Raines: Nice reply and good description of the hackerspace movement. James: We included hackerspaces - I like your term "comaking" better - in our census last summer. Our list (Excel file) can be found at: http://db.tt/jNpKyiV
The list is not a complete list of US hackerspaces. They had to also meet our coworking requirements. At the bottom of the Excel page is a list of 28 maker/hacker space that also met our coworking definitions. We also use the term "industrial coworking" for this group. We did a post on them. It is at: http://www.smallbizlabs.com/2010/08/techshop-ford-partner-on-automotive-innovation-center.html The post also provides a link to our report on makers as small businesses. Happy Holidays! Steve On Dec 24, 1:36 am, james rock <[email protected]> wrote: > Wow Raine... thats an awful lot of really useful information - thank > you so much! > > I haven't heard of Hacker Spaces so will check them out. Thanks for > the tip about guilds I will also follow that up - although from my > knowledge they tended to be around a single area of expertise e.g > tailors; furniture makers; etc whilst at this embryonic stage the > intention is to offer a wider platform of skills and experience. > > Provision of shared machinery; welding area; etc Linking the makers > with museum and shop / coffee shop for customers is one of the > benefits - in many respect like an artists studios and we have some of > those as well as crafts based people. > > Merry Christmas to you.... > > Thanks again for all this - James Rock > > On Dec 23, 1:41 pm, Raines Cohen <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > James - > > > It sounds like you're talking about Hacker Spaces > > <http://hackerspaces.org/>, > > a parallel movement to coworking, sharing many principles. > > > Perhaps the best way to introduce the concept is with a variant on the old > > saw: How many coworking space members does it take to change a lightbulb? > > None, because it becomes a hacker space when you start messing with > > hardware. > > > While some of the first coworking spaces to use the term came together out > > of programmers, writers, and other creative professionals sharing space and > > resources and cooperatively managing the project while pursuing our own > > ventures, we recognize that, at its core, both movements are, in essence, > > reconnecting to and building on centuries-old > > practices<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilds>pursued by craftspeople, > > attorneys, architects, artists, and others needing > > access to specialized tools, peers, and types of spaces that would be > > expensive or harder to create individually. > > > Generally speaking (and of course there are exceptions and > > counter-examples), Hacker Spaces tend to have: > > > - More of a focus on hardware, soldering, creating, D-I-Y, and the like. > > - More smoke, less mirrors. > > - Replaces garages rather than home offices. > > - More welding, less WarCraft. > > - If it's broke, we fix it rather than call a service tech. > > - Less desks by default, more drawers and dangerous devices in dedicated > > spaces. > > - More machines and custom tools, less bandwidth and business managers. > > - More co-creation and art, hacking and soldering, less coding and > > graphics and design. > > - Less Wired, more Make magazine. > > - When you say "give me a file," they hand you an edge-roughening tool, > > rather than attach and email or reach into a filing cabinet. > > - More PERL, FORTH, and Arduino, less C++/Java/Ruby on > > Rails/JavaScript/Python. > > - More microcontrollers, less Microsoft. > > - Rather than a Wii, we've got an old-school "insert coin" arcade > > console. > > - More Wiki than WordPress. Flash is something Hacker Space denizens use > > to take pictures, not enliven websites. > > - Stitching rather than Pitching to VCs. > > - More 3-D printers, less fax machines. > > - More freeganism, less catered cappucino coffees? > > > Of course, some of these distinctions are reflections more of the stage of > > different fields of development and their relation to different economic > > institutions, and the priorities of the space founders, so don't take them > > as part of a definition of either coworking or hacker spaces - what do you > > see as key differences in the personalities, projects, and ventures each > > type attracts? A few coworking communities like Carrboro Coworking > > Collaborative (NC) are listed as Hacker Spaces, and vice-versa. > > > While many hacker spaces, like some coworking spaces, are > > collective/cooperative ventures, some "second-generation" > > professional-service-model, dare I say "chain" Hacker Spaces have emerged, > > like TechShop <http://techshop.ws/> (*now with several SF Bay Area > > locations, including one in the SF Chronicle building next to The > > Hub<http://www.HubBayArea.com/>coworking space network that I'm a > > member of > > *). I participated in a coworking/hacker spaces presence at Maker > > Faire<http://makerfaire.com/>a couple years ago with some of the > > founders of > > HackerDojo <http://www.HackerDojo.com/> (Mountain View, CA) and am a member > > of Ace Monster Toys <http://acemonstertoys.org/>, just down the street here > > on the Berkeley/Oakland/Emeryville (CA) border. > > NoiseBridge<http://noisebridge.net/>(San Francisco) was an area > > pioneer that I connected with at the BIL > > unconference near TED. > > > As someone involved in the Intentional Communities > > <http://ic.org/>movement, helping people co-create residential > > neighborhoods for greener > > living, I see a strong parallel between the evolution of Hacker Spaces and > > Coworking with the development of Cohousing <http://www.cohousing.org/> and > > EcoVillages <http://gen.ecovillage.org/>: two frameworks, with independent > > origins, following similar paths, with much to learn from one another, and > > many opportunities for growth, collaboration and better serving their > > members by staying in their own silos and talking only to "pure" examples of > > their own types. We're all struggling to find ways to embrace and support > > professionals venturing in and growing our realms, while honoring our > > grassroots cooperative roots. > > > Raines Cohen, Coworking Coach <http://www.CoworkingCoach.com/> @ > > CoworkingCoach <http://twitter.com/CoworkingCoach/> > > Planning for Sustainable Communities (Berkeley, CA) > > Still drawing inspiration from the Coworking Europe conference in Brussels > > last month > > > P.S. Do check out the wikipedia article on > > Guilds<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilds>I reference above for the > > pre-history of collaborative shared spaces. Did > > you know that these proto-coworking ventures, starting over 1.5 millennia > > ago, were part of the development of corporations, patents, apprenticeship, > > insurance, retirement funds, money (rather than trading/bartering goods), > > social-security equivalents, unions, bar associations, and the like? Does > > coworking belong in the "Modern Guilds" section of that article? > > > P.S. The wikipedia article on > > coworking<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/coworking>just got flagged for > > potentially inappropriate "tone" by an anonymous user > > but the Talk pages don't elaborate on any particular concerns. > > > P.P.P.S. Don't they have a nice clean simple table-on-a-wiki list of Hacker > > Spaces <http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/List_of_Hacker_Spaces>? This may be > > something for CoworkingDB, excuse me, *Open Coworking Data*, to emulate. > > > On Wed, Dec 22, 2010 at 12:32 AM, james rock <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi, > > > > I work from a coworking facility here in Birmingham, UK called Moseley > > > Exchange (see:http://www.moseleyexchange.com) and I am helping to set > > > up another one locally which is focused on Designer/Makers and as well > > > as office space there is a real aim to provide workshop space with > > > shared machinery, etc. I suppose you could call this a "comaking" > > > space? Does anyone know of any other spaces like this? > > > > Look forward to your replies.. > > > > James Rock- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. 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