[Noisebridge-discuss] Semantics

Wed Apr 3 02:02:48 UTC 2013

It's a perennial problem. Right now, the biggest constituencies that there
is an expectation that Noisebridge could help, and yet we have problems
providing resources for, is people who need more a) quiet and seclusion and
less chaos to hack on projects, and b) people wanting to co-operate on
long-term, high-involvement hardware projects. Also c) sustained long-term
group projects in general have been challenging, because of drift and the
fact that payment is a common way to bind people into a commitment.

I think we can improve b) by solving the locker problem FINALLY, and maybe
c) by drawing some lessons from the long-term group projects that do work
out. We've got enough success stories now to try and work out what works
and what doesn't (I think providing some supporting infrastructure for our
regular classes, like better live-streaming facilities, event calendar,
advertising etc would go a long way to help in this.)

I really don't know what to do about a) though. I think most people come to
the conclusion that quieter, less public space is the solution, and go off
and find one (or dream of building one). We really should put together a
list of the SF ones, because 9/10 people who get frustrated with
Noisebridge don't know there are perfectly awesome alternatives, like
Makeshift Society. I would love to organize an offsite "quiet room"
somewhere for Noisebridgers who want a nice peaceful place, which we could
also probably fund as a separate project under the same umbrella, like
Noisetor. Oh such dreams!

d.

On Tue, Apr 2, 2013 at 6:17 PM, Gopiballava Flaherty
<gopiballava at gmail.com>wrote:

> When I lived in Germany, I went to a meeting of the local branch of the
> Chaos Computer Club. The people there were doing nothing but coding on
> their own projects. There was very minimal social interaction. It seemed
> pointless - why go to a specific place to code surrounded by other people
> absorbed in their own code? Couldn't you just sit at home and code?
>
> Now, I am aware that not everybody can code at home, and NB has hardware
> as well, etc, but I can definitely imagine why some people would think that
> the expectation of NB is that people are there for community and
> interaction while doing their projects.
>
> Would something like different tables for distraction free vs. "I want to
> share ideas and hear your opinions" work make any sense? I'd expect some
> people really want interaction.
>
> Also, re: headphones, a friend of mine in Pittsburgh has been having
> people on the bus repeatedly try to converse with her while she wears very
> large headphones. Sometimes these people get annoyed she doesn't respond...
>
> Thanks,
>
> gopi at iPad
>
> On Apr 2, 2013, at 18:06, Rubin Abdi <rubin at starset.net> wrote:
>
> > Mitchel McAllister wrote, On 2013-04-02 17:38:
> >> I'm not possessive of a particular place. I just want somewhere I can
> >> work. I don't care where in the space it is, as long as I am allowed
> >> to work on my stuff without constant disruptions. I thought the first
> >> rule was "Be Excellent to Each Other"? How is being disruptive being
> >> excellent?
> >
> > A good question to ask ones self whenever anything regarding frustration
> > and a hacker space (or any space for that matter) comes up is, "What
> > requires me to continue existing inside of this space (as oppose to many
> > other open spaces) to the point where I observe myself to become
> > frustrated?"
> >
> > Remember that Noisebridge isn't mission critical, and by design doesn't
> > work for everyone 100% of the time they're there. Leaving for somewhere
> > else that works for you is always an ok option, over attempting to
> > change something that's grown quite organic into what it is now.
> >
> > Take myself for instance, I've hardly set foot in the space over the
> > last year, and I'm a founding member. I can't be productive with my own
> > work in that environment anymore. Does that mean Noisebridge is broken,
> > simply because it doesn't work for me? But it's working so well for so
> > many other people, most of the time. I'm happy Noisebridge continues to
> > exist, because it gives hackers who can work within its ridiculousness a
> > space to form community and build questionable things.
> >
> > --
> > Rubin
> > rubin at starset.net
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
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