28 Mar
2014
28 Mar
'14
11:42 p.m.
Phil sums it up- some people just want an office, they provide that, at a
price competitive with other offices. Simple as that.
On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 6:29 PM, Eddie Che <eddiemill(a)gmail.com> wrote:
ew, don' tripp - aren't there better coding to
work on?
Sudo Room is an open, non-hierarchical, collaborative community of
humans, including tech developers, citizen scientists, activists,
artists--and all combinations in between and beyond!--who are
interested in and working towards social change. Our goal is to create
the first inclusive, dedicated hackerspace in downtown Oakland, to
share ideas and projects in citizen science, digital citizenship and
literacy, environmental sustainability, community engagement, and
self-government.
Sudo Room is committed to access, empowerment, transparency, and
public/social good. Sudoers have a great diversity of interests and we
emphasize respect and solidarity among ourselves and with others.
And from https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Articles_of_Association/Membership
Membership includes 24/7 access to the space with a personal access
method, for example code and/or rfid. (Which is, minimum of 10
"dollars" per month)
Unanimous consent
Non-members can use the space as much as they want when other members
are present, but cannot access the space when no members are there and
have to leave when the last member leaves.
Discussion, mostly vibe-y
To empower members to deal with problematic non-members, non-members
can be thrown out at any time by a member if that members feels that
the non-member is being a problem, _unless_ some other member present
in the space is willing to vouch for the non-member as a guest.
Non-members being asked to leave must be told that they can further
discuss the incident at a Wednesday meeting or on the mailing list.
Discussion: Some way of logging the incident?
Like some people went into the public school room and locked
themselves in.... https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Sleepers
SYNHAK Akron:
We exist as a free public resource. If you have an idea that needs
realized, it can happen at SYNHAK.
Hackerspace Santa Barbara:
After having tools stolen by a guest, they made it so that a guest has
to leave when the last member does for the night. I went with my
sleeping bag down the street a ways.
IF YOU ARE STEALING TOOLS FROM A FREE TOOL SHOP YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.
Saw another one that was that they have 12 members who are financially
soluble, and then encourage free users to come by and use the space.
That they're set. ACCESSIBILITY
Would be even better if one had a treehouse. Or develop the
hackerspace to not have rent.
https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Hacking_hackerspaces
Alternative society: it's like this :
https://soundcloud.com/nebulous-nymph
It's like this: https://sudoroom.org/wiki/mesh -
https://peoplesopen.net/ to get to free wifi for the people
It's like this:
http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/communities_and_ecovillages/
On 3/28/14, Phil Wolff <pwolff(a)gmail.com> wrote:
re: Impact Hub.
I spent a month there, attended numerous events and spoke with the
organizers, room tenants, and members. My observations:
It's a business.
Like many for-good businesses, the Impact Hub adds a layer of societal
benefit to its for-profit bottom line. Others have described this but
I'll
add that the Impact Hub Oakland is just a local
component of an
international network of such spaces, each culturally adapted to the
local
scene.
Their landlord is independent from who they are or what they do (the way
I
hope Sudo Room's is from ours).
As to the prices, they are pricy if you make $12/hour. Not so much if you
bill $100/hour. They have to find a mix of paying customers that keep
them
liquid. They probably make their monthly nut by
renting out the fifteen+
private offices (there's a waiting list). For those flying solo, they
offer
differential pricing to maximize revenue subject
to capacity (if they
could
fill the floor every day at $1000/day, they
would; since they can't, they
sell some seats at $400/month, others for less).
This is a real estate play. Their competitor is http://www.regus.comwhich
rents office space by the hour/day/week/month, no questions asked so long
as your corporate check clears. Impact Hub's advantage is that they pick
cheaper digs, offer fewer amenities, but still are a step up from
meetings
at Farley's. And they come with a light
veneer of social responsibility,
which matters to some people.
As a place to dock and meet for work, it's a clean, well lighted place
for
(mostly) free agents.
Impact Hub is done for the next two years. They're full and now they have
to optimize for steady low-cost low-churn operations. They may have new
growth opportunity as their block is rebuilt with more retail, office,
and
residential construction. But for now, they are
baked.
What can Sudo learn from them?
*Business models can be put at the service of a higher cause. *
For example, we might have (raised the money and built out the space and
rented the offices) so ongoing costs were covered. (Playing landlord.)
But
our choices would differ: We'd likely recruit
different office tenants,
define classes of membership according to our own expectations (full
sudoers who subscribe to and affirm our values vs. tenants vs. guests).
We'd provision the space differently, of course (more power-tool
friendly).
*Small teams can run a huge space. *
I think they started with three people and now have fewer than eight FTE,
including an event coordinator and AV/electrical guy. They are open more
than fourteen hours a day, seven days a week.
*The External Community Layer is worth money. *
They worked their professional, social, religious, and political networks
to forge ties between Impact Hub Oakland and hundreds of other groups.
Through reciprocity and trust-building they strengthened those ties. So
when it came time to Kickstart and then when it came time to move and
relaunch Uptown, their community rallied. They rallied because they felt
aligned and connected to the people and the cause.
*The External Community != Internal Community*They are actively
cultivating
their own in-house community among the people who
show up frequently. For
now it is mostly social and collegial but it's the natural first step for
trust-building within the building.
*People like to work at Ikea. *
The place feels roomy, spare, very clean, coordinated, well lit, with
fresh
coffee, lots of power outlets, reasonable Wi-Fi,
and minimal noise (no
cafe
Muzak). It has lots of nooks and crannies if the
main floor doesn't suit
you. There are four small quiet "phone booth" rooms for taking noisy
mobile
or video calls away from the quiet work areas. A
conversation yurt. A
bungee cord hammock. A classroom big enough for thirty. Liberal use of
whiteboard paint, markers, and post-its. Two large configurable commons
areas; I've seen them rearranged for product launch parties, hackathons,
spirtual workshops, birthday parties.
--
Eddie Miller, BU '10
eddiemill(a)gmail.com | 440-935-5434
Facebook.com/eddiemill | Twitter.com/eddiemill
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