Well now, I think last night's meeting was the start of something good!
- Tyler offered the Big Idea Lab as a "home base" for BHS to meet on a regular basis (when no other scheduled events are occurring). We should have a small amount of storage space, and as long as we clean up after ourselves we should be able to keep a limited amount of gear there. I plan on bringing soldering equipment, breadboards, wire, various components (resistors, capacitors, etc.), and an o-scope.
- Paul showed us a thing or two about constant flow stripper stills, and we tossed around the idea of a vertical shaker-bed design for a barley malting facility.
- At this point we have chosen to meet weekly, every Friday at 6pm. The idea is that we have a regularly scheduled weekly meeting and BHS members can simply show up, work on their projects, and/or check out what other BHS members are doing. The key elements to a successful BHS group are 1) a stable space to meet, store gear, and work on projects, 2) consistent meeting times, 3) social comradery 4) membership critical mass that guarantees there is always at least a few BHS members attending every meeting - I think we've got at least 2 out of 4 so far.
- The BIL is a secure space. Someone who is local and is available to commit to door duty will need to take the reigns manning the door at the start of each meeting... or we need to play hot potato with the key card.
- We have a decent space now, so let's start marketing BHS! Think of ways to get the word out. There are plenty of electronics students starting fall quarter at the college... anyone know the prof?
- Website; Tril has confirmed that
hack.bellingham.wa.us is available and he can snag it for free. I also checked the "standard" TLD options and
hackbham.com/net/org are all available, so I snagged them and set up WordPress. We will need people to post entries and work the wikis, let me know if you're interested and I'll forward credentials to you. The primary thing I need is more information for the two wikis I've created; "The Group" and "The Space". Authors welcome!
- "Hack Bellingham" - Admittedly I'm kind of just taking the reigns on this one and running with it, but as we discussed at the meeting, a space is important but it's the people that matter the most. To that end, I'm just running with the "Hack Bellingham" motif and downplaying the "space" part of the BHS concept. Anyone with any thoughts one way or the other, please share!
- What to bring to meetings; 1) something to work on/share, 2) a positive enthusiastic attitude for what you/others are doing