I also find this entire situation fantabulous. Sweet newsletter. I think it should stay newslettery form - if you want a weeeeblog (or similar thing), just subscribe to the list! Maybe to ease the burden, do it once a month (like 5MoF!)? That'll give personal projects awhile to mature as well - the Tron suit easily took a month, Meredith's scarfage will take exactly 1 month. People can probably finish faster, but then they are likely ancient wizards or sorcerers or something.<br>
<br>Sean<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jan 4, 2011 at 7:02 PM, Jonathan Foote <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jtfoote@ieee.org">jtfoote@ieee.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
OMG yes.<br>
<br>
Certain graybeards of an Anglophone bent might remember NTK, which was<br>
possibly the best bloody email newsletter on the planet. It was funny,<br>
subversive, informative, and co-written by none other than Dany. (For<br>
a flavour sample, see <a href="http://ntk.net" target="_blank">ntk.net</a>.)<br>
<br>
I miss it terribly.<br>
<br>
So anything even remotely similar from the pen of Mr. O'Brien has my<br>
vote. I'd even volunteer to write/edit. Make it so.<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
On Tue, Jan 4, 2011 at 5:06 PM, Danny O'Brien <<a href="mailto:danny@spesh.com">danny@spesh.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> Briefly, my sense talking and polling people right now is that there's<br>
> a huge amount of activity going on in and around Noisebridge that<br>
> people (and the public) don't know about and is not easily<br>
> discoverable. (Also that the NB community is now far larger and more<br>
> diverse than it used to be, which means the time and resources need to<br>
> maintain one-to-one conversations with everyone to maintain social<br>
> coherence and spread news and mutually groom one another's silverback<br>
> pelts and prevent [or at least adequately publicise] HUGE FIST FIGHTS<br>
> is growing steadily greater. If this was a TED talk I'd start<br>
> bullshitting about Dunbar numbers, but this is nb-discuss so you would<br>
> start throwing PBR cans at my head, so I won't.)<br>
><br>
> Anyway, at last week's meeting I mused that one way to help fix this<br>
> would be to have a regular Noisebridge newsletter, which would pull in<br>
> some of the threads of this larger social group, and have a simple way<br>
> for everyone to keep in touch with what's going on, and feel a warm<br>
> glow of self-regard at being in with all the in shit, and thing.<br>
><br>
> Below is my first stab at this. I went around the mailing lists,<br>
> talked to people, interviewed one Noisebridger at length, and then<br>
> through it all into an old ASCII email newslettter format I happen to<br>
> have around (some of you may know I co-wrote <a href="http://www.ntk.net/" target="_blank">http://www.ntk.net/</a> a<br>
> decade ago. Yeah, I dusted that off. Kill me)<br>
><br>
> The content is pretty much what I could imagine writing every<br>
> fortnight with some help. It certainly wasn't hard to find cool stuff<br>
> that noisebridgers do; it was harder to decide what not to put in. I<br>
> didn't spend much time on formatting nor tone or voice (ie this is the<br>
> special No Actual Jokes edition), because that takes a while to get<br>
> right and for this first go I wanted to concentrate on purest content.<br>
> It's very rough though.<br>
><br>
> I'm sending this one out only to noisebridge-discuss for your comments<br>
> and criticisms. In the real world, it would go out to nb-announce. I<br>
> want whatever finally goes out there to that to be sustainable long<br>
> term however. Realise that if you're a regular nb-discuss reader you<br>
> probably know much of this, but there are plenty of people who do not<br>
> (most NBers I've spoken to don't know that the financial mess is not<br>
> so dreadful these days, for instance.)<br>
><br>
> My acute self-criticism is at the bottom of it, under the ASCII <HR><br>
> tag. I welcome comments, yeah even from you.<br>
><br>
><br>
> ============<br>
><br>
><br>
> .-'`-. Signal<br>
> z !/| To Noise<br>
> z !\| V11.010000000(Beta)-rc7<br>
> `-'`- 2011-01-04<br>
><br>
> In this issue:<br>
>> NOISEBRIDGE SAVED FROM REPO BOTS<br>
>> THEY CAME FOR OUR TEA ROOM<br>
>> HEART SPARKS AND TRON GUYS<br>
>> DISTILLING NEURAL NETWORKS INTO BRAIN BROTH<br>
>> HUMAN OF NOISEBRIDGE OF THE MONTH:<br>
>> Meredith Scheff-King is ALL SCARF, ALL THE TIME<br>
><br>
>>>> NEWS: NB NO LONGER DIVIDING BY ZERO<br>
><br>
> This February, Noisebridge will not disappear in a white hole of<br>
> debt, anguish and sheet rock dust. You all stepped up, and in a few<br>
> weeks we went from having little cartoon flies buzzing out of the<br>
> cartoon wallet, to touching the rim of our canonical hackerspace<br>
> float of three months costs in advance ($15K).<br>
><br>
> Noisebridge has historically paid its bills with about 2/3rds from<br>
> membership dues, and the rest from casual donations. We're mostly<br>
> fixed the overdue dues problem thanks to Kelly's excellent financial<br>
> forensics, but Noisebridge is still prone to economic boom-bust on<br>
> the rand()*(donations) front.<br>
><br>
> A lot of you drop a few bucks in the box when you come by, and thank<br>
> you, you're awesome. But just as you don't have to a member of<br>
> Noisebridge to use the space for whatever, you don't have to be a<br>
> full member to make a pre-programme regular donation. Turn those few<br>
> bucks into a monthly electronci payment of just $10 or $20, and<br>
> you'll always have a Gentlemen And Ladies Space Within Which To Hack.<br>
> Plus less of this irregular NPR-style pledge-drive spazzing. Go on!<br>
> Do it! IT'S JUST MONEY. YOU'D ONLY WASTE IT ON OIL.<br>
><br>
> <a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Donate_or_Pay_Dues" target="_blank">https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Donate_or_Pay_Dues</a><br>
> - We'll give you Ira Glass's perineum in a totebag if you give us a fifty<br>
> <a href="http://cha-ching.noisebridge.net/" target="_blank">http://cha-ching.noisebridge.net/</a><br>
> - mfb broke into our PayPal account and wrote a script at it<br>
> <a href="http://j.mp/tenbridge" target="_blank">http://j.mp/tenbridge</a><br>
> - $10 dude! You pay more than that in dropbox or Ritual or watercress<br>
> or something!<br>
><br>
>>>> STUFF THAT GOT DONE<br>
><br>
> ULTRASTRUCTURE<br>
><br>
> Noisebridge's Scanning Electron Microscope is getting better<br>
> every day: Mike and Andy got it working up to 20,000x.<br>
> Schematics and pics uploaded to:<br>
> <a href="http://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/SEM" target="_blank">http://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/SEM</a><br>
><br>
> THE TEA ROOM is no more! Zed and Shannon went on a<br>
> stairs-constructing rampage and constructed a space you can<br>
> walk up to, on your legs. It still works for tea drinking.<br>
><br>
> That BUILD-OUT MESS by the touch-panel was magicked away<br>
> into the Even Darker Room (aka the Scott Memorial Storage<br>
> Room). The ADA BATHROOM got grab-bars c/o Miloh!<br>
> <a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/File:Noisebridge_map.png" target="_blank">https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/File:Noisebridge_map.png</a><br>
><br>
> ELLIPTICALLY ORBITING PROJECTS<br>
><br>
> Eric and Chung-Hay of Sensebridge launched their HEART SPARK<br>
> heatbeat-sensitive necklace to universal Internets acclaim!<br>
> Eric's in Toronto now, hanging out with our <a href="http://hacklab.to" target="_blank">hacklab.to</a><br>
> sisters, but C-H is still about, and working on new<br>
> projects, including a heartbeat scarf. Scarfs are cool.<br>
> <a href="http://sensebridge.net/projects/heart-spark/" target="_blank">http://sensebridge.net/projects/heart-spark/</a><br>
> <a href="http://bunnymeetsbean.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://bunnymeetsbean.blogspot.com/</a><br>
><br>
> MC Hawking, the wheelchair robot, now has an embedded PC for<br>
> a brain, and is possibly conspiring with our IRC noisebot.<br>
> He is actually deadly.<br>
> <a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Noise-Bot" target="_blank">https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Noise-Bot</a><br>
><br>
> Sean made a Tron suit out of 190 proper LEDs and not boring<br>
> EL wire like you thought. He's like Tron Guy : Legacy!<br>
> <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/LED-lit-Tron-v20-suit/" target="_blank">http://www.instructables.com/id/LED-lit-Tron-v20-suit/</a><br>
> (From the Cyborg list:<br>
> <a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/cyborg" target="_blank">https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/cyborg</a> )<br>
><br>
>>>> INCOMING<br>
><br>
> All the usual events at <a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Category:Events" target="_blank">https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Category:Events</a> plus:<br>
><br>
>> Sean's Distillation Class<br>
> Wednesday, January 5th @ 7PM<br>
><br>
> "I'll teach you how a still works, go over some options for 'rolling<br>
> your own', and the best part of the whole thing? We'll actually<br>
> distill something, and try the results! Plan on the class lasting<br>
> about 2 hours."<br>
><br>
>> Neural Net Workshop!<br>
> Wednesday, January 26, 2011<br>
><br>
> Mike Schachter says: the Machine Learning group at Noisebridge wants<br>
> to teach you! We're holding a workshop on constructing and using<br>
> neural networks, to raise Neural Network Awareness (NNA) and money<br>
> for Noisebridge. Bring laptops!<br>
> <a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Neural_Network_Workshop" target="_blank">https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Neural_Network_Workshop</a><br>
><br>
>> Noisebridge Book Club!<br>
><br>
> Miah implies without explicitly stating: "I'm starting a NB book club<br>
> on Goodreads. We can be virtual or have actual meetings":<br>
> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/41745.Noisebridge_Book_Club" target="_blank">http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/41745.Noisebridge_Book_Club</a><br>
><br>
>>>> HUMAN OF NOISEBRIDGE OF THE FORTNIGHT<br>
><br>
> MEREDITH SCHEFF-KING won the Awesome Foundation's monthly $1000 award<br>
> for her proposal to make 30 scarves in January. Signal to Noise<br>
> caught her attacking her third scarf in the space, and plagued her<br>
> with dumb questions:<br>
><br>
>> So is this three scarfs of the day or one you're making right now?<br>
><br>
> It's one; the scarf of today is reconfigurable with one or two or three<br>
> free-floating sections.<br>
><br>
><br>
>> Are you planning out the whole month beforehand, or are you taking<br>
> it one scarf at a time?<br>
><br>
> Well, I went into it with more than thirty scarf ideas, but<br>
> ultimately I'm making them one at a time. I don't want to plan too<br>
> far ahead. I work better spontaneously.<br>
><br>
>> How much your time are you setting aside for this?<br>
><br>
> All of it. I'm not doing much else but making scarves this month. At some<br>
> point I'm going to have to get groceries, I guess.<br>
><br>
>> Okay, I have to ask. Why scarves?<br>
><br>
> I love warm, fuzzy things. I'm sort of a chilly person. I grew up in<br>
> the Central Valley, where it's over 100 degrees a lot of the time, so<br>
> it's always cold by comparison. And I like making art that I wear.<br>
> With a lot of my work, like the cartooning or the construction you<br>
> don't know if anyone sees the end result. It might be that noone sees<br>
> it.<br>
><br>
>> But if you're wearing, you get to see the reaction?<br>
><br>
> Yes! Also, people know what they're seeing. It's not like an artwork<br>
> where you have to explain to the audience what they're seeing first.<br>
> They already know it's a scarf. They know what it's supposed to do.<br>
><br>
>> I saw that you were agonising on your Twitter stream about keeping two craft<br>
> centers, one at your home and one at Noisebridge. Where do you think you're<br>
> going to spend most of your time this month?<br>
><br>
> Well, this is scarf three, and the first one I'm making at NB. It<br>
> gets lonely making stuff at home. I'm very distractable, but it's<br>
> easier to avoid that here, strangely. Like, I can choose not to bring<br>
> my computer here, but I can't *not* have it at my apartment.<br>
><br>
>> Does it help you finish a project when you have a clear goal like this?<br>
><br>
> A bit. Mainly, though, it's the publicity that encourages you to keep<br>
> going. When the Awesome Foundation mailed me I'd won the award for<br>
> January, I'd actually almost forgotten I'd applied. And then they<br>
> told me all the blogs and people that they'd already told. I was like<br>
> "uh-oh, I guess I'd better actually do this". Then of course, the<br>
> economics of taking a month off for $1K doesn't work out, so I<br>
> started a Kickstarter project to get the rest of the money, and I<br>
> thought "Whoa, now I really *really* have to do this."<br>
><br>
> I guess it sounds kind of bad, but I do like it when my projects do<br>
> the rounds on the Internet. Like the Northskirt -- that was such a<br>
> lot of work, and so is this. It makes me happy to know people see it.<br>
><br>
>> Do you know where you're going to show all the scarves yet?<br>
><br>
> Actually, no -- I haven't had a moment of time away from scarves to<br>
> call around galleries.<br>
><br>
> (Miloh shouts from the kitchen that Meredith's rice is boiling.<br>
> Finally distracted, she runs off to grab five precious minutes of<br>
> non-scarf scarfing.)<br>
><br>
> Meredith's Kickstarter project is here:<br>
> <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/668017121/scarf-a-day-a-scarf-everyday-in-january/" target="_blank">http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/668017121/scarf-a-day-a-scarf-everyday-in-january/</a><br>
><br>
><br>
> ============<br>
><br>
> Okay, that's that. My self-criticisms/thinking aloud:<br>
><br>
> I finished this last night, and when I read the nb-discuss this<br>
> morning, there were already a bunch of worthy new stories (vending<br>
> machine! tardis!) that I hadn't included. The newsletter is already<br>
> slightly too long, I fear that once I actually get stuff sent in, it's<br>
> just going to grow even more. I don't think I could stand to write<br>
> this weekly or even a shorter time-period though.<br>
><br>
> Would a what you young people call a "weeb-log" or "b'log" work<br>
> better? Maybe: certainly if we ramped up the NB weblog, I bet we'd get<br>
> a lot of coverage and relinking from Maker blog, etc. What isn't so<br>
> great is ownership and ritual with blogs. The advantage of a regular<br>
> periodic mailout is that people look forward to it, and if you write<br>
> it well (this draft isn't written well) people will sit through and<br>
> take it all in, and feel like they're an exclusive subscriber. Also we<br>
> can print it out and put it in the space somewhere. Blogs are less<br>
> easy to attach ritual to, and the level of control that you can exact<br>
> on a broadcast-only news format often feels inappropriate for blog --<br>
> ie saying "We" all the time, not having comments, etc. It might just<br>
> be a style thing. I will talk to people about this.<br>
><br>
> My actual sese right now is that what we have here is a bunch of nice<br>
> potentially aggregatable mini-features: Noisebridge Human of The Time<br>
> Period, Project Updates, Infrastructure Diffs, General News, that need<br>
> to be in one place, and quickly digestible, rather than scattered over<br>
> dozens of mailing lists, inside people's heads, and as wikisplatter. I<br>
> think one output of all of those mini-features is potentially a blog,<br>
> one is an email newsletter to nb-announce, and one is a printed<br>
> pamphlet that can be on the wall entering Noisebridge. But just<br>
> writing and collating this text is hard work -- piping it into<br>
> different media needs either an automatic process, or a bunch of<br>
> people working together consistently. Wait, would people be interested<br>
> in a Noisebridge press club?<br>
><br>
> I WUV YOU<br>
><br>
> d.<br>
> _______________________________________________<br>
> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list<br>
> <a href="mailto:Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net">Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net</a><br>
> <a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss" target="_blank">https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss</a><br>
><br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br>