Organizational Objective Ideas

The Objectives

• Provide a workspace/workshop

  • For who?
    • “Makers”
    • 1/3rd of our members are “starving hackers”
  • How much of this is shop space and how much is office space?
    • This is something unique to each community. Some hackerspaces seem to focus on crafting (artisan’s asylum) and others seem to focus on programming/co-working. Hacker Dojo is heavily focused on programming/co-working because they’re in silicon valley.

• Provide classes/lectures

  • This is what surveys say the most people want from hackerspaces.
  • Increases membership and provides direct benefit to the community.
  • Potential revenue source (see RX/TX in Houston).

• Provide tooling which our users would not be able to afford or store individually

  • This would be things like a Mill, CNC Router, Laser Cutters
  • Tooling increases membership, we’ve had quite a few people join just because of the laser cutter.

• Provide a valuable community

  • A community of what?
    • A community of people interested in the same things as you, people you’re more likely to get along with (than the rest of the general population).
  • “Noisebridge isn’t just about Arduinos and giant fricking lasers. We come here to support each other, especially in our darkest times, and we work to support the wider hacker community.”
  • http://blog.hackerspaces.org/2013/09/27/redefining-hackerspaces/
  • Individuals involved in strong communities can experience an increased life expectancy.
  • Helps retain people, or the community can scare them away.

• Expand number of persons served

The Objectives Are Not Independent

• You can’t have tooling without enough workspace.
• You can’t hold classes unless you have classroom space.
• You can’t do anything unless you have a community or a really rich dude funding it all.

What are our priorities?

Balance each of the objectives, and focus on which objective can bring us the most benefit.

Have we been prioritizing?

• Arguably this is in our minds each time we made a decision. Examples:
  • Expanding the space
    • increases workspace
    • increases storage space to help keep the workspace usable
    • expands capability to hold classes by increasing classroom space
    • could expand community by offering more quiet workspace, something we weren’t offering enough of previously