Hi everyone,

After some discussions with Marek & Pete, we've just put in an
Expression of Interest on Spacecraft's behalf for the InternetNZ
Christchurch grant funding round
<http://internetnz.net.nz/christchurchfunding> I posted about earlier.

This will get our "foot in the door" of funding process and if the EoT
is accepted (we should know ~15 December) we will work with the wider
community to prepare a detailed proposal by the mid-February deadline.

If you want to read the main content of what we submitted read below.
If you'd prefer to be able to disavow all knowledge stop reading here.
:)

Hope the end of year season goes well for you all!

--Philip;

I.  Contact Information

Applicant name: Spacecraft - the Christchurch Hackerspace

[...]

Website: spacecraft.org.nz

2.  Project Description

Project title: CoLab : Container as relocatable Hackerspace

Project start date (approx): Febraury 2012

Project end date (approx): Febraury 2013

Project abstract (no more than 300 words):

CoLab will house laboratory space, equipment and resources for
Christchurch hackers, makers and crafters in a converted forty-foot
shipping container.

The earthquakes in Christchurch have underlined the need for a
permanent community space in Christchurch in order to share the social
& technical benefits of participating in the global digital design &
fabrication community which is enabled by internet-based communication
technologies.

The space will include two work areas: one for electronics, software
development & craft; one for fabrication using laser cutting, 3D
printing and CNC.

Facilities will be open for use by members of Spacecraft (the
Christchurch Hackerspace) and residents of the greater Christchurch
area. Assistance can be provided to help inexperienced people learn
digital fabrication skills and participate in the global digital
design community. Freely accessible WiFi and the opportunity to learn
how to configure & run such resources can also be a part of CoLab.
There will also be opportunity to include networked seismic & other
“Internet of Things”sensors & actuators as part of the construction.

The project will include documentation of the container conversion and
release of the design under a Creative Commons license to enable
groups in other disaster zones or urban areas to build similar
structures. Over time it is hoped the design can be refined to make
use of solar power, rain water and other sustainable features.

At present the project team includes co-founders & members of
Spacecraft who are active members of both Christchurch & New Zealand's
technical & maker communities--on acceptance of this proposal we would
work with other Christchurch groups to prepare a full proposal.

The grant will be applied to: purchase and conversion of a shipping
container; purchase of equipment including laser cutter, 3D printer
and mini-CNC mill; siting and running costs for the first year.

What are the tangible outcomes or deliverables and which specific
InternetNZ object(s) does your project relate to?

Hackerspaces are where Internet bits become atoms.

At the completion of the project the CoLab structure will provide a
permanent (but relocatable) home for Spacecraft in the form of a
converted forty-foot shipping container. It will include equipment &
resources including a 3D printer, laser cutter, CNC mill and other
items donated & created by participants.

The space will also be available to Christchurch residents to gain &
share skills, prototype, as well participate in the global digital
design & fabrication and “Internet of Things”communities. This may add
to the quality of their life or even provide a pathway to sustainable
businesses.

The design of the container conversion will be available under a
Creative Commons license for use & enhancement by other communities
world-wide.

As required by the InternetNZ mandate the CoLab project will “extend
the availability of the Internet and its associated technologies and
applications in New Zealand, both as an end in itself and as means of
enabling organisations, professionals and individuals to more
effectively collaborate, cooperate, communicate and innovate in their
respective fields of interest”in a variety of ways from providing raw
Internet access through to facilities for engaging with the wider
Maker & Hacker communities via contributions to sites like
Thingiverse.com and other resources.

In particular CoLab will “promote and conduct education and research
related to the Internet and inter-networking (2.4)”on an informal and
participatory basis by providing equipment & resources for those using
the space.

In addition, contributions to the Creative Commons, participation with
the global Hackerspace community & other resources will "develop and
maintain formal and informal relationships with the international
Internet community (2.8)". Publicly accessible WiFi and other
resources will also "promote widely and generally available access to
the Internet. (2.9)"

Thanks for considering our expression of interest.

3. Funding

Amount sought (up to a maximum of $435,000): ~$50,000-$75,000

Total budget of project: ~$50,000-$75,000

What other parties are assisting financially: member donations

[...]

Well done guys! A foot in the door is all you need at this stage! :)

One bit of feedback, which you may already be aware of, if this application
is anything like other granting systems here in NZ I'd recommend you pull
together a budget for the project. Simply asking for 50-75k isn't something
granting agencies are always keen to get behind without a bit of visibility
on where their cash is going. You might spend it all on killbots!!

Also, total budget for the project should include the effort/cash you
project people will contribute, so that the sum being asked for is a
percentage of the overall project cost.

For example "we have 15 people willing to offer 40 hours labour/time each
at a rate of 40$ an hour" which would equate to 24,000$ worth of
contribution on your part. Which is 33% of your projected project cost.

It shows that you are not simply asking for cash with no resources to
deliver the project. Most of these grants are meant to be enablers, not
providers. They need proof that you could deliver this even if you only got
20% of the requested cash.

I'm really excited about his and will happily volunteer my time to come
down to ChCh to work for a week as well as putting a donation towards the
fit-out.

Feel free to hit me up if there is anything you need.

As I've already been working on a project similar to this I have mockups at
hand to include in any submission documents. I also have some laser cut
models that you can include with such documents - if you want to provide
extra selling power :)

Exciting times guys! Well done!

On 1 December 2011 09:16, Richard Fortune (@MakerOrgNz)
Thanks for your positive & helpful feedback and offer of support,
Richard, it's gratefully received!

Yeah, it was difficult to know for sure how much detail was required
at this Expression of Interest stage--but given the abstract was
limited to 300 words I figured they weren't expecting too much detail
until the in depth proposal required for the next round. At that stage
I'm sure there will be less hand-waving accepted. :)

I had actually thought I'd included slightly more breakdown of costs
but now realise that was in an IM conversation, not the proposal
itself. I've actually emailed an update to read:

  "The grant will be applied to: purchase and conversion of a shipping
container (~$25,000); purchase of equipment including laser cutter, 3D printer
and mini-CNC mill (~$25,000); siting and running costs for the first
year (~$25,000)."

As long as they were internet-connected that might still fill the
InternetNZ mandate. :D

Oh, that's an interesting approach I hadn't fully considered, thanks
for the suggestion. I'm hoping InternetNZ will go into more detail
about what exactly they want in the next stage--given that we're not
professional proposal writers... :)

Yeah, that's a good point. I'd also sent an update to mention that we
have skills on the project team with experience of container
conversions *cough*Marek*cough* since that's relevant.

Great, that would be awesome! I'd actually been wondering if we could
organise a working-bee type thing with nation-wide participants, so
you read my mind. I'll put you on the (currently, metaphoric) list! :D

The intention is to have a more participatory writing process for the
full proposal so feedback/advice at that stage will be appreciated.

Sure, definitely interested to see any stuff like that you have...

Thanks again for your support--it's really encouraging!

--Philip;

P.S. We're also grateful for the other support we've received via
private email & Twitter. :)

Hi Phil and others

Really impressive effort - put me down on the metaphorical working bee
list also!

Andrew

On 12/2/2011 4:16 AM, follower wrote:

@Richard, thank you for all the feedback/info/support! Appreciated as always.

Detailed budget plan and the next step in the funding process are
going to be critical. The ball is rolling and it's very exciting to
see!

@Phillip, I didn't realize that you also sent an update to EOI. Thanks
for mentioning my *cough*name*cough* :-)

Marek

Marek Kuziel
p: +64211727255
w: kuziel.info
t: twitter.com/marekkuziel

On 2 December 2011 09:07, Andrew Starr <ajst...@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks for your feedback & support. :)

--Philip;