<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br><div><div>On 23.12.2008, at 10:21, David Molnar wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>Al Billings wrote:<br><blockquote type="cite"><a href="http://brepettis.com/blog/2008/12/19/hackerspaces-the-beginning-last-call-for-submissions/">http://brepettis.com/blog/2008/12/19/hackerspaces-the-beginning-last-call-for-submissions/</a><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">We aren't on the list of those who have responded.<br></blockquote><br>Thanks for pointing this out. We have had several people contribute<br>responses, but no single mail answering all of the questions, so maybe<br>that doesn't yet count.<br><br></div></blockquote>Hey there,</div><div><br></div><div>you are featured in the Hackerspaces: The Beginning book, with two pages. I might send you a pdf later tonight or tomorrow for review.</div><div>Anyway, until then I might copy/paste the text we included in the book:</div><div><br></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Helvetica; ">NoiseBridge</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Helvetica; ">San Francisco, CA, US</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Helvetica; ">(should include contact e-mail!)</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Helvetica; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Helvetica; ">Be excellent to each other.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 11px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>It took us a long time to go through the community bootstrapping phase. That worked out well for us, however. Slowly and steadily the right people collected together, creating a group that would work and play well as a whole.. Over time, people came and went. For every four people we‘d attract, excited about the idea of a hacker space in San Francisco, three would become disinterested within a few weeks. This was OK. San Francisco is a busy city and we really felt it was important to be something beyond a gym. We desired not only a space but a community to fill the space. </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 11px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>The search for a space took months – „we“ simply weren‘t ready, meaning that the group wasn’t a cohesive whole yet, still unable to coalesce with a collective vision. Focusing on legal infrastructure and other bureaucratic necessities, a lot of our meetings were boring and uninteresting, and as a result, some people started to actually do things. People talked about and improved their art projects during meetings. This was a real turning point because it signaled that we were together collaborating on *projects* rather than just discussing *ideas*. This shift started attracting many more people. It became apparent that when we found a space our community would rapidly expand.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 11px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Over our many months of community-forming, we had formed a mutual respect and admiration for each other. It created a nice power dynamic where everyone could and often did feel like it was *their* space. But we still didn‘t have an actual permanent home. However, we now had a group with a vision, so we knew what to look for. We collectively wrote the space desires into our wiki, and we set our TAZ to the task. When our current space was found, the group just knew it was right. It fit our needs. It was time to move, even with some worries over financial risk, wondering how we would pay the deposit and the ongoing expensive San Francisco rent. As it happened, we managed to raise about USD $12,000 in one twenty four hour period. We were in the black from the very first month. Enough people believed that our flavor of chaos was realistic and workable, despite, and because of, our unique blend of crazy ideas.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 11px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Since setting up our hacker space, new visitors continue to bring their own crazy ideas, finding a new friend or ten at the space to help realize their visions. At first new visitors question their own ability in the space, asking permission to do everything. When they really settle in, however, they all really become an embodiment of our catch phrase: „Be Excellent To Each Other.“ We ask questions about everything not because of authority but because of respect for each person in the group. It makes amazing things possible and this facilitates great things into happening.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Helvetica; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Helvetica; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">You can reach Bre and me via <a href="mailto:book@hackerspaces.org">book@hackerspaces.org</a>, btw.</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Cheers,</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">/astera</span></font></div></div></body></html>