Organisation/2014 Trustees Election/Candidates

Lucia Naidu

I have been a Hackspace member for over a year, and visit the space often. I am a member of theNot Just Arduino and Acoustic Hacking groups, and have done many Arduino and electronics projects. When I first joined, I was a complete beginner to electronics and coding, so I understand the problems faced by newcomers, and also that the Hackspace community is a great place to learn new skills. I have also helped many others with their first Arduino projects.

The Hackspace has made a huge difference to my life, as it would have been impossible for me to learn on my own, and I have met many great people there. I have a disability which makes it difficult for me to access the space and difficult or impossible for me to use most tools and equipment, so I understand some of the problems that makers with disabilities can encounter. I think that improving accessibility would improve the space for everyone, the heavy doors are one example.

I would like to see more special interest groups getting together, so that members with similar interests can share skills and knowledge and make new friends.

I am at the Hackspace most Monday and Tuesday evenings, and sometimes on other days.

Henry Sands (YetiFiasco)

I'm happy with how the space is currently run and I don't see any reason to change things drastically, trustees past and present have done a fantastic job of keeping a community of over 1000 people stable and growing despite the ever present threat of drama and that’s what I’d like to continue as a trustee.

I'd like more focus on training for tooling and skills, skillsharing is one of founding Hackspace dogmas and apart from 3d printer, lathe, woodwork and laser cutter training, it's done on a very ad-hoc basis. There are many who wish to use specific tools, but can't find someone to show them the basics (the vinyl cutter for example, which is tricky to use at best). This would involve a thorough dig out of the wiki and a revamp of training articles, including tutorials and a catalogue of external resources.

Keeping the Hackspace ticking along, organizing more cool events like the open days and kicking up the activity on social media (more blog posts!) are all things I'd love to do.

Heather Sullivan (akki)

You may not recognise me from my picture, I change my hair colour occasionally, but you may recognise me from my posts on the mailing list. I’m the one who made Pteri, the giant black pterodactyl that hangs in the main room on the ground floor, and the wooden bird skeletons that were on last year’s Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. Both made in the hackspace. In the old hackspace, I helped restart and build the old darkroom and helped out on several maker-faires in the past. I've not always been able to attend the hackspace in person but I've kept tabs on it from afar as I like to see the hackspace thrive.

We've grown into such a huge community that I feel we need to focus more on respect. Respect for the tools, the rules and each other, which is actually what the first two are for anyway. I hope that people will feel they can speak to me when they don’t feel like they can speak out on matters. I’m here to help and advocate for others.

Samantha Thompson

Hello, I come from a background of hands on lab work in biotech followed by business development in the scientific industry. I've also had a crazy love of computers since getting my BBC Model B at age 7! I want to see every group in The Hackspace have the same support and encouragement that the biohacking group has benefited from thanks to the generosity of the founders and current trustees. I think some of the best ideas arise when people from different backgrounds share knowledge and skills and as such The Hackspace is a unique place that I couldn't live without.

As one of the directors of the biohacking subgroup's legal entity I've been involved with getting our lab up to spec to meet government regulations and successfully putting together proposals for which we have received funding from other institutions such as UCL. I feel this is a good grounding for dealing with requirements of a Hackspace trustee.

Our hackspace is awesome and I believe it can be even better. Please give me the opportunity to help in the next steps in its development.