[sudoroom] separation of politics and hackerspace?

[Patrik D'haeseleer]

I think the impression that SudoRoom is more about social justice than
about "hacking" is simply due to the fact that we don't have a
permanent space yet, and that we've been doing a lot of planning
instead of working on projects. I'm sure we'll start seeing less talk
and more hacking as soon as we actually get some space to spread out
and tools to work with.

Personally, I do not think that hackerspaces necessarily need to have
a social mission. Sometimes it's fun just to get together with friends
to tinker with stuff, or hold a LAN party. Some hackerspaces focus
more on social justice and alternative communities. Some focus more on
incubating ideas to commercialize them. Some focus on art and
technology. And some just want to play with Legos. It's all good!

That said - yes, some of the people involved in SudoRoom are very
passionate about social justice issues, and I would expect we'll see
some projects along those lines - whether it's designing web spaces
for Occupy, or hacking cell phones for the homeless. But I wouldn't
necessarily want that to *define* the space. If someone wants to work
on some hacks for a better world - great! If someone wants to do some
synthetic biology and create an E. coli that blinks, I think that
should be OK too.

Patrik

On Wed, May 9, 2012 at 6:21 PM, Phil <dude8604 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I decided last week to advertise the fundraiser on Reddit, in some of the
> local subreddits.  There was one response I got that I think is something we
> should discuss.
>
>
> ----------------------
>
> Also, when I think Hacker Space, I think of a big (or small) space where
> people can come and work on projects, either by themselves but in the
> presence of others, or with a group. There may be some tools and stuff. You
> pay money per month for use of the space.
>
> But on Sudo Room, there is a lot about social justice and etc etc etc. This
> is great! But not what I guess I think about when I think about "hacker
> space", and if I were to be honest not really what I'd be interested in
> going to a "hacker space" for.
>
> So... what is Sudo Room really?
>
> --------------------
>
> The rest of the thread is
> here: http://www.reddit.com/r/oakland/comments/t4lex/sudo_room_a_newlyforming_east_bay_hackerspace/
>
>
> So it seems like most of us have political interests, which I think Sudo
> Room should definitely have room for, however I think to be inclusive
> of everyone it should be separate from the hackerspace as an organization.
>  Or somehow balance the two so that people like this are interested in
> joining us.  What do you all think?
>
>
> - Phil
>
>
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