Dearest members,
We need your help running the hackspace.
A community organisation such as HacMan doesn’t run itself, there are a lot
of small behind the scenes jobs to do and quite a few big front of house
ones too. One of the largest at the moment is making our new space
habitable and accessible. It has become increasingly obvious that there is
an expectation that that the board will orchestrate this, sadly we
collectively have neither the capacity nor the time to micromanage such a
large project. The board is intended solely to do the following:
- make sure the bills are paid and that we have things like insurance
- assist with the on boarding process for new members
- provide a single point of contact for complaints
- provide an abstraction layer for dealing with the landlord, utilities
companies etc.
The board are of course dedicated members who donate a lot of their time
and energy to the hackspace however, we are only 5 people, we cannot do
everything.
At the moment there are a few dedicated members attempting to put together
the hackspace and keep it operable so that you can use it. They’re not all
board members but there aren’t enough of them. We really should be further
on with the rebuilding of the space than we are. The hackspace belongs to
all of us, please help us build it into a better community.
Specifically we need help with:
- Accessibility: we’d love the space to be as accessible as possible for
all makers however, the board are not experienced enough to judge what is
and isn’t accessible. Nor a
- re we capable of judging whether a given adaptation will fix a given
issue or not. As we don’t have the experience and knowledge to allow us to
make the changes some of our members, and potential members, need we’re
asking for help from our community to lead the space towards a better, more
inclusive future.
- Promotion: we’re doing our best but:
- Our Facebook group and page are run by someone who is ambivalent
about the medium.
- We could use someone who is prepared to put more time into our
MeetUp group.
- We need people to write blog posts about what we’re up to and
organise our presence at events such as Maker Faire UK and MakeFest
Manchester.
- We need people who are happy to find groups and communities both
online and off, and spread the word about the fantastic world of
hackspaces, and ours in particular.
- Infrastructure: some of our areas have groups of people who have taken
responsibility for them. The areas are as follows:
- CNC: this is pretty well covered but if you’re particularly
interested in joining the maintenance teams speak to Tas (NotQuiteHere)
- Craft Corner: needs more people, talk to Chris (Badspyro). If
you’re interested in anything from paper craft through to model painting,
via our glorious sewing machines, or even something entirely off our radar
that you think would make a great addition, please give us a shout. There
are plans afoot for screen printing (Ruth is particularly interested and
will point you in the right direction) as well as a myriad of other notions
and hobbies too numerous to mention!
- Metalwork desperately needs more people, talk to Greg (GregMorris)
- Woodwork ditto, talk to Bob (thinkl33t)
- Documentation, Health & Safety: much of the equipment we have in the
hackspace is potentially new to a lot of members. A key function of a
hackspace is knowledge sharing, including how not to injure yourself, how
to use it to the best of its ability, and how to take care of the equipment
(such as noticing when something is wrong with it). We need more people
involved in the effort to make as much knowledge available as possible, and
welcome involvement from anyone who wants to help. Speak to Chris
(Badspyro) if you think documentation is awesome.
- Snackspace: the list is available on the wiki
http://wiki.hacman.org.uk/Snackspace. If we’re running low on stuff
feel free to top us up. Shout for a Bookers/Makro card ( telegram
http://hacman.org.uk/telegram is the best place to find us ) and knock
yourself out. Don’t spend more than £200. Email the receipt to
board@hacman.org.uk for reimbursement. Get a VAT receipt! We’re not VAT
registered but if we ever do, we can claim 5 year’s worth of VAT paid!
- Volunteer: we always need people to help run stalls at events and
generally talk about our hackspace and the projects that people do there.
So, if you’re a people person and are happy to turn up and chat about what
you do at the hackspace (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, electronics, laser cutting,
3D printing, crafts, whatever) and/or assist with a more structured
workshop such as Build A BUG! please let us know. We announce events via
hacman.org.uk/list but can’t run them without people to assist.
- Organise an event: got something you want to do? Organise it! Events
can be run in the space providing you don’t prevent other members from
using it and there is at least one member present at all times. If you want
to run something that would stop members using the space that is also fine
providing it’s announced via the mailing list ( hacman.org.uk/list ) in
plenty of time and no one seriously objects.
- Hack-the-space days! - Organise one of these! Hack-the-space days are
our chance to house keep and maintain the space infrastructure from regular
equipment maintenance to building the physical space and everything in
between.
- Run a workshop, start meet up, introduce a regular open night
activity. Want examples? 3DPUG (Bob/Thinkl33t), Locksport (originally I
have no idea now Tas/NotQuiteHere and Greg), DandD (Kat/BinaryKitten),
Sanctuary Games (Kat/BinaryKitten), Manchester Space Programme (externally
organised and changed venue when we moved).
I don’t have enough time/experience/spoons to help with the big stuff what
can I do?
10 minutes of tidying.
The biggest thing that every member can do for the space is spend 10
minutes each time they come in tidying or cleaning the space. Particularly
the tables, workspaces, and walkways. Walk around, pick up any dirty cups
people have missed, throw away rubbish, put things back where they belong,
wipe down the tables, brush the floor, empty the bins and take the bags
down to the skips. If everyone spends just 10 minutes making our space
better each time they come in it will make a huge difference.
To All,
I’ve noticed that certain members have dumped rubbish outside the space
area into a big pile
(large amount of laser cut stuff)
please put rubbish into bin bags, don’t just pile it up in a corner
Many Thanks
RichardOn Tuesday, August 23, 2016 at 11:01:54 PM UTC+1, tas kay wrote:
Dearest members,
We need your help running the hackspace.
A community organisation such as HacMan doesn’t run itself, there are a
lot of small behind the scenes jobs to do and quite a few big front of
house ones too. One of the largest at the moment is making our new space
habitable and accessible. It has become increasingly obvious that there is
an expectation that that the board will orchestrate this, sadly we
collectively have neither the capacity nor the time to micromanage such a
large project. The board is intended solely to do the following:
- make sure the bills are paid and that we have things like insurance
- assist with the on boarding process for new members
- provide a single point of contact for complaints
- provide an abstraction layer for dealing with the landlord,
utilities companies etc.
The board are of course dedicated members who donate a lot of their time
and energy to the hackspace however, we are only 5 people, we cannot do
everything.
At the moment there are a few dedicated members attempting to put together
the hackspace and keep it operable so that you can use it. They’re not all
board members but there aren’t enough of them. We really should be further
on with the rebuilding of the space than we are. The hackspace belongs to
all of us, please help us build it into a better community.
Specifically we need help with:
- Accessibility: we’d love the space to be as accessible as possible
for all makers however, the board are not experienced enough to judge what
is and isn’t accessible. Nor a
- re we capable of judging whether a given adaptation will fix a given
issue or not. As we don’t have the experience and knowledge to allow us to
make the changes some of our members, and potential members, need we’re
asking for help from our community to lead the space towards a better, more
inclusive future.
- Promotion: we’re doing our best but:
- Our Facebook group and page are run by someone who is ambivalent
about the medium.
- We could use someone who is prepared to put more time into our
MeetUp group.
- We need people to write blog posts about what we’re up to and
organise our presence at events such as Maker Faire UK and MakeFest
Manchester.
- We need people who are happy to find groups and communities both
online and off, and spread the word about the fantastic world of
hackspaces, and ours in particular.
- Infrastructure: some of our areas have groups of people who have
taken responsibility for them. The areas are as follows:
- CNC: this is pretty well covered but if you’re particularly
interested in joining the maintenance teams speak to Tas (NotQuiteHere)
- Craft Corner: needs more people, talk to Chris (Badspyro). If
you’re interested in anything from paper craft through to model painting,
via our glorious sewing machines, or even something entirely off our radar
that you think would make a great addition, please give us a shout. There
are plans afoot for screen printing (Ruth is particularly interested and
will point you in the right direction) as well as a myriad of other notions
and hobbies too numerous to mention!
- Metalwork desperately needs more people, talk to Greg (GregMorris)
- Woodwork ditto, talk to Bob (thinkl33t)
- Documentation, Health & Safety: much of the equipment we have in the
hackspace is potentially new to a lot of members. A key function of a
hackspace is knowledge sharing, including how not to injure yourself, how
to use it to the best of its ability, and how to take care of the equipment
(such as noticing when something is wrong with it). We need more people
involved in the effort to make as much knowledge available as possible, and
welcome involvement from anyone who wants to help. Speak to Chris
(Badspyro) if you think documentation is awesome.
- Snackspace: the list is available on the wiki
http://wiki.hacman.org.uk/Snackspace. If we’re running low on stuff
feel free to top us up. Shout for a Bookers/Makro card ( telegram
http://hacman.org.uk/telegram is the best place to find us ) and
knock yourself out. Don’t spend more than £200. Email the receipt to
bo...@hacman.org.uk <javascript:> for reimbursement. Get a VAT
receipt! We’re not VAT registered but if we ever do, we can claim 5 year’s
worth of VAT paid!
- Volunteer: we always need people to help run stalls at events and
generally talk about our hackspace and the projects that people do there.
So, if you’re a people person and are happy to turn up and chat about what
you do at the hackspace (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, electronics, laser cutting,
3D printing, crafts, whatever) and/or assist with a more structured
workshop such as Build A BUG! please let us know. We announce events via
hacman.org.uk/list but can’t run them without people to assist.
- Organise an event: got something you want to do? Organise it! Events
can be run in the space providing you don’t prevent other members from
using it and there is at least one member present at all times. If you want
to run something that would stop members using the space that is also fine
providing it’s announced via the mailing list ( hacman.org.uk/list )
in plenty of time and no one seriously objects.
- Hack-the-space days! - Organise one of these! Hack-the-space days
are our chance to house keep and maintain the space infrastructure from
regular equipment maintenance to building the physical space and everything
in between.
- Run a workshop, start meet up, introduce a regular open night
activity. Want examples? 3DPUG (Bob/Thinkl33t), Locksport (originally I
have no idea now Tas/NotQuiteHere and Greg), DandD (Kat/BinaryKitten),
Sanctuary Games (Kat/BinaryKitten), Manchester Space Programme (externally
organised and changed venue when we moved).
I don’t have enough time/experience/spoons to help with the big stuff what
can I do?
10 minutes of tidying.
The biggest thing that every member can do for the space is spend 10
minutes each time they come in tidying or cleaning the space. Particularly
the tables, workspaces, and walkways. Walk around, pick up any dirty cups
people have missed, throw away rubbish, put things back where they belong,
wipe down the tables, brush the floor, empty the bins and take the bags
down to the skips. If everyone spends just 10 minutes making our space
better each time they come in it will make a huge difference.