About
About sudo room
sudo room is a hackerspace and community of people in Oakland, CA established during the Occupy movement.
We are into technology where it intersects with social justice, resilience, decentralization, sustainability, art, education and solidarity.
We care about co-learning, co-organizing and co-creating more open, equitable and decentralized structures in the realms of technology, education, infrastructure, science, art, law and beyond.
We strive to be an open, transparent, horizontal and welcoming community where all are supported and free to learn, create, gather, collaborate, hack, play and more!
sudo room is co-homed with Counter Culture Labs, a biohackerspace, in the Omni Commons building.
Vision
sudo room is a place for people to co-learn, co-create and co-organize.
We believe that by creating welcoming facilities and open infrastructure we will engage a diverse community of people interested in topics such as community organizing, music, programming, hardware hacking, physics, chemistry, mathematics, security, robotics, art, and beyond.
Through this community, we hope to collaborate, co-learn and co-create around our shared values both locally and beyond.
Culture & Values
We strive to be a supportive open, transparent, horizontal, diverse and welcoming community, where people are free to learn, create, gather, collaborate, work, play and develop new interests!
We begin from a point of respect and trust and openness. We believe this builds a strong communal foundation which can foster collaboration and sustain future efforts aimed to improve social relationships and our collective social conditions. Specific guidelines describing expected behavior are outlined in our Code of Conduct and the Omni Commons' Safer Spaces Policy which is shared by sudo room.
Mission
sudo room’s mission is to:
- Provide accessible, clean work spaces and tools to enable individual or collaborative projects or experimentation related to art, science, and technology where it intersects with social justice, resilience, decentralization, sustainability, art, education and solidarity.
- Facilitate education and idea-sharing by providing and maintaining a space for our members and guests to hack, co-learn and to meet and socialize around our values
And most importantly, to foster a community with shared culture and values.
Code of Conduct
This section is intended to define the specific community norms within sudo room. It is expected that members and guests attending sudo room are also following the Omni Commons Safer Space Policy while on the premises (and hopefully beyond!). Most importantly, that policy expects that people inside Omni Commons follow these common expected behaviors (from Section 3):
- Participate in an authentic and active way. In doing so, you contribute to the health and longevity of this community.
- Exercise consideration and respect in your speech and actions.
- Attempt collaboration before conflict.
- Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and speech.
- Be mindful of your surroundings and of your fellow participants. Alert community leaders if you notice a dangerous situation, someone in distress, or violations of this Code of Conduct, even if they seem inconsequential.
Anyone failing to follow these common expected behaviors should be asked to stop, and is expected to comply immediately.
Interacting with people
- Be respectful of others' desire not to be bothered. If someone wants to focus or finds conversation to be unwanted either typically or on just a given day, we recognize that and enthusiastically accommodate that. We make an effort to directly communicate our wishes, and we also each make an effort to be mindful of body language. If we're uncertain of someone's wishes, we ask.
- Encourage one another. If you see someone being awesome or something which is awesome, it's awesome in turn to sing its praises. Motivation can be a rare commodity and can work wonders in terms of creating more of it.
- Don't troll or bait anyone into an ideological argument. This is another way we respect each others' wishes.
- Keep info dumps brief. Again: be aware of others wishes, and don't force someone to be your audience.
Safety
- Never do anything which you aren't certain is safe. If you're unsure, ask. Asking a question that feels dumb to be sure is AWESOME. Not asking a question and putting yourself or anyone else at risk is very not awesome.
Noise
- Ask before playing music or audio if others can hear it.
- Let others know if you're about to perform high volume work, such as using saws.
- Don't take other people's stuff. If you're unsure if something belongs to someone, ask.
- Clearly label your stuff. Everything in Sudo Room is hackable until proven otherwise. If you don't want something taken apart and turned into a giant robot the moment your back is turned, leave it in a space designated as yours or mark it clearly with your name, a way to contact you, and the date.
Maintaining the space
- Do not live in the space. It's extremely disruptive. If money or housing is a problem, talk to people. We care about one another regardless of housing status, and will try to find ways to be supportive. But occupying the space persistently hinders the ability of others to use it.
- Help out. We don't have housekeeping service, so clean up after yourself, put things away when you're done, and leave each place you work cleaner after you leave. Take out the trash when it's full and keep open eyes for ways to always make the space a little better.
- Don't BiTTorrent from the space. It causes lots of problems for other people trying to use the network. We've also gotten DMCA notices about people snarfing copyrighted content using our links, and these notices are very annoying and unexcellent. Please don't download copyrighted content illegally using our Internet links.
Guests
- Consider whether this space is appropriate for a guest. Understand that guests must adhere to these community standards and may be exposed to ideas outside of your control. Be aware of this, particularly when bringing minors.
- Pets must be well behaved and under control. If you bring a pet to Sudo Room, please ask others in the space if it is OK with them, and please do not stay with your pet if anyone objects.
Fumes and Health Hazards
- Limit fumes or health hazards appropriately. Use fume extraction or respirators when necessary.
- If you're going to smoke, smoke outside on the sidewalk, at least 15 feet away from open doorways. This includes all substances, including tobacco and marijuana.
501c3 status
- Sudo Room and Omni Commons must not be involved in any activities which could affect legislation or political campaigns, with certain limited exemptions. While not illegal, these activities may be grounds for the IRS to revoke our tax exempt status. Talk to the officers of the corporation for guidance if you are unsure whether your proposed activities will be exempt or not.