Difference between revisions of "New Hackerspace Advice"

Latest revision as of 20:19, 20 May 2013

This content has moved here: http://hackspace.org.uk/view/Starting_a_Hackerspace

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-We get a lot of emails asking us how to go about starting a hackerspace. This is what we send them:
+This content has moved here: http://hackspace.org.uk/view/Starting_a_Hackerspace
-==Email==
+[[Category:Guides]]
-Hello there,
-The first steps we recommend for people attempting to start a new space are
-the following:
-- Set up a mailing list, anything will do, a lot of people use google groups.
-- Set up some form of web presence stating your goals, again a lot of people
-  just use the header area of google groups for this.
-- Spam the hell out of every local (or semi-local) geek mailing list with a
-  stirring "We will fight them on the beaches" style email about the need for
-  a hackerspace. We can give you examples if need be!
-- If you can't think of any groups to contact, look harder, they're always
-  there. Good places to contact are local schools (talk to the I.T. and D&T
-  teachers, even if there are no interested students then the teachers
-  themselves might be up for it), get in contact with societies at nearby
-  Universities, and see if the departments at the University might let you send
-  and email to all the students in their dept. You want to target the Computer
-  Science, Chemistry, Maths, Physics and Engineering departments. Look for
-  local sci-fi/gaming groups, they always tend to be a good source of Hackers.
-- Don't push any specific angle, eg electronics or software, just be open to
-  people learning, making and breaking things.
-- It's a good idea to set up an IRC channel, most groups use Freenode and also
-  hang out in #hackspace, the inter-uk-hackspace channel. The realtime aspect of
-  IRC creates relationships between members who have not even met yet.
-Once you have a fair number of people on the mailing list you should organise
-some meetings:
-- If you can (and you think you have enough people) I would announce that you
-  have meetings either once a month or bi-weekly. I prefer bi-weekly as it'll
-  get the community going faster, but either will do. Try and stick to a regular
-  day if you can, and make sure that day doesn't clash with anything obvious...
-- Get a pub back room - most pubs will give them to you for free on quiet
-  evenings, and in the worst case you'll have to drink enough to make it worth
-  their while (which generally isn't a problem). Back rooms are great as you
-  can generally whip out the soldering gear without them minding too much, and
-  you won't get weird looks from other people in the pub when loads of laptops
-  appear.
-- When you have meetings, pitch them as "come and hack/socialise, we're a group
-  of people who want to do this in a hackerspace one day", not "come and plan
-  how we'll build our hackerspace" - planning meetings for hackerspaces get
-  boring and repetitive very quickly. Build the community and the space
-  organisation will happen naturally as long as everyone there wants it.
-That last point is REALLY important, focus on the _community_ first and
-foremost, the space cannot exist without it. Spent several months building up
-a group of people who want to hack together and it'll work brilliantly. Don't
-even start planning the space until you have enough people to make it viable, I
-can't stress this enough!
-When it comes to setting up mailing lists/blogs/websites, getting it done
-quickly and in an easy to use manner matters MUCH more than doing it properly
-on your own servers. E.g. a google group is fine for the first few months, as
-is a tumblr blog and everything else. When you have a group and you're not
-spending all your time evangelising the hackerspace you can migrate! (It's
-a bit controversial this one, but I've seen so many people waste time setting
-things up and writing code that I think it's worth saying)
-When you get to the stage of taking donations/membership fees and looking at
-spaces - we can help with the formation of a non-profit and organisational
-structures you can adopt.
-If you'd like a subdomain of .hackspace.org.uk pointing somewhere, let us
-know.
-Can't wait to see how it goes, get in contact if you have any questions or
-need help with anything!
-Cheers,
---jonty

Difference between revisions of "New Hackerspace Advice"

Latest revision as of 20:19, 20 May 2013

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