having some more sophisticated (and expensive) equipment there.
>>>>
>>>> It was told that actocracy / anarchy works in other hackerspace but no
>>>> examples were given.
>>>> This has got me an idea to simply ask how this is actually done in
>>>> other
>>>> hackerspaces.
>>>>
>>>> As you can probably feel, I'm in movement of setting up some rules in
>>>> order to be able to keep some more sophisticated equipment in
>>>> hackerspace
>>>> without having it ruined etc.
>>>>
>>>> My question is:
>>>>
>>>> How do you organize your hackerspace?
>>>> Does really anarchy/actocracy work for you or do you have some set of
>>>> more
>>>> specific rules?
>>>> How do you deal with mis-behaving members ?
>>>> How do you deal with equipment having damaged/stolen?
>>>> Do you reward members having put some efforts in hackerpace running or
>>>> just all members are equal?
>>>> How do you deal with general mess made by people?
>>>> How do you deal with abandoned dust-covered projects whose owner
>>>> doesn't
>>>> care about these anymore?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thanks in advance for your answers and putting some light in this.
>>>>
>>>> With respect,
>>>>
>>>> Mr.Holub
>>>>
>>>> ---
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Edward L. Platt
>> PhD Candidate, University of Michigan School of Information
>> he/him | https://elplatt.com | @elplatt | @elplatt at social.coop
>>
>> Tips for stopping email overload:
>> https://hbr.org/2012/02/stop-email-overload-1
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