I heard back from Greg (from PHP list and VTSDA). The space that Josh mentioned is primarily for use by individuals/groups that are looking for an actual office to work out of. I somehow don't see a hacker space fitting in there very well :)
So, I've spent a lot of time thinking about this today. I think one reason that this whole idea appeals to me so much is that I work from home full time and really miss the community associated with working in a group with other hackers. Sure, I spend all day with my team in cyberspace, but its not quite the same. So the idea of a place to hang out with fellow geeks and DIY'ers really resonates with me. What do I envision the Burlington Hacker (DIY/Maker/Innovation/Technology/OtherNonHackerTerm) Space being? Glad you asked! I think it would be quite cool to have it be multi-purpose. During the day (say 8-4) it could be a place for work-from-home types to congregate and work together. There would be comfortable seating areas and desks, a reasonably fast internet connection, phones, maybe even a "quiet room" to take important calls. As the work day winds down, the space transitions more into the project role. Hardware, software, eco-projects, etc. Basically anything that a) appeals to the constituency and b) won't get us kicked out. The space should provide an infrastructure and equipment for working on projects. Workbenches, proper lighting, etc. It would be fun to have a few dedicated project servers that members could run virtualized instances on for their current projects. As mentioned on several of the HackerSpace sites I visited today, a kitchen and bathroom are also quite essential :) Anthony asked about projects, so I'll mention a few that I have either begun, or would interest me: Robotics Network testbed (I have a small one set up in virtual machines - about 6 nodes, all running linux, acting as routers, firewalls, mail servers, clients, etc. Its a great environment for learning, testing, and troubleshooting.) Basic electronics - I don't have as much knowledge as I'd like of building simple electronics, so this would be a fun area to explore Besides the teleworker lounge and project space, I think this space could also be a way for interfacing with the community. User group meetings are a great start. And like Anthony said, not just presentations, but projects, install parties, etc. Maybe we could find a way to bring the local education community onboard to host project nights for the middle/high school level? So, there are a whole bunch of my thoughts on the subject. The first question that needs to be answered is, "Is there enough interest." Based on the response on this list, I'd say we're on our way. The next step is to see if there are another 3 or 4 people that are interested enough to take it to the next level, which is to investigate the financial and logistical implications of doing this. If there are a few here that are in, we could open the idea to the larger community. The PHP list comes to mind here, as does MeetUp. Someone else mentioned the local Astronomy group as a potential source of interest, and I recently discovered a model rocketry group in the area that may have some folks interested in the idea (though the though of building rocket engines in the space may make the space short-lived!). Ok, thats enough typing for me. Kevin
