Hackerspace

A German hackerspace (RaumZeitLabor)

A hackerspace (also referred to as a hacklab, makerspace or hackspace) is a community-operated workspace where people with common interests, often in computers, machining, technology, science, digital art or electronic art, can meet, socialize and collaborate.[1] Hackerspaces have also been compared to other community-operated spaces with similar aims and mechanisms such as Fab Lab, men's sheds, and commercial "for-profit" companies such as TechShop.

Activities

Many hackerspaces support the free software movement.

In general, hackerspaces function as centers for peer learning and knowledge sharing, in the form of workshops, presentations, and lectures. They usually also offer social activities for their members, such as game nights and parties. Hackerspaces can be viewed as open community labs incorporating elements of machine shops, workshops, and/or studios where hackers can come together to share resources and knowledge to build and make things.[2]

Many hackerspaces participate in the use and development of free software, open hardware, and alternative media. They are often physically located in infoshops, social centers, adult education centers, public schools, public libraries, or on university campuses, but may relocate to industrial or warehouse space when they need more room.

Hackerspaces with open membership became common throughout Germany in the 1990s in the orbit of the German Chaos Computer Club (CCC), with the c-base being probably an example. The concept, however, was limited to less than a dozen spaces within Germany, and did not spread beyond borders at first. Most likely this was because initial founding costs were prohibitive for small groups without the support of a large organization like the CCC.

In 2006, Paul Bohm came up with a fundraising strategy based on the Street Performer Protocol to build Metalab in Vienna, Austria, and became its founding director. In 2007, he and others started Hackerspaces.org, a wiki-based website that maintains a list of many hackerspaces and documents patterns on how to start and run them. As of September 2015, the community list included 1967 hackerspaces with 1199 active sites and 354 planned sites.[3]

The advent of crowdfunding and Kickstarter has put the tools required to build hackerspaces within reach of an even wider audience. Those tools are for example used by Bilal Ghalib, who had previously worked on a hackerspace documentary, and others to bring the hackerspace concept to the Middle East.[4]

Most recent studies of hackerspace in China — where Internet access is heavily censored — suggest that new businesses and organized tech conferences there serve to intervene in the status quo "from within". The first hackerspace in China, Xinchejian,[5] opened in Shanghai in 2010. Thereafter a network of hackerspaces emerged, nourishing an emerging maker culture. By designing open technologies and developing new businesses, Chinese makers make use of the system, make fun of it, altering it and provoking it. DIY makers often bring and align contradictory ideas together, such as copycat and open source, manufacturing and DIY, individual empowerment and collective change. In doing so, they craft a subject position beyond the common rhetoric that Chinese citizens lack creativity. As a site of individual empowerment, hackerspace and DIY making enable people to remake the very societal norms and material infrastructures that undergird their work and livelihood.[6]

Facilities

A workshop at HackerspaceSG in Singapore
Makerspace layout

The specific tools and resources available at hackerspaces vary from place to place. They typically provide space for members to work on their individual projects, or to collaborate on group projects with other members. Hackerspaces may also operate computer tool lending libraries,[7] or physical tool lending libraries.

The building or facility the hackerspace occupies provides physical infrastructure that members need to complete their projects. In addition to space, most hackerspaces provide electrical power, computer servers, and networking with Internet connectivity. Well-equipped hackerspaces may provide machine tools, sewing, crafting, art fabrication, audio equipment, video projectors, game consoles, electronic instrumentation (such as oscilloscopes and signal generators), electronic components and raw materials for hacking, and various other tools for electronics fabrication and creating things.[8] Specialized large-format printers, 3D printers, laser cutters, industrial sewing machines or water jet cutters may be available for members to use. Some hackerspaces provide food storage and food preparation equipment, and may teach courses in basic or advanced cooking.

Organization

Billboard promoting makerspaces

The individual character of a hackerspace is determined by its members. Many hackerspaces are governed by elected boards selected by active members in good standing. Elected officers may serve predetermined terms, and help direct decisionmaking with regards to purchasing new equipment, recruiting new members, formulating policy, conforming to safety requirements, and other administrative issues.

Membership fees are usually the main income of a hackerspace, but some also accept external sponsors. Some hackerspaces in the US have 501(c)3 status (or the equivalent in their jurisdiction), while others have chosen to forgo tax exempt status.[9] University-affiliated hackerspaces often do not charge an explicit fee, but are generally limited to students, staff, or alumni, although visiting guests from other hackerspaces are usually welcome. Some hackerspaces accept volunteer labor in lieu of membership fees, especially from financially limited participants. In addition, some hackerspaces earn income from sponsoring and staffing high-tech flea markets, where members of the general public may buy and sell new and used equipment and supplies.

There is a loose, informal tradition at many hackerspaces of welcoming visitors from other similar organizations, whether across town or internationally. Free exchange of ideas, skills, and knowledge are encouraged, especially at periodic gatherings sometimes called "build nights" or "open house" days.

Hackerspaces and makerspaces are increasingly being included as learning spaces in schools, learning commons, and other educational facilities.

Ethic

Hackerspaces are widely defined on hackerspaces.org as “community-operated physical places, where people can meet and work on their projects”. The exact functioning of the space varies from place to place and is determined by its members and while there is no blueprint or set of guidelines to create a hackerspace, they generally follow a “hacker ethic”,[10] which “include freedom, in the sense of autonomy as well as of free access and circulation of information; distrust of authority, that is, opposing the traditional, industrial top-down style of organization; embracing the concept of learning by doing and peer-to-peer learning processes as opposed to formal modes of learning; sharing, solidarity and cooperation”.[11]

Difficulties

Hackerspaces can run into difficulties with building codes or other planning regulations, which may not be designed to handle their scope of activities. For example, a new hackerspace in Nashua, New Hampshire was shut down by the city after an inspection in 2011. The main issues involved ventilation of heat and toxic fumes; the space was reopened after improvements were made to the building.[12]

The difficulties with opening HackerSpaces and MakerSpaces within non-profit organizations, such as schools and public libraries include cost, space, liability, and availability of personnel.[13]

Notable hackerspaces

A directory is maintained at the hackerspaces.org[14] wiki. For some other notable examples, see: Category:Hackerspace.

Over the years, many hackerspaces have grown significantly in membership, operational budgets, and local media attention. Many have also helped establish other hackerspaces in nearby locations.

Music Hackerspaces

A few hackerspaces exist that focus exclusively on music such as Music Hackspace (London), Music Hackspace Dublin, CPH Music Maker Space (Copenhagen), Ljudmila (Ljubljana), Radona (Zagreb).

See also

References

  1. Alan Henry. "How To Find And Get Involved With A Hackerspace". lifehacker.com.au. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  2. Saini, Angela (June 19, 2009). "DIY Gadgetry". BBC News.
  3. Hackerspaces.org (n.d.). "List of Hacker Spaces". Hackerspaces. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  4. Ghalib, Bilal (September 1, 2012). "Baghdad Community Hackerspace Workshops". 'Kickstarter. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
  5. "In China, Lessons of a 'Hackerspace'".
  6. Lindtner, Silvia (2014), "Hackerspaces and the Internet of Things in China: How makers are reinventing industrial production, innovation, and the self", China Information 28(2): 145-167.
  7. Williams, Wyatt (November 30, 2009). "Freeside Atlanta makes space for local hackers". Creative Loafing.
  8. Roush, Wade (May 22, 2009). "People Doing Strange Things With Soldering Irons: A Visit to Hackerspace". Xconomy.com.
  9. "About". Pumpinstationone.org. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
  10. Cameron Guthrie (2014): Empowering the hacker in us: a comparison of fab lab and hackerspace ecosystems. Paper presented in: 5th LAEMOS (Latin American and European Meeting on Organization Studies) Colloquium, Havana Cuba, 2‐5 April 2014
  11. Kostakis, V.; Niaros, V.; Giotitsas, C. (2014): Production and governance in hackerspaces: A manifestation of Commons-based peer production in the physical realm?. Published in:International Journal of Cultural Studies
  12. "MakeIt Labs, the new ‘hackerspace’ in Nashua, closed by the city for permits, other issues". Nashua Telegraph. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  13. Educause. "7 Things You SHould Know About Maker Spaces" (PDF). Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  14. "List of Hacker Spaces - HackerspaceWiki". Hackerspaces.org. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
  15. 1 2 Borland, John (August 11, 2007). ""Hacker space" movement sought for U.S.". Wired. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
  16. "Trollcon 2012". Heise.de. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
  17. Brugh, Willow (January 16, 2012). "Metalab, Extroverted Viennese Hackerspace". MAKE.
  18. Tweney, Dylan (March 29, 2009). "DIY Freaks Flock to 'Hacker Spaces' Worldwide". Wired. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
  19. "About". Tokyo HackerSpace. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
  20. "History » Safecast". Blog.safecast.org. 2011-03-11. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
  21. 鄭, 鴻旗 (June 26, 2014). "不要想,做就對了!". Make 國際中文版 vol.12. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  22. Lindtner, Silvia (2014), "Hackerspaces and the Internet of Things in China: How makers are reinventing indusrial production, innovation, and the self," China Information 28(2): 145-167.
  23. "What is a Men's Shed". MensShed.org. Retrieved October 23, 2012.
  24. Toupin, Sophie. "Feminist Hackerspaces: The Synthesis of Feminist and Hacker Cultures". Journal of Peer Production. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  25. Henry, Liz. "The Rise of Feminist Hackerspaces and How to Make Your Own". Model View Culture. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  26. "Double Union". Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  27. Toupin, Sophie. "Feminist Hackerspaces as Safer Spaces?". Feminist Journal of Art and Digital Culture. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  28. "White Hill Robotics". Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  29. "4th Floor". chattlibrary.org. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  30. "Making Room for Innovation". Library Journal. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  31. Forbes. "First Public Library to Create a Maker Space". Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  32. "Columbus Idea Foundry becomes a work in progress". The Columbus Dispatch. November 2, 2014. Retrieved 2015-06-26.
  33. "Columbus Idea Foundry". Retrieved 2015-06-26.
  34. Derek Thompson (July 2015). "A World Without Work". The Atlantic.
  35. "501c3Lookup - DURHAM MAKERSPACE". 501c3Lookup. Retrieved 2016-01-08.

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