Berlin Hackerspaces 2013 Report

C-Base

C-base is disneyland in it's fit, finish, and dedication to Theming. You need to walk through the cyclindrical neon-circled (star)gates, past the mounted HQ soviet switch machinery, and into the dimly lit alien glow augmented by space sounds to really understand it. I guess you can try and look at pictures if you want a pale imitation.

I found the ring-bound archive form 1995 - the first year - and it contained the founders plan. This man (whose name unfortunately escaped my notepad) was Tolkein reincarnate. He had lore, society, language, arts, mottos all drafted impeccably. The meeting notes from the frist year were printed on custom stationary that was designed to look like a interstellar transmission. Sudoroom needs lore, and theming. We have the creative writers, and I think that making a members only on-paper serial would be a good membership selling point as c-base did. They even had an initial member pack, that was like a dossier on your new mission at c-base. Oh by the way, the place is huge, two floors of a factory. The first is a basically more club than hackerspace, and open to the public. The underground level, which you have to walk through a model of a crashed satellite, and through a air-lock replete with sound-effects, is members only. A good monetary incentive too.

We should also create a press archive file for posterity. Its good to be able to look back. Is there a need to have this papered, or will the wiki suffice?

Sama Cafe

This is a cafe that is a hacker longue one day per week as part of a MTWTh cycle of art-collective/hackerspace rotation entertainment. The way the squatted Sama Cafe stays open, consensus based, and financially stable - drink sales. "Club mate" - which has a germanichacker history - is the staple, and sustenance of this space. We could do well to import and resell club mate as well as other drinks. (Refurbish a vending machine?)

Wilde Renate

This is a hackerspace at all, but a pub with a Haunted-House labrynth. An artmurmur idea for a temporary labrynth is the idea I'm trying to convey here.

Open 3d Engineering

A man I met gives workshops on the 3d printing. The shtick is that it's two days long, on the first you build your 3d printer, and the second you learn how to use it. So yes, it costs 800Euro to attend, but you get the printer after. (It's possible for two or more people to come away with one machine between them if they desire, reducing the cost). The paradigm shift here, is we need to stop thinking about how to sell things we make with the 3d printer, but sell the education we amassed on how to 3d print.