[Noisebridge-discuss] Hosting a sexuality unconference at Noisebridge? KinkForAll San Francisco wants to make some Noise. :)

[Christie Dudley]

Oh dear.  We sound even further apart than the DIYbio folks did, who had so
many misunderstandings of the space and how we work.

On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 2:22 AM, maymay <bitetheappleback at gmail.com> wrote:
...

> It's my understanding that Noisebridge encourages people "doing interesting
> things" to "come do them at Noisebridge." KinkForAll is an attempt to bring
> people together around sexuality topics they find interesting, and to
> connect them with one another. I believe these goals are highly synergistic.
>

Well, more specifically, we encourage people to "hack" which is subtly
different than "doing interesting things".  We encourage the community to
come and learn or teach about hacking and related subjects.  For example,
while it would be interesting to learn to play the saxophone, we would not
entirely be welcoming for a saxophone teacher to come in to teach students
in the space.  Although we do occasionally teach things like foreign
languages or CPR, this is at the request of a preponderance of the members
and is typically heavily attended by the membership.  Do you forsee this
event as being heavily attended by members of the existing Noisebridge
hacker community?

Although rather confrontationally worded, I believe Jesse's comments about
the difference between Arse Electronica and your conference bear some weight
here.  If we don't attempt to keep to our mission, then every group in the
city of San Francisco would petition us for free space to hold their event.
We would be so overtaken by events we have no interest in, that our primary
mission would be lost.

Moreover, Noisebridge is a very welcoming, near-public venue. Public venues
> are important because they are typically more accessible to more people.
> KinkForAll has no requirements for registration, no ticketing or fees, and
> attempts to create a respectful public space in as much as our venue
> contracts allow. We don't even know exactly who's going to show up. The
> walk-in/walk-out anytime nature of a KinkForAll makes any space that
> requires advance notice of individual participants unusable.
>

I see two different points you're making here:  Your inability to anticipate
the number of attendees and some implication that Noisebridge is somehow
more public than the businesses Josh mentions, such as Wicked Grounds or DNA
Lounge.  I am rather confused by the latter.  They leave their doors
unlocked during business hours so I fail to understand why you don't
consider them public.

And as for your inability to anticipate attendence, it would be of
significant inconvenience to us as well to not have some idea of the numbers
of people we'd be hosting.  Assuming we agree to support your conference,
there's a considerable amount of set up, time during the event, and clean up
afterwards that has to occur to make the event a success.  If we were to
accomodate you, we would have to abandon use of the space you require -
however much that is - for the time it requires you to make this happen.


> Another reason is that Noisebridge is not a sexuality space. This is
> perfect for KinkForAll because, again, KinkForAll is not a sex-specific
> event, so being hosted by a non-sexuality-centric venue has the advantage of
> creating a sexuality-neutral environment. This is extremely helpful in
> remaining accessible to a diversity of participants. Among others, Josh Myer
> suggested The Citadel and The Armory as venues, both of which are
> sexuality-specific venues and thus less ideal for KinkForAll than
> Noisebridge.
>

Once again, there are other venues in town that are not sexuality spaces.
In addition to the DNA which Josh mentioned, I believe that SPACE, the
warehouse Ani lives in likes to host this sort of event.  But as Josh
pointed out, it's sort of rude to expect us to offer reasonable
alternatives.  What would you do if we were to say no?  I was hoping to see
why you would fit better with us as a hackerspace, rather than an
illustration that you apparently haven't made much effort to find a space,
or are willing to pay for it, which is what I'm reading from all this.

It is not my intent to be excessively critical.  However, it is my intent to
look out for the best interests of the hackerspace I joined and actively
effectively and financially support.

Christie
---
Why I take the road less traveled?  Oh, that's easy.  I'm claustrophobic.
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