[Noisebridge-discuss] personal computers at Noisebridge (was Re: Missing Green Bike /w Red Grips.)

Fri Feb 4 01:44:14 UTC 2011

I think "based out of" is exactly the issue.  Classrooms are for classes;
for groups that want to be able to close the door for an hour and talk about
3d modeling or their startup or whatever.  As such, they're a shared
resources, shared amongst the various groups who use Noisebridge.

Normally, the way time in the classrooms gets allocated is that a group that
is meeting a certain time looks in each space and attempts to claim one,
moving on if it seems to be "in use."  The trouble is, Turing is currently
*always* in use, because someone's always camped on that PC.

And it is very different, asking someone on a laptop to move versus asking
someone using a desktop PC to move; in the one case, you're just asking them
to free up space, taking their laptop-based activity someplace else; in the
other case, you're actually asking them to stop doing whatever they're
doing, log out, clean up, etc.  This is exactly why we had a long discussion
about Not Having Desktops In The Space, Lo These Many Years Ago At 83c.
Apparently on a night when Rachel didn't come ;)

So if someone is on the computer in Turing, nobody else will end up using
Turing for, eg, classrooms, except those who have enough of a personal
relationship with Isky to feel comfortable asking him to move; consequently
we have one less classroom at Noisebridge.

Honestly, this is really the reason I don't like the idea of there being
public terminals in Noisebridge: because it creates a space where someone is
always permanently camped; and there already is one of those, it's called
the public library.

I have several times asked Isky to move his computer out of the classroom,
and he has not done so.  Others have also asked.  What's the correct next
step?  In other cases, we've simply moved furniture, walls, etc in order to
create a more felicitous environment; is moving (or removing) a computer
different that moving (or removing) a couch?

--S

On Thu, Feb 3, 2011 at 1:40 PM, Frantisek Apfelbeck <algoldor at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Hi There,
> I've to agree with Jim, especially with point of mixing different circles
> and
> awareness of the people who spend time together. I've been based in Turing
> classroom for nearly a half year and it was a great spot for both work and
> relax. I liked the people and dynamic of the place. If you wanted to work
> it was
> no problem and if there was a big class claiming whole place you just moved
> for
> hour or two somewhere else, done.
>
> Sharing resources at Noisebridge is a pivotal point of this community and
> I've
> to say that Isky is doing a great job in that. Other thing which I like a
> lot
> are the crowds of cool people who he is bringing in to the place. Also the
> way
> how he approaches any "difficult situation" is socially very developed, at
> least
> in majority of the cases. Therefore I hope that things will be sorted so it
> will
> allow Isky to further contribute to the community. I'm very glad that the
> things
> were found.
>
> Best of luck to all of you,
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Frantisek
>
> PS I'll be announcing the start of my hacker tour around Europe and Japan
> within
> few days. It will be posted on my web pages which I'm now transferring to
> tiki
> wiki (I've some issues ...).
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: jim <jim at systemateka.com>
> To: rachel lyra hospodar <rachelyra at gmail.com>
> Cc: Andy Isaacson <adi at hexapodia.org>; Frantisek Apfelbeck <
> algoldor at yahoo.com>;
> Noisebridge <noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net>
> Sent: Thu, February 3, 2011 5:08:06 PM
> Subject: Re: [Noisebridge-discuss] personal computers at Noisebridge (was
> Re:
> Missing Green Bike /w Red Grips.)
>
>
>
>    seems to me there are little areas of the space that
> have their own ecologies. the turing classroom has its
> habituals. while i'm in different circles from isky's,
> sitting together puts each of us in awareness of the
> other's circles. this seems a natural dynamic, possibly
> to be encouraged, always to be hacked.
>    there's an additional element of non-rules-ness
> that's not been mentioned in this thread: claims.
>    the events section on the front page of the
> noisebridge wiki has one-time and repeating events
> listed. i believe a convention is established that such
> listings effectively claim resources.
>    for example, i expect that each tuesday and friday
> afternoon those of us who care can break out the
> nano-rack of server boxes, power its noisy ass up, and
> work on studying django and linux skills, and
> furthermore, if some other persons or groups want us
> to shut up or go away or want to use the stuff we're
> using, whatever the contention, because we've posted
> the event, we win and can continue what we're doing.
>    of course, before and after the times posted, we
> have no claims and must try to accommodate any others
> who want us to shut up or go away or use the stuff we
> are using, probably first come first serve in that case.
>    and not a bad idea that we may be forced out of our
> hidey hole to mix with "them out there" in other hidey
> holes.
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, 2011-02-03 at 07:32 -0800, rachel lyra hospodar wrote:
> > FWIW I was trained as a 'conflict mediator' ages and ages ago, and I
> > would be happy to sit down with dissenting parties to work on
> > problem-solving.
> >
> > I am not interested in discussing how noisebridgey isky is or if he's
> > excellent enough. I don't presume to judge his relative worth. I also
> > am not going to demand that a student surrender ownership of a machine
> > he already shares to a community of people who already have access to
> > it.
> >
> > There are so many computers laying around at NB it boggles my mind
> > that one more could be considered over the line. It would be cool if
> > the monitor and keyboard were commonly usable; I would totally plug my
> > netbook into them every once in a while. Maybe there's a better place
> > to keep the whole setup than in the classroom?  There is a game
> > computer on the west wall, maybe this could be turned into a general
> > station and then when isky or someone wants to use his machine they
> > can fire it up. This would free up that classroom for the crowds of
> > students clamoring for separated learning space, and give us a way to
> > lovingly throw spitballs at isky when he plays video games instead of
> > hacking the planet.
> >
> > mediumreality.com
> >
> > On Feb 2, 2011 6:30 PM, "Andy Isaacson" <adi at hexapodia.org> wrote:
> > > On Wed, Feb 02, 2011 at 05:44:44PM -0800, Rachel McConnell wrote:
> > >> If you have a problem with someone's behavior, talk to them.
> > >
> > > I have tried to talk to Isky about this issue. He's been unwilling
> > to
> > > communicate about it. I have heard from at least two other community
> > > members who've also tried to discuss it with him and gotten blown
> > off.
> > >
> > > I'd appreciate it if someone who has a good rapport with Isky could
> > help
> > > mediate better communication. Rachel or Rachel?
> > >
> > > My position is, I don't think that there should be personal desktop
> > > systems set up long-term at noisebridge. It causes a bunch of
> > problems:
> > >
> > > 1. it doesn't scale. We don't have room for everyone's systems.
> > > 2. it encourages the "owners" of the systems to assert property
> > rights
> > > to specific areas of the space.
> > > 3. it's wasteful of power. ($7-$40 a month per PC, if I math right.)
> > > 4. it encourages the "owners" to overuse the Noisebridge space,
> > > sometimes to the exclusion of other community members.
> > > 5. the "owner" is likely to feel personally affronted if their
> > system is
> > > used to construct a giant robot.
> > >
> > > I have no problem with temporary (8 hours, 48 hours) use of the
> > space in
> > > just about any innovative way -- hackathons, installfests, robot
> > > construction that temporarily takes over the entire front room --
> > but
> > > that's not what is happening here. As far as I know, there's been an
> > > "Isky's computer" in one of the classrooms continuously, for the
> > last
> > > several months.
> > >
> > > -andy
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> > > Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> > > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>
>
>
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-- 
Shannon Lee
(503) 539-3700

"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
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