[Noisebridge-discuss] noisebridge, diybio, experiment this weekend, fridge, more stuff

[Praveen Sinha]

Hey guys,

So there has been some mini drama and crossed communications this past
week between the diybio sf and noisebridge crew, and I just wanted to
drop a note to try to clear up some of this stuff, about what
noisebridge is and and what diybio is, and I am going to cross post
this to both lists.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

The first thing I wanted to clear up is what Noisebridge isn't:

*  Noisebridge is NOT a closed group of people, a long standing
community, or a community with heiarchies or rigid proceses

Noisebridge IS an open community where *YOU* have a voice and support,
and is made of *you*.  We are open to all people who are engaged and
willing to learn and share, and most importantly we are open to
*everyone* who is willing to be excellent to other people.

* Noisebridge does not have set official roles or expected tasks, and
no one person can speak for noisebridge

Noisebridge IS a community that is an adhocratic do-acracy where
EVERYONE plays the role of organizer, student, diplomat, technology
innovator, and we all cycle through those roles as we see fit.  Our
primary purpose is collaboration.  I am acting as a bridge right now
between diybio and noisebridge because some people on the diybio list
aren't that familiar with noisebridge.  We do have officers because as
a 501(3)c we have to be law.

* You do NOT have to pay $80 a month to be part of the meetings or to
be part of the noisebridge community

To be part of the noisebridge community, all you have to do is show
up!  Whether physically or virtually on irc and the mailing list.
You don't have to pay anything, but to be a contributing affiliate and
get good karma, you can chip in $20 a month.  The full rate as of
right now only gets you blocking ability in the consensus process.

In short, noisebridge is an inclusive, consensus driven space, and if
you are around noisebridge at all then you are part of our community
by default.

Okay now, I'm going to push forth this:

DIY-Bio SF and Noisebridge have an intertwined relationship, and we
are ONE AND THE SAME community.  We are all part of the same movement,
have the same passions, and we have a lot to cross collaborate on.  So
with that, I'd like people in DIY Bio to stop thinking of Noisebridge
as an organization that they aren't part of and start thinking of
themselves as part of the consensus driven process - meaning that you
can take ownership of your projects, schedule/write on the wiki, make
email posts to the lists, and participate fully in our collaboration.
 We ask that people be excellent to each other, meaning that if a
project affects other people, that you ask and develop consensus
amongst people before you do it.

Okay so, this weekend was sort of a clusterfuck of expectations, but
no harm no foul.  Here are the concerns raised at noisebridge last
night:

1)  There is some feeling that a very small minority of people
involved in some of the experiments have been not so respectful in
working with other people... BUT we can have a dialogue and hopefully
successfully reconcicle our differences as we've done in the past.

2)  The refridgerator is blocking shelf space right now :( and needs
to go until we can get more space.  There is an upcoming continuation
of the GFP experiment this weekend which we can complete, but we need
to figure out where to take the fridge after that.

3)  Some people at the weekly meeting last night also mentioned
further valid concerns:
        a) some people have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, and the use
of chemicals like Lysol is a concern to them.  We already brought a
similar issue up with the cleaning person, so we will need to think of
really safe ways of cleanup.
        b) some people were concerned about the agar in the food
fridge.  Now I realize that we know that agar is perfectly safe and
consumable, but some people don't know that.  So, in the future,
please label everything if you think it is going to be in a fridge
space and part of an experiment somehow.

4)  As has been stated before, noisebridge, right now, is not an
equipped lab space :(  This may change in the near future, and we
really want to have full collaboration, consensus and input of diybio
people as noisebridgers as we expand our space.  For us at DIY Bio
this sucks, and we should definately continue looking for labspace of
our own in any case, however the talents of DIY Bio and NB are too
important to cleave apart.  We can and should be holding low level
experiments, presentations, educational salons, and hardware hacking
sessions at noisebridge and take advantage of our ever expanding human
capital base.

As a final note, I want to say one more time how much I appreciate all
of you in our communities.  We are all amazing people, and I really
think that we are part of a larger global movement that we need to
conciously recognize of democratizing technology and science for fun,
profit, and the common good.  Our interdisciplinary approach is rare
in both academia and industry, and we should exploit it to the
fullest!

Love and Peace,
Praveen