[Noisebridge-discuss] Priorities

[ryan]

> Greetings from Metalab Vienna! I love this project, and i hope it's
> fine i join your discussion, despite being in Europe!

Hey -- thanks for all this input. It got me thinking that I've been
involved in a number of permanent and temporary hacker spaces, also,
and brain dumping about the lessons learned might be helpful. 

1- newhackcity -- I only went by nhc a couple of times but I've
certainly heard about the various horrors that went on there and could
probably rustle up some people to talk about that.

2- sf-imc hackerlab -- SF Indymedia ran a hacker/media lab at 16th &
Capp (Redstone Building) for a number of years and we had a lot of
lessons learned there, as well, about security, about bottom-liners,
about people living in the space, etc.

3- sf-imc hackerlab #2 -- SF Indymedia went on to run a little hacker
space at Powell & Market. The lessons learned here are about money
management.

4- west bank hacklab -- I participated in an interesting hack/media
lab in Bethlehem. Running a hacklab in a warzone is an entirely
different experience, especially because it was during the 2002
re-occupation of Bethlehem, which was some of the worst violence in
years in that area (the 'Jenin massacre' happened during this time).

5- latin american hacker spaces -- I've got experience and could
elicit feedback from the various hackspaces throughout Latin America.
Again, this is going to be different feedback than the European
hacklab model most people are familiar with simply because these
countries are economically disadvantaged. Many of these efforts are
more heavily connected to extreme left-wing political groups (not to
mention ones that are started by the left-wing Workers Party that is
currently in power in Brazil). 

6- urban redneck hacklab - I also worked for a while on a hacklab in
Akron, Ohio ... again, contrasting lessons can be learned here because
this was a hacklab that was started in an area suffering extreme
economic devastation in the aftermath of NAFTA and the years before
that (different from our situation in the Bay Area). 

7- forte prenestino - This is my experience with a European hacklab,
the only one, really. But the specific Italian social centers deserve
to be looked at for our preparation -- they are a phenomenon unto
themselves, all very connected to a well-organized and (in some cases)
powerful and extremely radical left-wing in Italy.

Anyway, if I do end up continuing with this group, hosting pages of
hacklab experiences sounds like a good idea, I'd love to contribute.
-ryan