Meeting Notes 2014-04-23

From Sudo Room
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Facilitator: Eris, Goddess of discord

Intros

Icebreaker question: C-Base in Berlin has a space ship theme and its own mythology. What is the theme/mythology for sudo space?

(Optional) Intro Activity [Especially if CCL attend] (15 min)

  • Discuss the icebreaker question in adjacent pairs
    • No thanks. Let's just do a round of intros stating who we are and our interests.
  • Prepare to introduce your partner, share some of what they said about the icebreaker question above
    • No thanks. It's hard enough to introduce yourself. This feels like a test question.
  • marc - where the internet meets the real world! (yar: videodrome?)
  • jake - formally hands over his noisebridge energy to sudoroom
  • haley
  • matt - biff's diner spaceship ... or just a commune
  • cere - homelessness and learning
  • david k - something new, not derivative or or 20k leagues under the sea'ish
  • william - enjoys the feeling of being on the bleeding edge of creativity and invention
  • abhay - a place where you can have superuser powers
  • eliot - not actually a hackerspace? pseudo-room
  • jenny - works on various projects, enjoys documenting, likes matt's commune idea, Omni Commons?
  • faust (remote) - the theme is the contract, and the mythos is WIN/WIN (everybody gets away with happiness)
  • patrik - sudoer & CCLer, looking to discuss omni & other collaborations
  • ben (remote) - excited about omni, sells medical tests,helps at CCL
  • niki - organizes with BAPS, organizes with OMNI
  • noemie - The Coming Insurrection (that Jenny quoted) is in the sudo library
  • johan - playground for creativity and exploration
  • mary - introduce new folks to science, expand science beyond disciplinary bounds
  • yar - sudoer, sudoroom already has a mythology since sudo room moved in on halloween and sudoers are always in costume
  • james - is running away to play drums at the stork club. builds instruments!

Announcements (5 minutes max)

  • Festival at PLACE for Sustainable Living (May 10)
    • Creating Commons Festival - block party around PLACE! Looking for more folks to teach workshops and skillshares
  • Slingshot announcement!
    • Submit to slingshot@tao.ca if interested in submitting an article
    • Marc wrote an article on mesh! it's on p. 4 (issue #116 Summer 2014)
    • Making a new organizer this summer, contact above email if interested
  • Abhay announces a talk on Friday may 16th at 8 pm
    • Working on software for massive online group collaboration
    • Will give a talk on the intersection of privacy, big data, surveillaince, security
  • Elliot has two announcements
    • Tomorrow from 9 am until 6 pm there will be a direct action training day at sudo room
      • Schedule at http://earthdaytomaydayassembly.noblogs.org
      • Training: Civil disobedience, blockades, copwatch, eviction free SF, security culture, internet sec by crypto party
      • Towards an Ecological General Strike - film screening & discussion on Saturday - intersections of labor, environmentalism & history. Screening of Who Bombed Judi Barri (3-7pm)
  • IGEM (International Genetic Engineered Machine) Competition - CCL is entering - they are growing vegan cheese! Expressing casein genes in yeast.
  • New omni wiki and mailing lists
  • Cere announces a talk on gravitational waves this Sunday at 6p in the main room.

New Members (5 minutes max)

Potential members can ask for an exception from contributing membership dues based on refusal to participate in the monetary system or financial hardship. One must request this exception, with an explanation, at a sudo room meeting. There is no rule about work-trade, but sudo room does support and depend on members, potential members, and our wider community to contribute in non-monetary ways--and it is an explicit goal to encourage this, as outlined in the Articles of Association.

Consensus Item (20 minutes max)s

  • Jenny volunteers to be sudo room's new Omni delegate.
    • Consensus achieved.
  • The following Omni decisions must be brought to [all collectives? sudo?] for input before being voted on by the delegates:
    • Inclusion of a new collective sharing the space. [consensus yay]
    • Acceptance of any major loans over $10K [consensus yay]
  • Given the structure of the Omni Collective (spokes council) and its thin existence, the default process for unanticipated or unspecified business must be a process of respective consensus for the member collectives.
    • Sudo room affirms this default, and recommends for the Omni Collective to use it.
    • See this diagram: consensus_spiral_4web_med.jpg
    • See this section of The Omni Collective's founding document:
      • "These delegates will be fully accountable to the groups they represent, and subject to recall by that group, according to the decision­making processes of that group.

The Delegate Council will function like a spokescouncil: delegates will attend the meetings of their groups and report back to those groups from the Delegate Council meetings, while retaining the ability to make executive decisions on behalf of their respective group." - https://sudoroom.org/wiki/The_Omni/20 14-04-03

  • the loan one
    • david k - that's how i saw the loan process anyway
    • we have no problems with this one

Conflict

Sudo Reboot

https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Reboot


Space

  • Update
    • Most things are organized
    • Space is messier, but not impossible to deal with, could use a few quick hands
    • Tool/Workshop corner desperate needs to be settled
    • Recycling / E-waste needs someone to pick it up and export.
  • Discussion
    • Radio Room accessibility, "under conditions of time and sharing"
      • Getting organized
      • Getting media server working
      • If anyone wants to help, pull things out, please do so. (do-ocratically)
      • Also, someone please start an internet radio station.

New Space

Omni

  • Update:
  • Discussion:
    • A new group was added to The Omni Collective without consensus from the collectives and some people may have issues with this specific group
      • https://sudoroom.org/wiki/The_Omni/2014-04-10#New_Collectives
      • Accepting individual businesses as members of this project has not yet been discussed among involved collectives
      • Allowing more time between decisions to allow delegates to be accountable to their collective
      • Additionally, several groups have been added, process that was used was vote by delegates.
  • Omni updates for tomorrow's meeting
    • Articles of incorporation & legal documents
    • Space delegation, price per square foot etc
    • How we make use of the shared space
    • Thoughts around a phased move-in
    • Financials
    • Counter Culture Labs collab
      • May have to assure grantmakers that their space is enclosed
      • Don't wish to close off CCL membership from Omni membership (sorry, was distracted, did i get this right?)
      • Specialized areas / tools / etc
      • What is involved in credentials for certain kinds of access?
        • Food-safe, nonhazardous, non-contamination are some of the needs for certain kinds of projects
        • CCL would provide the appropriate training and credentialing
      • Intended to be as light-weight as possible (eg; online videos & simple in-person verification)
      • One concern is people becoming members of sudo in order to gain access to CCL
      • CCL intends to have an open social area and possibly also some lab benches that are open access
      • The BSL2 lab would have a door with a lock
      • pictures of space:
      • maybe possible to be pseudonymous, but might have to sign a waiver
      • need to satisfy authorities that CCL is not enabling terrorists, drug dealers, etc
      • Vision: share what we're going for individually, and as individual groups (15 min)
        • Marc: Interface between low-tech bio projects of sudo (eg fermentation, beer brewing) and the high-tech bio stuff happening at CCL
        • Cere: Excited about kitchen (but also concerned)
        • Regeneration, genetic engineering
        • Patrik: Bio-art, bioprinter group (3D printing using biological materials)
        • P: Combatting anti-GMO sentiments by democratizing science
        • Ahnon: Excited to have a stage for big speakers
        • Mary: Gathering data, soil analysis, many ways to engage community & science; hands-on learning
        • Matt: Investigating bamboo-engineering ^.^ to colonize venus?? www.futempro.org
        • Ben: To make it sustainable
        • Themes:
          • Kitchen, sharing, converging, (legal issues?)
          • Democratizing the practice of science (citizen science), to the public.
          • Data-gathering is at the center of environmental and health justice.
          • Creativity, cross-pollination
          • Space (outer space)
          • Make biology open source.
          • Sustainable (stay open)
      • Sudo visions
        • Matt: we'll see. choosing your neighbors!
        • Jenny: low & hi tech bio collaborating; spark the imagination; federated modular themed areas; enable divers activities; rooftop garden!
          • patrick there will be many sinks
          • dk: there's still the basement
        • jake: infrastructure for electronic stuff, pcb robots, microcontroller programming, code
          • patrick mentions biocurious lab automation group - like a large pick&place robot that can handle liquids
          • mary: hacking old equipment, turn cheap stuff into fancy stuff
        • dk: it'll be like BAPS + Sudo awesomeness
        • phil: very diverse, lots of different tinkering, start slow, incredibly varied. anything from textiles, graphic arts, rewriting kernels, building new electronics, anything and everything. seen evolve into group projects, small business (cooperatives), would like to see those things continue. Does that work if you need to get badged and credentialed? Would like to see more sudo-kind of tinkering to get exposed to the lab opportunity
        • yar: important thing about hackerspaces is that they're free and open - can go an converse, learn something new, 24/7 availability for community, education, projects, solo work / art. emphasis on the public / community aspect. out of the synergy between the two, we get more dimensions, can design a new kind of public space. +
        • daniel: appreciates the diversity of these groups trying to work / live together; providing support for the rest of the community
        • steve: How to make things work coming from a smaller perspective. Backlog of projects waiting to try (fingerprints, tradescantia ohiensis as bioassay, etc), interface with the community, opportunity to replace the things that are not being done right now, the things that could be done.
        • Themes:
          • Kitchen
          • Stations / areas / room for more kinds of creativity
          • Hardware, dust, electronics, coding
          • Open, public, free, open, 24/7, walk in (anyone, any time), part of a global network of spaces
          • Tinkering, mixing styles
          • Varied participation
          • Support for the wider community
      • Constraints: look at the layout, photos. What exists for us to work within? (10 min)
        • Sudo Room's Precise Constraints https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Spaces#Precise_Constraints
        • basement NGAENNH.jpg and rooms in basement ZXa8Eff.jpg
        • bocce ball court (back of the house) AmqYNvn.jpg
        • CCL: needs a dust-free area; needs at least two sinks; needs some form of access control for its own spacesneeds sink/ shower for safety/wash reasons. Need to both protect people and experiments. Basement ceiling too low for a lab space (minimum 10ft)
      • Concerns: let's air them, individually, between sudo room and CCL, and with the omni itself (both collective and the actual potential building) (10 min)
        • HVAC / dust
        • Plumbing
        • Multiple exits (BSL2) and ceiling space for CCL.
        • Exit plans
        • Zoning requirements (windows, etc) (you have to have a window in a residential bedroom, not aware of other req.)
        • Membership, cross-membership
        • Boundaries
          • Can use dividers, cubicle walls, etc. to avoid building permits
        • Tented areas (e.g. to provide dust-free, or dust-containing area) - wikihouses, etc
        • Basement vs bocce ball (basement less than 10ft tall, min lab req.)
        • jake: sudo & ccl are interdependent. need each others' money. symbiosis
        • Overall goal is to agree about division of space before agreement, but depend on changing it later.
        • Expectations of good faith, no competition. Except "world's coolest project"
        • Sound / music / noise [huge for ccl]
        • Talking space, echo chambers, groups.
        • Jake has an IMAX sound system, from a movie theater. [in ballroom]
        • IMAX projector, anyone? Jake has one...
        • Haven't even /started/ talking about the roof for gardening etc, architectural questions oy...
        • Hours of access, 24/7 vs what?
        • Surveillance cameras for certain areas?
      • Summary: What direction are we headed? What did we get out of this discussion? (10 min)


Outreach

  • Outreach and communications needs a team!
  • Moving to a new space, bringing in new members, messaging generally (how we signal to the wider world)
  • jenny did set up new Omni Wiki ;) please participate: http://wiki.omni-oakland.org/

Fund-Raising

  • Fund-raising needs a team!

We passed gittip on gittip: https://www.gittip.com/

  • sudoroom $392.00; gittip $345.54


Changes to articles of association

Juul proposes that we add some rules about membership, non-member access and sleeping. This will only become more relevant when we move into a bigger space, e.g. The Omni, and we are poised to influence the more general policies for the entire Omni space.

Section 2.1b Process for becoming a member

  • To become a member, a person must submit a brief written or spoken Declaration of Intent to Join where they answer the following questions:
    • Why do you want to be a member of sudo room?
    • What are you excited about hacking at sudo room?
    • What are you excited about sharing with sudo room?
  • It is only possible to become a member at the weekly sudo room meeting. Prospective new members should attend if possible but can submit a written declaration if they are not able to attend.
  • At the sudo room weekly meeting, all prospective members must leave the room while the existing members have a chance to bring up any concerns or reasons why the prospective member should not be allowed membership (This shall be referred to as the Initial Pondering).
    • The intent is for it to be very easy for new members to join, so only very serious concerns should be brought up.
    • If any existing member objects to a prospective new member becoming a member, and this cannot be resolved through discussion, then the prospective member will not be allowed membership.
    • Unreasonable or frequent blocking of new members by an existing member is grounds for immediate termination of membership based on a 2/3 vote.
  • After the Initial Pondering, if there are no objections, the member becomes a partial member, which means that they have all rights that membership confers, except the following:
    • The right to participate in decisionmaking at the sudo room weekly meeting.
    • The right to throw non-members or sleepers out of sudo room.
  • Partial members must be introduced to sudo room's values and be given a tour of the space after or during the sudo room weekly meeting where they became partial members, of if they are not present, at their earliest convenience.
  • New partial members must be communicated to the sudo rooom mailing list within 24 hours, including their Decleration of Intent to Join.
  • After becoming a partial member, there will be one week for sudo room members to raise objections as to why the partial member should not be allowed to join (This shall be referred to as the Extended Pondering). If objections occur and cannot be resolved through discussion, then the partial member will loose their partial membership and they will be refunded any memberships fees or dues.
  • If after the Extended Pondering there are no unresolved objections, the partial member automatically becomes a full member. No announcement of this change of status is necessary.

Juul also proposes that we add the following article and section:

Article 5. Empowerment of members and non-members

Section 5.1 Non-member access

  • 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 present and have to leave when the last member leaves.
  • To empower members to deal with problematic non-members, non-members can be thrown out at any time by a member and with no reason given, _unless_ some other member currently present in the space is willing to vouch for the member as a guest.
    • Before throwing out a non-member, the member must ask both the non-member and the members present in the space if any member is vouching for the non-member as a guest.
    • Being thrown out as a non-member is not a ban, and the non-member may return the next day.

Section 5.2 Domestic Use

The bay area is in the throes of a housing crisis. Despite the abundance of resources (space, buildings, etc), the distribution of those resources is unfair. For many, it can be costly and difficult to fulfill the basic human need of shelter. However, sudo room, as a creative community and hacker space, must maintain a division between habitation and usage of the space. As such the following are resolved:

  • Sudo room is not intended to be used for habitation or domestic purposes.
  • In order to maintain fairness for those affected by lack of access to shelter, no-one is allowed to sleep in sudo room at any time.
  • Any member can require that anyone sleeping in sudo room must leave immediately.
  • Repeated sleeping at sudo room is grounds for being temporarily or permanently denied access to sudo room's assets, including its physical space.

Discussion

  • Part of the insurance?
    • Difficult to enforce, since there are many activities that don't fall in the rubric of what's acceptable by insurance and zoning etc;
  • Refer to nb-discuss 2007-present
  • Sudo is in a position to set the precedent for the Omni - it's going to be a much bigger issue there.
  • "Fair use" - "under the conditions of time and sharing"
  • Hack the noisebridge example, ground it in specific people/cases
  • Jake's suggestion to Noisebridge: See above 5.1 Non-Member Access
  • If you have to break a rule - then break it, and justify it.
  • "Value human judgement over automation" -
  • Noisebridge again


Action Items

  • SeltzerCRM [Jenny]

[1] "Communes come into being when people find each other, get on with each other, and decide on a common path. The commune is perhaps what gets decided at the very moment when we would normally part ways. It’s the joy of an encounter that survives its expected end. It’s what makes us say "we," and makes that an event. What’s strange isn’t that people who are attuned to each other form communes, but that they remain separated. Why shouldn’t communes proliferate everywhere? In every factory, every street, every village, every school. At long last, the reign of the base committees! Communes that accept being what they are, where they are. And if possible, a multiplicity of communes that will displace the institutions of society: family, school, union, sports club, etc. Communes that aren’t afraid, beyond their specifically political activities, to organize themselves for the material and moral survival of each of their members and of all those around them who remain adrift. Communes that would not define themselves – as collectives tend to do – by what’s inside and what’s outside them, but by the density of the ties at their core. Not by their membership, but by the spirit that animates them."

After-meeting Teamups

  • Sudo Reboot after-meeting Dream-up:
    • Fund-raising needs you! - contact Jenny @tunabananas
    • Outreach needs you! - contact David Keenan
    • Space hacking is almost done, just need a few hands - contact Matt @wrought
Retrieved from "https://sudoroom.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Meeting_Notes_2014-04-23&oldid=7924"