Organisation/2014 Trustees Election/Candidates

Martin Clarke (Crypt)

I've been a member of London Hacksapce for nearly 4 years now, and before that I was always watching how the community grew, and what its turned into now is something far beyond what anyone could have imagined. I'm standing as a trustee because I believe that I can improve the already fantastic Hackspace community. I have seen the great work that has been put in by the current trustees and want to contribute what I can to further and improve that.

Having the amazing tools we do is a privilege that we can always expand on, with the new lasercutter and the 3D printer are always going to bring people in, but what keeps them around is the atmosphere in the place, and helpfulness of those around. As we've grown, we find that a lot of us who knew everyone in a small community, now find lots of new faces, and even old faces who aren't as familiar to us. I think expanding upon the new member experience, and trying to plan more social events as well as helping others too plan events in the space are essential to helping integrte the community more.

As a final note, I think also that helping other Hackspaces where we can would also be great for us to do, to expand national Hackspace groups. I have worked hard on events like EMF to help with this, but I think London Hackspace could do a lot more to further this goal.

Sam Cook (samlr)

Hi, if you've not met me before it's probably because for the last year or so I've mostly been only visible online. The other reason is that until a year ago I had very long hair and a big beard. I've been a member of the space for quite some time and hopefully gives me a good perspective when dealing with any problems.

I may not be the most handy of people but I'm looking forward to continuing to help out around the space both with infrastructure and organisation. I'm keen to help the space grow and continue to do amazing things.

Thomas Greer (tgreer)

Hi, I'm tgreer. You may remember me from such subgroups as amateur radio and 3D printing. I've recently (read: in August) completed a tour of duty at EMF, where I spent most of my time driving people from A -> B.

I'm standing for trusteeship as I believe that whilst trustees are still just members, other members look towards them with problems and look for guidance. I like to think that people can approach me to discuss issues they have and that I can in turn provide helpful guidance for the members. We have more than doubled in size in the last 2 years. We need to get up and run with this and make the London Hackspace a better place.

Matthew Israelsohn (ciborg)

I’m ciborg, I’ve been a London Hackspace member for 3 years; you might know me as the enthusiastic deaf guy asking about your project or tinkering with electronics and rapid prototyping technology in my own quest as a maker.

Over the last 30 years technology has improved the lives of disabled people faster than ever. I’ve engineered pan-European videophone projects for deaf people and for a decade consulted for a deaf charity on leveraging the most out of tech. Working as a London Paralympics technical volunteer truly opened my eyes to how a wider cross-section of society can participate - if there is sufficient access.

The Hackspace enables makers to network, share tools and knowledge. Innovation at the Hackspace can lead to quality of life improvements for disabled people and help everyone reach their full potential, yet this awesome space is not yet accessible to all and I am committed to improving this.

I’m organising a professional accessibility audit and have leads on obtaining funds to remove the remaining barriers. I lead a tour of UK Government & Disability Rights UK delegates around LHS to enable them to understand what we do and show how everyone including the disabled can benefit from hackspaces.

I’m passionate about technology, community and inclusiveness. We all need a little extra help sometimes, and it’s in my heart to enhance the good at London Hackspace.

I'm here to help everyone. I’m ciborg, vote for me and together let’s shape a better future for all. Thank you.

Nick Large (vetraskr)

I've been a member of the hackspace for several years now, and have seen it grow dramatically over that time. Over the past few years I've been involved in the organisation of EMF (the UK hacker camp), which has given me valuable insight and experience in exactly how much work happens behind the scenes to keep an organisation running smoothly.

To me one of the most important things about the Hackspace is the diverse community that has grown around it. We need to make sure that as we grow all members are welcomed and encouraged to participate.I'd also like to encourage all members to have agency over and responsibility for the parts of the Hackspace that they use, as this is something that I think we've had trouble scaling with the rest of the space.

In addition I think that one of the unspoken responsibilities of a trustee is to act as a voice of reason. We have many enthusiastic and passionate members, and we want to keep focusing that enthusiasm for positive ends.

Ruben Martin (wyan)

I have been a Hackspace member since shortly after arriving to London in 2011. I started by doing some electronics projects and getting involved in photography in the darkroom. Then I got a more active involvement as we moved to our current site in 447 Hackney Road, helping out with the works and the move, and setting up the new place.

Since then I helped setting up the Amateur Radio club by lending equipment and arranging the club licence M0HSL, and helping with the training courses. I'm also currently involved in the group building the darkroom, and have recently started Mathspace, a Mathematics-related subgroup.

I'm putting myself forward for election as a Hackspace trustee because I would like to help the organisation keep growing and dealing with the pains that come from this growth. I think trustees are just members, rather than managers, and the role I hope to fulfill is that of mediating the conflicts that happen in the day to day running of the space, to aid communication matters, and to inspire others to do the same.

Eugene Nadyrshin (mentar)

Hello everyone! If you don't know me from the photo or nickname then you may have seen me tinkering around with the robot or running around like a headless chicken.

I really like the hack-space and I think what’s been achieved so far is amazing, I want to help continue that trend and that’s why I’ve decided to stand for a trustee position in this election. If elected I'd like to find new ways of increasing member involvement in the running of the hackspace. When I joined we had about three hundred or so members and there was a strong sense of community, but with over 1100 members now it’s getting harder to maintain that without active facilitation from the trustees and I think they need all the help they can get!

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.

Blanca Regina

Hi I´m Blanca Regina. I'm currently involved in creating audiovisual performances, music, installations and film.

I will like to be a trustee because I think this is a position that needs to rotate, to whoever likes and loves Hackspace. For keeping up a positive attitude, the good work and maintain a clean and organized space. I think that to keep the space mantainance and to try to help whoever that needs a hand or guideline its essential. Im up for it! If I know about anything I will first make a cup of tea, I will listen and I'll try to refer you to the best ways of sorting out an idea or case.

I joined Hackspace in May 2012, and since then I feel very gratefull and close to what happens. I have met amazing people and I'm glad about it. I joined Music Hackspace and worked with the group for a couple of years curating the evening of live performances at Troyganic. I recently left the group looking forward to focus at some other initiatives. Since we moved to the new space and mostly for the last 8 months I've been focused in the Darkroom project and lately at the buildup of the Darkroom downstairs. I'm very excited about how this its turning out. Im becaming a master making tea. See you soon in the space.

Tim Reynolds (TimRTerrible)

I'm standing in the trustee elections because I find myself with some spare time and capacity and putting that to use at the hackspace seems a fair trade for the things the space has done for me. As we approach 1200 active members the trustees are busier than ever. I've said during past elections that I'd like to facilitate subgroups taking on more responsibility (both fiscal and organisational) for their specific areas of the space, and that is still true. While trustees have no more control over how things evolve than any other member, I've mentioned that to give you some idea of the direction I'd like the space to head in.

I've been a hackspace member for almost four years and like to think I know what's going on most of the time. I'm in the space at least weekly to work on the Bikeshed and can usually be found floating around on Tuesday evenings. I freelance in the entertainment industry as a day job and helped to run the stages at Electromagnetic Field 2014.

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.

Ryan Sayre (kraptv)

Hi there, I’m kraptv. I originally joined the space because of the amateur radio club - I really love communications. When I arrived, I installed networking to the radio shack, built the telephone system, and volunteered for infrastructure duty to improve the space.

Since then, I’ve listened to and assisted several fellow members with their goals, from helping champion the disabled to bringing in donations of technology and infrastructure bits that improves our space safety and security. I have enjoyed presenting at EMF and have actively given open house tours, washed dishes, disposed of dozens of bin bags, sorted recycling, and done plenty of sweeping and dishwashing - something I’ll continue regardless of election outcome. Actions matter over talk.

I believe in participating in progress rather than questioning results - and sensitivity matters when handling difficult issues. I stand for more sharing, less stealing, and better management of ‘collective stuff’ at the space.

Professionally, I’m a ‘technical diplomat’ for a large technology company - I understand the need for positive collaboration between members and the outside and am willing to take responsibility in managing information requests (PR, etc.) for the benefit of the space.

My organisational experience is also small and intimate - in 1997 I co-founded and still adminster an internet co-operative (skylab.org) with 150 members, volunteer in personally mentoring young technology professionals, and firmly believe in technology innovation as empowerment for a connected, egalitarian, and better life for everyone.

I like fun. Let’s have at it, gang. ;-)

David Sullivan (Sully)

I’ve been involved with the Hackspace since late 2011 and since that time I have tried to make the Hackspace as useful a place as it can be for others to make and do things whether that’s through helping the fit-out of Hackney Road, small maintenance and admin or providing help, advice and ad-hoc tours.

The membership of the Hackspace has grown rapidly in the last 3 years and it’s necessary to make it easier for all members to ‘connect’ in some way even if they live some distance away or only come in very rarely. Some aspects and uses of the space are based on ‘hidden knowledge’ currently and I would like to make it more obvious for members to find help and to be able to help others so things are not so reliant on a few.

I believe I am a good candidate for trustee and would deal with people fairly and with respect whilst taking consideration of the rest of the Hackspace as a whole.

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 (samb1)

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.

Jonty Wareing (jonty)

Since we started the hackspace over five years ago I have watched it bloom into something we could never have imagined in the beginning - a community of over 100 people was almost unfathomable then, a community of over 1000 simply a joke.

We're still operating in a very similar manner to how we began, and while I (and others) have pushed for changes when necessary our current model is a simplistic evolution of the one set out in 2009. We've learned many lessons and passed on the knowledge, but we've not always used it to improve our own space.

In 2015 I would like to push for simple changes to the space in order to help manage the growing pains we're still suffering, giving more power to members, and helping the trustees manage the increasing load generated by the membership.

By the end of 2015 I am aiming for the following things:

• Subgroups being fully empowered to maintain their portions of the space
• Refurbishment of parts of the space that remain untouched since moving
• Better accessibility for tools and areas of the space
• Tools and consumables being replaced & maintained constantly, with reporting for broken or missing equipment
• Access control on all equipment that requires training, and regular scheduled training
• Budget set aside for decorating the space and making it look awesome
• Scheduled tours on Tuesday night, with guide training for those that want to help
• Better communication with groups and introductions for new members
• Better online presence, and a regular newsletter (again!)

I can't promise all this, but I can tell you I've already been working toward it for some time. 2015 is going to be a great year for the hackspace.

Tom Wyatt (tomwyatt)

i'm Tom, I've been a member for 3 odd years now (not as far back as the very first space but close) and seen it grow from a single office space in Hoxton to the building we have now. I've been around for most of the great trials and troubles we've been through.

I've attended a whole bunch of makerfaires and other events in the name of the Hackspace as well as building a bunch of stuff for it to promote us on blogs etc. The big blue sign in the lobby was my doing as is the spaceship in the carpark.