[Noisebridge-discuss] unannounced groups of non-members at Noisebridge (esp. kids)

Dan Moore (danielmo) danielmo at cisco.com
Tue Jun 2 02:27:17 UTC 2009


By offering the nerd sex life driven children the best hope.. are you
condoning child sexual abuse? Or is that just a... unfortunate side
effect. : )

 

From: noisebridge-discuss-bounces at lists.noisebridge.net
[mailto:noisebridge-discuss-bounces at lists.noisebridge.net] On Behalf Of
Praveen Sinha
Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 7:24 PM
To: aestetix aestetix
Cc: Noisebridge Discuss
Subject: Re: [Noisebridge-discuss] unannounced groups of non-members at
Noisebridge (esp. kids)

 

Okay just my cents:

 You guys are on crank (in a loveable way of course), we should be
welcoming the damn kids.  The issue is not that we need to be censoring
ourselves or changing the way that we are.  

If a small 8 year old kid walks in noisebridge we should embrace them
and make sure they walk out with a pink mohawk, a tony the tiger eyebrow
piercing, a bad attitdue towards authority, and knowing how to solder
circuits or sling lines of ruby in their sleep. 

And I am completely serious about this statement.

Further, if they are teenagers and they are already doomed to have a
horrible nerd sex life through school, then we offer them the best hope,
and they are /our/ best hope towards having a sane consensus built world
and mold paths on how to overcome the challenges ahead.  The fact that
we aren't there to shield them /is exactly/ the point.  We are here to
be role models to them in a world that otherwise will fear and shun
them.

I, for one, would want to see noisebridge go ever further and reach out
to the kids in our immediate neighborhood who parents barely make rent,
much less get a laptop for their children.  

Whether we can or want to have large groups at noisebridge seems
orthogonal to this issue.

In so far as 'adult' oriented charts on the wall etc... If parent's want
to bring their kids to NB, then they should deal with us on our terms :)

Cheers,
Praveen




On Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 3:01 PM, aestetix aestetix <aestetix at gmail.com>
wrote:

I think the real issue here is not that NB is "adult themed", but that
it is NOT "kid themed". I can imagine a lot of people bringing their
kids by with the illusion that NB is a public facing science fair
exhibit, with all kinds of activities with a friendly nature geared
towards children. After all, we were at the Maker Faire, right?

Those same people could come to NB, expecting the same amount of
extroversion and outgoingness that all the vendors at Maker Faire had,
only to discover (1) there's a lot of discussion, conversation,
swearing, etc that is not intended for children's ears (2) nobody is
going to drop everything and gently explain what they're doing and get
the kid involved.

If such parents arrive with heightened expectations, they will be really
disappointed, and even offended. I don't mind the occasional "can you
tone it down a bit, my kid is here" from a member who brings their kid,
but if the conversation and action turns into an expectation of
targeting children, it will stifle a lot of what's going on. It's the
same ethic that parents use when they mute their TV during a racy scene
in a tv show because they don't want their kids exposed.

Ultimately the fault of such conflicts is on the parents/teachers for
being retarded. I would almost be in favor of a monthly "open house" for
the public, but that puts pressure on people to create projects for kids
to see, and also turns noisebridge into a museum of exhibits, which it
isn't. I don't want to be completely xenophobic, but I also don't think
we need to overextend ourselves to people who ultimately contribute
nothing and are there to gawk.

aestetix

 

On Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 2:39 PM, Christie Dudley <longobord at gmail.com>
wrote:

Well, the determination to keep plans, once made, might propel them into
our space on Weise.  Ever had a kid you told you were going to do
something fun and then not done it?  Besides, it's only a few hundred
feet to our door - barely enough distance to get nervous and turn back,
especially if you aren't observant.

As for adult themes, I was thinking specifically of the Arse Technica
poster at the top of the stairs and the "map of kink" at the bottom of
the stairs.  Not a question of nudity or whatnot, so much as "what does
that mean?" questions that are hard to answer.  (Although it doesn't
take a lot of imagination to interpret the Arse Technica poster.)

Although Kelly's comment illustrates my point pretty well.  Many of us
are not accustomed to having children around and don't really even
notice things that most parents worry about.  Many of the parents
associated with our space are pretty cool with their kids and the
exposures they have, but this doesn't translate to all parents.  I think
it's an excellent thing to do to give people enough information to make
an informed decision for themselves and any children they may be
responsible for.

Christie

---
"I want us all to think about new and creative ways to engage young
people in science and engineering, whether it's science festivals,
robotics competitions, fairs that encourage young people to create and
build and invent -- to be makers of things, not just consumers of
things."

- President Obama in address to National Academy of Sciences April 27,
2009 

 

On Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 2:25 PM, Kelly <hurtstotouchfire at gmail.com>
wrote:

See, here's one of the perks of our location.  If they can make it
down Weiss, I'm not sure we can offend them.

Incidentally, I don't particularly think that Noisebridge is "adult
themed" at present, but I would welcome a decor trend in that
direction.  And as to warning people on the wiki, I guess I'd say do
what thou wilst.

-K


On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 7:41 PM, Christie Dudley <longobord at gmail.com>
wrote:
> It seems to me that "policy" would be the wrong word to use in a place
where
> the running paradigm is "do what thou wilst".  If people feel like
letting
> folks into the space, then that will probably happen.
>
> It strikes me as wise to have maybe a page on the wiki advising
potential
> guests of what to expect in the space.  I can see difficult situations
> avoided if parents understand that we prominently display adult themed
> materials as well as our "use your own judgement" safety policy.
Maybe
> getting a visitor contact up there who can make arrangements to meet
them
> would be neat.
>
> Then again who reads the wiki anyway.  People will continue to come
> unannounced and unprepared.
>
> On May 28, 2009 5:40 PM, "Josh Myer" <josh at joshisanerd.com> wrote:
>
> On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 05:36:40PM -0700, Seth David Schoen wrote: >
> Christoph Maier writes: > > > ...
>
> They've clearly picked up the hope others have abandoned on the hack
> shelf.
>
> (It's stashed behind the dead CD-ROM drives, if you've missed it)
> --
> Josh Myer   650.248.3796
>  josh at joshisanerd.com
>
> _______________________________________________ Noisebridge-discuss
mailing
> list Noisebridge-discuss...
>

> _______________________________________________
> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list

> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>
>

 


_______________________________________________
Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss

 


_______________________________________________
Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.noisebridge.net/pipermail/noisebridge-discuss/attachments/20090601/14c2063c/attachment-0003.html>


More information about the Noisebridge-discuss mailing list