It should really go without saying that Hackday LOVES hackerspaces. We want to support hackerspaces to the best of our ability. There have been many ideas tossed around, like a hackerspace directory, or hackerspace calendar of events, project lists, tool exchange programs, etc. For the short term, we can’t implement either of those in a smooth enough fashion that we think it would beneficial. There are several Hackerspace directories out there, with hackerspaces.org seeming to be the most up-to-date. We even have an “events” area in our forums, though we feel there could be a much better format or delivery device than a forum for that kind of information.
So what can Hackaday do to start helping? Well, the first small step could be to share more information about hackerspaces. We would like to do video tours of your hackerspace. Unfortunately, we don’t have a budget to travel around with a film crew and visit you all. I really wish we did, since I would probably be the one doing the traveling. So what we can offer for now is that you film a tour, showing off some cool projects going on in your hackerspace, and we’ll share the video. Contact me directly at Caleb@hackaday.com to work out the details. Your hackerspace doesn’t have to be a huge one in a big city. We want to help everyone here. If you have a few people gathered and a couple cool projects, we don’t care if you meet in someone’s basement. We want to see what the hacker community is doing!
Toward the end of May I will be spending a few days in Huntsville Al, then a few days in Hilton Head Island SC. I’d love to visit a hackerspace or two while I’m there to do a quick video tour. Again, contact me directly if you’re in those areas.
to me, hack-a-day is my hackerspace “IN TEH CLOUDZ!” what about offering that sort of service to hackerspaces. obviously not cloud computing, but say a dns like service that could automate the “directory” part of things.
Some sort of openID like system for the meatspace that allows people to register their space as a hackerspace and update it’s “status” (hey, there’s people here, this place is EMPTY) etc etc.
I too have been thinking about something like this!! Maybe a virtual hackerspace? I do a lot of projects with a small group of people that could hardly sustain a real hackerspace. But I mean, it would be cool if there was a virtual room thats a little more than an irc channel to hack together in.
google hangouts are pretty cool. We’ve tossed around ideas that would mix code/schematic version control with video conferencing, but none of us are programmers, so it was all pretty much fantasizing.
@ Caleb: none of us are good programmers.
For the status there is a nice spaceapi that really works wel. We use this in our tkkrlab.nl to. Go to hackerspaces.nl to see what (dutch) spaces are open. For general information it seems to me that hackerspace.org is the place to be, works fine. For a openID there are some folks that are busy with a space wide login SpaceFED but as far i know only implemented a some of the dutch hackerspaces.
Also! Count me in on this hackerspace tour. Our hackerspace might be the smallest ever, but we get our hack on like nobody’s business. Expect an email from Ruination. XD
were about to discuss this idea in our podcast actually, check us out : http://thehackables.org/
Listening to episode 1 now.
A Hackerspace leadership meeting would be cool to talk about what each hackerspace is up to and how we can coordinate and connect togeather more. Our hackerspace is under schoolfactory’s space federation, you should try and get ahold of them
Great article! I’ve been wanting to start one for the last year or so now in this area of east TN, now I know where to start. Thanks Caleb!
Until we have a full tour, here’s one hour on a tuesday night in the electronic lab at the hackerspace Labitat here in Copenhagen, Denmark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8VaG2uShfA
I’ve been tossing around the idea of traveling around the States and visiting most of the spaces this summer. I figured I would blog what happened, but videos would be a great idea.
if you’re a hackerspace and want reseller/wholesale pricing at adafruit we’ve been doing this for years and it’s been working out great, just visit the hackerspace section on adafruit (link at the bottom of every page). we have hack-a-day badges as well 🙂
@Caleb: Greetings from Huntsville Alabama. I’m super excited for your visit. If you haven’t already talked to someone from Makers Local 256 in Huntsville, please let this post officially invite you. I did see your direct contact info, so please feel free to see our website 256.makerslocal.org and/or drop into out IRC channel: #makerslocal on freenode.
Let me know if I can help in any way.
If you’ll be passing through Atlanta, between Huntsville and Hilton Head, be sure to hit up freeside. We’re not far from the interstate!
Trying to get something going in the north suburbs of Chicago. Pumping Station One is pretty cool, but too far from my house.
If you’ve going to Pumping Station: One it’s just a hop, skip, and a jump up to Wisconsin to visit Milwaukee Makerspace and Sector67… and who knows, by summer we might even have one more space *between* Milwaukee and Madison!
We have The Geek Group in Grand Rapids MI.
You should come visit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJq2wO-8LS0 here is our most recent walk through around the lab.
I was gonna make the plans for my space open source and write a build howto, and I started, but the effort didn’t seem to look like it was going to pay off so it just ended up a pile of images
http://eds.dyndns.org/~ircjunk/shop/
anyone think its worth finishing?
Whoa! Very cool!! I would love to see more.