[sudoroom] separation of politics and hackerspace?

Thu May 10 19:43:52 CEST 2012

This is a vital conversation to be having.

Mark makes an important point, and I think its essential that we
collectively explore the history of hackerspaces and their role in
communities of practice - their 'political function' in society. As I
stated during our meeting yesterday, the very act of creating a space such
as this is a political act (though perhaps another word is needed, as this
one tends to trigger unpredictable and often unreasonable reactions in
people [1]). What is 'social justice' if not access to resources and
education, non-hierarchical decision-making, transparency and, Eddan's
keyword from yesterday, fairness?

Another key component of hackerspaces is the 'hacker ethic', which I'm sure
Mark or Marc could speak to better than I. An article posted by Mitch
yesterday on the growth of hackerspaces in China [2] asks the critical
question in the byline: "but can the hacker ethic flourish in a country
with a poor record of protecting freedoms?" In a country where public space
and freedom of speech are being increasingly policed and 1984'd, we would
do well to look to other examples of the role hackerspaces have played in
defending such freedoms.

I for one have no interest in co-creating in a space that is essentially a
coworking space or coffeeshop (there are plenty of those already), where
people come to take up space in isolation, working on things that are not
relevant to the community in which they are ensconced. I want people to
come to Sudo Room to hack on innovative and educational projects, the very
nature of which are at once collaborative and empowering - in an open
environment where everyone is both teacher and learner.

Given the foci of folks who show up to meetings, many of those projects
will be geared around citizen science and local activism - though by no
means restricted to those areas!  We came a long way at the meeting last
evening in articulating our shared vision of what Sudo Room is and could
be. Rather quickly, we came to an agreement that 1) access, 2)
transparency, and 3) equity are among the process-based (rather than
label-based) - or perhaps 'operational'? - values that define Sudo Room.

*References*:
[1]    "When *I* use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful
tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."
   "The question is, " said Alice, "whether you *can* make words mean so
many different things."
   "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty. "which is to be master—that's
all."
[2]  http://owni.eu/2012/05/03/china-hackerspaces-hacking-diy-shenzhen/

-------------------------------
Jenny
http://jennyryan.net
http://thepyre.org
http://thevirtualcampfire.org
http://technomadic.tumblr.com

`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
 "Technology is the campfire around which we tell our stories."
-Laurie Anderson

"Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it."
 -Hannah Arendt

"To define is to kill. To suggest is to create."
-Stéphane Mallarmé
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`

On Wed, May 9, 2012 at 11:03 PM, Philip W <dude8604 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I think that part of this discussion is what constitutes "limiting"
> ourselves.  By having a more defined social message we're being open to
> that
> but limiting others who may not share those beliefs, or who don't want to
> participate in them.  My point in starting this discussion was in the sense
> of truly not limiting things, letting broader things happen but giving
> people who don't want to be a part of that aspect a place to 'hack."  I'm
> not suggesting we abandon these other goals, but to me one of the important
> things is being truly open to everyone, both physically and ideologically.
> So there's definitely room in a space like this for both people who just
> want to work on cool things and for those who want their work to contribute
> to a cause.  I think this way Sudo Room would be most welcoming to all
> members of the community.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jacob Shiach [mailto:kingjacob at gmail.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2012 9:42 PM
> To: Patrik D'haeseleer
> Cc: Phil; sudoroom at lists.hackerspaces.org
> Subject: Re: [sudoroom] separation of politics and hackerspace?
>
> I just want to say that SudoRoom was started specifically to be more than
> just a space. If a space and equipment is all that someone wants, there's
> Techshop. Tinkering is fun and a good way to learn, but for me at least
> that's not enough. Why should we limit ourselves to making blinky things
> when the world is full of challenging problems? Seems a lot more
> interesting
> to me. Plus the small side effect of making people's lives better.
>
> Ps social justice, digital citizenship and citizen science aren't
> political,
> they're just good ideas.
>
> -
> Jacob Shiach
>
>
> On May 9, 2012, at 10:58 PM, "Patrik D'haeseleer" <patrikd at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > 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/<http://www.reddit.com/r/oakland/comments/t4lex/sudo_room_a_newlyforming_east%0A_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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> >>
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>
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