The best learning and the some of the most creative ideas come from a spirit of play. Exploring what’s possible and being open to the wonders of the world is amazingly powerful. And wonderful things can come from it. If you need an example: the Homebrew Computer Club spawning the PC revolution.
There is a resurgence of interest in making and hacking in the physical space. From the Maker Faire to TechShop or DIY Bio, to DIY Drones it’s building momentum. (If you haven’t seen it, check out the growing list of hacker spaces globally.)
A few weeks ago, a group got together to discuss the need for and desire to create a makerspace, hackerspace or tech shop in New Haven. It’s time isn’t it? As JR puts it, we are the home of the erector set after all.
CT Hackerspace. Photo by JR Logan.
I was not able to make it to the meeting, and was glad when Anne Haynes sent me the notes from the meeting. I got even more excited. Let’s do it!
A key decision is scale and funding model. Should we buy a bunch of equipment and build a 10,000 st ft floor plan? That requires more funding and therefore more demand off the bat. Or do you take donations of equipment, build over time with passion and energy from members and collect dues as necessary?
I hear that Rob Narracci (have we met?) sketched out a budget for a self-funded makerspace with all equipment paid for in cash. At $100/month, you might need 300 to 400 members to keep it going. Do we have that demand? Could we start for less money? I’ve heard that the some hackerspaces start for very little cash plus donation of time, machines and parts. (I think CT Hackerspace got started this way?)
Do you start with a wood shop? I would want to have want to have Arduinos, a Makerbot, and a laser cutter of some sort off the bat. Way more interesting to a younger generation than glue, planes, bandsaws and tablesaws, right?
It’s not for production scale, but might be for prototyping. Probably not for DIY Biology (although that would be a cool space, too!) and probably not art focused (materials are different?).
I took the liberty of starting a Google Group so we can continue the discussion. Happy to add admins or use a different forum, but did want to get the ball rolling.
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Need some inspiration? Watch this TED Talk from Dale Dougherty on how we’re all makers or at least should want others to be:
