Portland's Hackerspace
Making the space more accessible to the public – an Idea.
Hey all – I’d appreciate feedback on this, especially from current members, and those who aren’t members because they can’t afford it.
I spent the last week in San Francisco, with most of every night hanging out at Noisebridge, talking to people there. Out of all that conversation, an idea came up – how about opening up the space in the same way Noisebridge has?
Essentially, let anyone with some form of “key” (hell, if physical, let’s share the same pin pattern as NB, that’d be cool, right?) use the space – and keys are given out to those who seem like they should have them. Any keyholder can give another person a key. The benefits
of membership would be changed to include a locker or dedicated shelf, having the right to vote or otherwise have a say in the space, and priority on scheduling events/using equipment.
What we’re doing right now doesn’t work that well – I’m still covering a large chunk of the monthly rent myself, and the space is empty most the time. This change would possibly lose us some current members dues, but perhaps would increase participation and through that, donations. There are obvious disadvantages, in that we may have to deal with some abuse of the space, but that can be dealt with through more cameras and a bit more diligence in monitoring it.
This isn’t anything that is happening now, and nothing would change until current memberships that were pre-paid have expired. I *really* want feedback and discussion on this, so please don’t hold back.
- Loki
This entry was posted by admin on March 6, 2012 at 6:22 am, and is filed under News. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0.You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.
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#2 written by admin 1 year ago
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I don’t live in Portland so I really can’t utilize Brain Silo’s resources, but I do have experience with hackerspaces so I thought I would share some of my experiences. I hope it helps in some way.
I co-founded HeatSync Labs in Arizona in 2009 and more recently I co-founded Eugene Maker Space in Eugene, Oregon. The model that has been working for HeatSync Labs is to have multiple membership tiers. The bottom tier is $25 per month and those members don’t get a key. They can use all of the tools though while the space is open. The second tier is $50 and provides a key to the space. A member can only get a key once a few members nominate them and the rest of the membership votes on it at their bi-weekly membership meetings. What really helps though, is they have open hours every day of the week. There are key holding members who choose days of the week so that their space can be open to the public every week day from around 7PM – 10PM. This is also how their $25 members are able to utilize their membership. This is great because people who cannot afford a key or are unsure if they want to spend the money know that they can come to the space any night of the week and get work done until they can afford it or are willing to pay for it.
Eugene Maker Space is still in its infancy, but our model has so far been to only have one tier for $25 and you can get a key at this level. You need to be a member for two months before you can qualify for a key. This is just so that someone can’t pay $25, get a key automatically and then clean us out the next night. It gives us a chance to feel it out and be sure this person is a good fit and they aren’t just trying to rip us off. The 2 months can be waived by the board if they feel it is OK (if you have been coming to the space already but couldn’t afford membership for example). Once you reach that 2 month requirement you need 3 key holding members to sponsor you and then the board votes on it. This sort of requires new members to make a few friends or at least acquaintances.
Currently, Eugene Maker Space only really has one night a week that the public can get in without a key guaranteed, and that is at our Friday Night Open houses. I personally hope to achieve what HeatSync Labs has achieved and have someone with a key at the space every night of the week so non-members can still come and utilize the space until they feel ready to become a member. We aren’t quite there yet but our membership has been growing since our grand opening and I feel that we can reach that goal soon.
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#5 written by admin 1 year ago
Rick,
We’ve had multiple membership tiers, and much of the problem is simple lack of usage of the space. People don’t want to hang out alone.
Both of your examples are pretty close to the way work now, and it isn’t working for us. More to the point, it’s not what I, personally, want to see in a hackerspace – and I’m wondering if others feel the same.
Being able to show up in SF, where I’ve not been in over a decade, and immediately find a place to work on stuff – that’s an awesome thing.
As for people clearing us out, the hope would be that there is usually more than one person in the space; and we will be recording video. Also, remember, the door isn’t unlocked – it still requires someone to give the person a key.
– Loki
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I’m not a member there because I don’t live very close to Portland, but I’ve ended up there a few times after 2600 meetings this past year. From what I’ve observed, there’s really not much at Brain Silo to entice a lot of people to be members. I see from the site’s pictures that there’s an oscilloscope now, but is there much else aside from soldering stations? It doesn’t seem like there are many tools at Brain Silo.
I don’t mean to knock Brain Silo, because I love the idea of a hackerspace and I think it’s great that you’re doing it and if I lived around there I would probably be a member just to be supportive. But I have a room in my house filled with computers and soldering stuff and stacks of electronic parts, just like a lot of geeks do. So as a geek, I don’t see why I would ever need to use the hackerspace. And I’m not sure what a normal member of the public would get from going there. If it’s just to solder or for miscellaneous parts, it’d be cheaper for them to visit Radio Shack and buy their own soldering tools or parts.
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#7 written by admin 1 year ago
I agree with you, and I also have a room (well, basement) in which I have quite a bit of the same stuff that is available at the hackerspace.
What a hackerspace is really intended to provide is someplace where you can work around other people, and induce cross-inspiration. In BrainSilo’s case, we also have as part of our mission providing space that the public can use – to that end, we do need more tools that are uncommon – the basic trifecta of a 3d printer, laser cutter or vinyl cutter, and a cnc router. We have one of those – we need the rest.
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#8 written by pierce 12 months ago
Hello Mr. Box
Wednesday night is exploit workshop night, which can be pretty fun. Sometimes we crank on various wargame servers, or porting/hardening existing exploits. There are some fun maker-esque things going on there (my tDCS machine etc), but there is plenty of infosec::hacker activity going on there as well. Getting shells on random embedded devices is also a trend activitywise.
The difference between a hackerspace and a mad science lab is purely the social aspect, which can often turn into collaboration on some pretty cool projects, or conference talks. For example, tonight I intend to talk about some ideas I had for an ekoparty submission.
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My friend and I have been meaning to come by and check out the space for a couple months now, but the fact that you guys seem to only be open to the public one night a week *really* hindered things for us. The hour or two window on Thursday would roll around, we’d forget we’d planned to come by, or we’d be busy with other things, and then it was back to waiting for a week.
As far as equipment goes, rbcp makes a fair point. We’re interested in possibly using your 3D printer. I don’t know what else you guys have that would interest us at this point. If it’s pretty much just computers, oscilloscopes, and soldering stations… then yeah, not very compelling. Sorry.
Hope to see you at 7pm tonight! Best of luck making this space more viable. I honestly think Portland is *exactly* the kind of place where a hackerspace is needed and where a hackerspace like this can flourish.
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#10 written by Kaosi 1 year ago
Hey all. I’m new to the hacking scene and will be moving to Portland on March 27th to attend The Art Institute. I love the idea behind hackerspaces and would love to come by and check things out. It may be awhile until I could afford dues(aka find a job), but with 3-day weekends and free time every morning, I would be MORE than willing to help out around the space. Cleaning, organizing, things like that wouldn’t be a problem. Let me know what you guys think, and I’m pretty sure I can be there for the Open Meeting the night of the 29th. Let me know what you guys think.
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#12 written by Steve 1 year ago
I end up using the space mostly as a refuge to do homework in the middle of the night.
Of course, homework ends up being things like running tests on a salinity sensor that I’ve built, and the like.
I’ve been meaning to come in during open house hours to sit down with you and learn how to use the milling machine. Once I’m “spun up” (sorry, bad pun) I’d be happy to pass that knowledge along to other members. And if folks are interested in getting an Arduino programming group together, I’d definitely be interested in tagging along.
The thing I’ve run into that has made it hard to recruit new members is that I don’t know much about what tools we have, and it’s tough to try to explain the space without being able to give a lot of specifics.
Also, if folks were up for it, I’d like to meet and socialize more at the space. Maybe once or twice a month, if folks wanted to come down on a Saturday night and get some pizza and hang out, it could be fun.
Sometime within the next few weeks, I’m planning on putting together a kydex press and learning more about molding thermoplastics. Once I have it figured out, any time folks want to get together and play, I’m totally down for it. I’m also working on getting my hands on a digital soldering station for the space if we still need one.
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#13 written by Mike 1 year ago
my 2cents.
1. There should be more transparency about what you have (e.g. a list of tools/expertise/etc). The first questions I thought of when I got to this site were: what do you folks do?, and what do you have? and neither of those are answered on this site.
2. And I think more events/workshops/guest lectures/publicity stunts (or even better organized project photos) would be helpful. I found out about this space because of the bookscanner talk and for lots of reasons that sort of thing would be a good intro/reason to join.
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#14 written by admin 1 year ago
Mike – I think those question are answered, but perhaps not in a way people expect. What we do is provide a space for people to work on projects. What we have is a miscellaneous assortment of tools and parts available for people to use.
BrainSilo isn’t a for profit business (unlike ADX), and it’s goal is not to run structured events or training – BrainSilo exists to allow others a space to work on their projects, and to allow people a space to do their own structured events or training.
If someone wants to do events, workshops, and the like, we’re more than happy to let them – we’re even happy to let them use the BrainSilo name to promote it if they wish. But that is an individual taking the initiative to do those things.
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#16 written by Arn 1 year ago
Hi, I would love to be able to use a hackerspace but unfortunately BrainSilo is too far away. I live in Hillsboro and its about a 20 mile ride for me and since I could only make it on weekends it doesnt make much sense for me to pay the membership dues. Now if there were a reasonable drop-in fee I would certainly consider it.
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I just moved here from New York, recent Mechanical Engineering grad. Definitely looking to get involved in the maker community in Portland – and you seem to be the authority in the area!
First off, I don’t see a list of the facilities you guys offer. What kind of tools do you have? Electrical? Mechanical? Craft-related? What are they?
Also, I do wish there were more involvement. I only see three “classes” listed on the calendar. I would love to have a lot more events – both for learning, and just for fun (SF’s Noisebridge is super inspiring: https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Noisebridge).
That being said, I am hoping to get involved and meet some awesome people there. I love Maker-types, and they’re hard to find out in the wild.
Would love to help make this space a creative-nerd mecca. (Check out my website to see the stuff I’m interested in – robotics, product design, and general crafty-funness):
http://www.katingalls.com) -
#19 written by Corey 1 year ago
I’m out in Beaverton and am interested in such a space but its a bit of a travel to attend regularly. However I would interested in stopping by about once a month at random times if a space was available to the public-
Also I was part of a group in Portland who started meeting to work on the free Stanford online course together. (introduction to AI) We were meeting for a bit (4-6 weeks) , but eventually the group fizzled out because there was nowhere to meet that was conducive to studying. Maybe you could organize study groups for free online CompSci courses, and get some new traffic/ interest? I found the AI study group via google groups. (PS I ended up completing the course solo, and would highly recommend the course)
Corey
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#20 written by pierce 12 months ago
I live in Beaverton now too, but if you are close to the max the commute isn’t too bad. Members can hold events at any time, and people don’t need to be members of the space to attend, so long as there is a member there to open and close the event.
One of the best things about brainsilo is using it as as meeting space. I run exploit workshop on Wednesday nights which focuses on computer security related research. That Stanford study group sounds awesome, things like that would be a great fit for the space.
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Null space labs in Los Angeles (032.la) has an online display of when it is open, which is pretty much anytime a keyholder is present. Besides the weekly non-meeting, they have a game night and classes.
I will be about 60 miles from portland for the summer, and will try and see if I can make at least one of your meetings. Having a house on wheels that moves frequently makes it hard to join a fixed-location hackerspace.
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Howdy! I am on the BoD of quelab.net, the hackerspace in Albuquerque. We have open hacknights Sun and Tues nights 7-10, plus members get a key. Co-working on Wednesday (all day). So far, no problems of abuse, although we are paying attention. Visitors are welcome, the first time is free, then $5 per visit. We have two tiers of membership: students $25, otherwise $35 (per month).
Because of work, I have been in the Bay Area for the last few months and been going to Noisebridge. I have noticed requiring membership cuts *way* down on the drama. I am not a formal member, although I was given a key. I throw in time and money as I go along.
So – I would encourage J Random hackerspace to have some tiers of membership (at a minimum, some skin in the game), and at least two open nights for 3..4 hours each.
Also, try to set up the space to make it easy for members who need quiet, ie consultants and students, to be in the space during the day for most days. You will need to figure out how to actively recruit them.
(BTW – thanks for the brainsilo sticker – on my laptop as I type this).
Success to y’all … bandit
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Didn't find any related posts :(
As a person who’s on SSI Disability it’s hard to find the money for dues. It would be great if I had access to tools, space and/or like-minded individuals.