4 ms·

Would love to hear more about this (where you organize, any structure, is it collaborative, etc.). Did this a bit on my own in the summer but it kind of petered

by caser 10y ago

Would love to hear more about this (where you organize, any structure, is it collaborative, etc.). Did this a bit on my own in the summer but it kind of petered out after a couple months.

ht_th 10y ago
Our hacker space has been meeting for years now. We are guests at the office of a foundation that is doing work related to art, design, society, and technology outside of their office hours. This makes the space very affordable. Twice a week we open the space for visitors and regular participants. We try to be as open as possible; everyone is welcome to join up whenever they feel like it. There are no restrictions regarding participation or contribution. If people want to, they can make a small donation but it isn't required. At our meetings there is free coffee, tea, and beer, but everyone is welcome to bring other stuff as well. Donations in the form of drinks or food or tools are also welcome. We have about 15 participants that show up regularly, and about 50 or so that show up now and then. I think we have had a couple of 100 visitors that did not return or only once or so, particularly when we organise special events. Basically, people just show up and start working on their own projects. Somehow we have trouble starting communal projects, probably because it is up to the hackers themselves to keep it going or not. We try to create some sort of free-style atmosphere where everything can be supported, but there is no pressure to perform or finish. Most often, when a couple of hackers show up, it becomes more of a social gathering than a work place. That is always a nice end of the evening. Furthermore, we also support other like-minded clubs to have their meetings at our space for free--we also have a large canteen, and a couple of meeting rooms. We have collected about four separate clubs that meet up about once a month or so. This is great as it results in some sort of cross-pollination. After a couple of years we created an official foundation to make renting and paying things easier. It has a board, which has one board meeting a year of about an hour or two. So, bureaucratically, it does not take much time.

by caser 10y ago

Would love to hear more about this (where you organize, any structure, is it collaborative, etc.). Did this a bit on my own in the summer but it kind of petered out after a couple months.

ht_th 10y ago

Our hacker space has been meeting for years now. We are guests at the office of a foundation that is doing work related to art, design, society, and technology outside of their office hours. This makes the space very affordable. Twice a week we open the space for visitors and regular participants. We try to be as open as possible; everyone is welcome to join up whenever they feel like it. There are no restrictions regarding participation or contribution. If people want to, they can make a small donation but it isn't required. At our meetings there is free coffee, tea, and beer, but everyone is welcome to bring other stuff as well. Donations in the form of drinks or food or tools are also welcome. We have about 15 participants that show up regularly, and about 50 or so that show up now and then. I think we have had a couple of 100 visitors that did not return or only once or so, particularly when we organise special events. Basically, people just show up and start working on their own projects. Somehow we have trouble starting communal projects, probably because it is up to the hackers themselves to keep it going or not. We try to create some sort of free-style atmosphere where everything can be supported, but there is no pressure to perform or finish. Most often, when a couple of hackers show up, it becomes more of a social gathering than a work place. That is always a nice end of the evening. Furthermore, we also support other like-minded clubs to have their meetings at our space for free--we also have a large canteen, and a couple of meeting rooms. We have collected about four separate clubs that meet up about once a month or so. This is great as it results in some sort of cross-pollination. After a couple of years we created an official foundation to make renting and paying things easier. It has a board, which has one board meeting a year of about an hour or two. So, bureaucratically, it does not take much time.