[Noisebridge-discuss] Are we submitting to Bre's project?
astera
astera at hackerspaces.org
Tue Dec 23 10:26:43 UTC 2008
On 23.12.2008, at 10:21, David Molnar wrote:
> Al Billings wrote:
>> http://brepettis.com/blog/2008/12/19/hackerspaces-the-beginning-last-call-for-submissions/
>>
>>
>> We aren't on the list of those who have responded.
>
> Thanks for pointing this out. We have had several people contribute
> responses, but no single mail answering all of the questions, so maybe
> that doesn't yet count.
>
Hey there,
you are featured in the Hackerspaces: The Beginning book, with two
pages. I might send you a pdf later tonight or tomorrow for review.
Anyway, until then I might copy/paste the text we included in the book:
NoiseBridge
San Francisco, CA, US
(should include contact e-mail!)
Be excellent to each other.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You can reach Bre and me via book at hackerspaces.org, btw.
Cheers,
/astera
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