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Hey Danny,<BR>
<BR>
Very well written article! Thanks for posting it.<BR>
<BR>
Turns out I'm going to be in Limerick from the 10th to the 12th of December. I know it's not that close, but if you happen to be in that neck of the woods, it'd be cool to meet up.<BR>
<BR>
All the best in getting a hacker space going in Dublin!<BR>
<BR>
Cheers,<BR>
Mitch.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>---------------<BR>> Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:55:47 -0800<BR>> From: danny@spesh.com<BR>> To: noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net<BR>> Subject: [Noisebridge-discuss] Piece on Hacker Spaces (with mention of NoiseBridge) in Irish Times<BR>> <BR>> Hey folks,<BR>> <BR>> So I have a regular column in the Irish Times, and I wrote a little<BR>> about NoiseBridge in it. I mentioned the piece to Jake, and he<BR>> suggested I post it here.<BR>> <BR>> I've already had one query about setting up a Dublin hackerspace (one<BR>> of the intentions of the article), so if any of you hear of people<BR>> interested in this (or London, where I also know a few people mulling<BR>> the idea), let me know, and I'll put them in touch with each other.<BR>> <BR>> d.<BR>> <BR>> http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2008/1024/1224715113204.html<BR>> <BR>> THE FIRST hacker space I can recall was the L0ft: a Boston loft shared<BR>> by a hat-making company and a group of grungy security experts and<BR>> computer underground figures with names like "Mudge" and "Kingpin".<BR>> <BR>> The L0ft lasted from 1992 to 2000: a group of smart minds working on<BR>> slightly edgy tech plans together in a shared environment: wiring<BR>> together wireless networks long before anyone was thinking of WiFi,<BR>> sketching out potential attacks on the internet that got the US<BR>> Congress worried.<BR>> <BR>> When the L0ft started, it was hard to get hold of the technology you<BR>> needed to hatch such plans, unless you had the right job. And in 1992,<BR>> it wasn't easy to get a job unless you were the right sort of person.<BR>> The L0ft people weren't right in that sense - although their work<BR>> predicted a great deal of what was to happen in the dotcom boom.<BR>> <BR>> In 2008, you see tattoos and piercings on chief executives and company<BR>> presidents in Silicon Valley, but the jobs are beginning to edge away<BR>> again. Just the right time for the return of the idea of a "hacker<BR>> space", a co-operatively run tech workspace that isn't for business,<BR>> and not quite for pure fun. That's what's happening at Noisebridge in<BR>> San Francisco's Mission district.<BR>> <BR>> A rented apartment, the space has been commandeered by a group of<BR>> hardware and software enthusiasts who are paying $80 a month each to<BR>> pool their resources, and kit it out with high-speed internet, strange<BR>> hardware and stranger friends.<BR>> <BR>> The truth is that hacker spaces have never quite gone away. In Europe,<BR>> where the movement has closer ties to the squatting collectives of<BR>> Germany and the Netherlands, hacker spaces have existed for many<BR>> years.<BR>> <BR>> C-Base in Berlin and ASCII in Amsterdam were founded in the mid-1990s<BR>> and survived for over a decade; long enough to pass the knowledge back<BR>> to the US. Inspired by visits to European hacker spaces, New York<BR>> technologist Bre Pettis founded NYC Resistor in Brooklyn in 2007. A<BR>> similar crossover contact between European and west coast coders<BR>> spawned Noisebridge last month.<BR>> <BR>> What do you do in a hacker space? Gossip, compare notes, learn and<BR>> teach seem to be the key activities: coders sit around and help each<BR>> other, or wave their hands explaining their latest idea.<BR>> <BR>> In any other field, most projects being conducted in these places<BR>> would be an art, a craft or a hobby. But hacker space projects tend to<BR>> float between all of those labels. One person works on wiring San<BR>> Francisco's public transport notification system into Noisebridge's<BR>> audio, so late-night hackers can hear when the next train is due. In<BR>> New York, coders have worked with knitting and textile enthusiasts to<BR>> see if there's a potential crossover in their two worlds. Tutorials at<BR>> Noisebridge include lessons in "processing", the computer language<BR>> used by modern artists to built interactive works, and hacking the<BR>> Arduino - a hardware platform used by artists and roboticists alike.<BR>> <BR>> None of these ideas are intended to make money. Indeed, hacker spaces<BR>> are supposed to take some of the pressure away from the money-grabbing<BR>> pursuits of the wider Silicon Valley world. There's a cheap "starving<BR>> hacker" rate at Noisebridge for those who don't have much cash; the<BR>> hardware is mostly donated.<BR>> <BR>> The return of the hacker spaces may be a sign that the brightest minds<BR>> in America's tech community are preparing for their cyclical<BR>> hibernation - in a week where Yahoo has shed 10 per cent of its<BR>> employees, and there are more shutdowns than start-ups, places like<BR>> Noisebridge and NYC Resistor look like refuges.<BR>> <BR>> Not that anyone here views them in such a negative light. Dozens have<BR>> signed up to be members of Noisebridge, and the community has enough<BR>> regular dues to pay its high San Francisco rental costs. Despite being<BR>> the initiator of so many tech innovations, the city has never had an<BR>> open hacker space, and the excitement around the arrival of<BR>> Noisebridge is high.<BR>> <BR>> The European hacker space movement is also experiencing a revival.<BR>> After losing one of its key Dutch collectives, ASCII, in 2006, dozens<BR>> are now springing up across the continent.<BR>> <BR>> Which leaves the obvious gap in this transatlantic movement: is there<BR>> room for an Irish hacker space? With Dublin real estate prices, unless<BR>> someone fancies an old-fashioned squat, perhaps not. But European<BR>> hacker spaces haven't turned away indirect government funding in the<BR>> form of arts grants and a space doesn't have to sit in the most<BR>> expensive urban environment. Anywhere with a fast internet pipe will<BR>> do.<BR>> <BR>> If the Government wants to inspire some forward-thinking development<BR>> work by the next generation of Irish students, it might do well to<BR>> seed a couple of grungy looking spaces with a sound system and a few<BR>> LCD screens donated from a Department of Enterprise, Trade and<BR>> Employment spring clean.<BR>> <BR>> It might be the cheapest way to come out of this downturn with a few<BR>> bright ideas.<BR>> _______________________________________________<BR>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list<BR>> Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net<BR>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss<BR><BR></body>
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