Hackshelf policy/guidelines

[Yama Ploskonka]

please pardon the style, re-edit as necessary, and can we vote on modifications next time around?

As Danny has pointed also out, we have piles and piles of stuff that need to be dealt with, and I for one do not want to have to face the wrath of someone who with all reason points out that such valuable donations were not treated with all due process, or, worse, that there was some conduct unbecoming.

I suggest holding Red as a color for Red Tagged items, a safety thing, and Orange for what used to be named Top Shelf, to also avoid any confusion when a Top Shelf item happens to be on the floor....

http://atxhs.org/wiki/Inventory#suggested_policy

Hackshelf

[edit] suggested policy

there shalt be a shelf, and Hackshelf it be named.

there shalt also be another shelf, as Holding/Receiving be it known, and it shalt be home to Unphinished Projekts and Dead Projekts and Abandoned and such like, and also to Donations, And Holding/Receiving be extended to a Territory and not just a shelf.

And moreover, a Top Shelf shalt also exist, sacred to those anointed.

And it shall be thus: when a Donation arrives, it shalt be confined to the Holding/Receiving, that it might not Contaminate the Space with its messiness, and labelled with a date, yellow in color or with such Markings as to identify it well as Recent Arrival. Within no less than Half a Moon, and no more than one full Moon, anything worthy of such Elevation in the Holding/Receiving shalt be Saved and Protekted by Transfer to the Top Shelf.
Whatever has spent more than one Moon in the Holding/Receiving and were not elevated, will be sent to the Hackshelf with no further delay, and take its chances thereto.

Anything in the Hackshelf shalt remain there until the end of the Month, but no less than half a Moon, that being two Common Weeks, and then Die the Death if it were not earlier taken into his or her bossom by a Common Member or a Fancy member, to do as he or she pleases.

Objekts in the Holding/Receiving shalt not be taken in this manner by members, but only be either Elevated or remanded to the Hackshelf.

Objekts Elevated to the Top Shelf shalt remain there until they be sorted and Lokated in suitable ideal Places. It be Pestilence if the Top Shef hath too much Stuff, it being Indikator of lack of Excellence. Objekts to be Kept should be in Their Places, or Disposed of back to the Hackshelf, not piled up in the Top Shelf.

There being Dead Projekts and Abandonned and Unphinished and such Stillborn Hacks, they shall be sent to the Holding/Receiving if their Owners not be found quickly, and from there be either Elevated if they be worthy, or sent to the Hackshelf if of lesser import.

Colors shalt be Orange for the Topshelf, Yellow for the Holding/Receiving, Green for the Hackshelf, and any Member shalt be allowed to take anything from the Hackshelf for his or her own use, but that in the Top Shelf be used only for Hacks within the Space itself.

[David M]

i second this. hilarious!

the holding/receiving area should be limited in size and when full means no more Donations until the backlog is handled.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ATXHS Discuss" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to atxhs-discus...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to atxhs-...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/atxhs-discuss.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

[Paul Bonser]

I think we need a bit of expansion and/or modification to this policy.

Specifically, there has been talk of the term "top shelf" being misleading and also not really making sense as part of the "hack shelf". If something is a thing that you must return in the same condition, then it is not a "hackable" item and thus doesn't belong on the "hack shelf" in the first place. In most cases, the things on the "top shelf" are actually tools, and so should be treated as such.

So, after stuff has been donated, when we sort out the receiving area, tools should be separated, inventoried, and added to the hackerspace tools (stored in the appropriate area depending on what kind of tool it is).

Another category of thing that is often donated are electronics components and other items that are generally considered to be "consumable" items. They also aren't really "hackable" items since they generally are used as intended. It's not "hacking" a resistor if you use it in a circuit. That's what it's for.

So, consumable items such as electronics components, cables, wire, nuts, bolts, other hardware, and so on, should be put into the appropriate place for that consumable. We have bins for various cables, power adapters that don't go with a specific device (if they do, they should stay with that device, of course!), we have bins for fasteners, abrasives, etc.

After narrowing it down, the only stuff that should actually be going on the "hack shelf" are things that are "hackable" by definition. Devices/toys/doodads that may or may not be broken and have outlived their use in their current form; partial or incomplete assemblies from various devices which may have some interesting bits to be harvested for a given project; items that can be reprogrammed or repurposed.

Of course, there are other classes of things that might belong on the hack shelf which I haven't mentioned here, but the idea is there are some classes of things which don't belong on the hack shelf, but should instead be put into the other appropriate place in the space. I think this will cut down on the overflowing of the hack shelf which we have seen in the past and will prevent otherwise useful things from disappearing from the space due to overcrowding.

--
Paul Bonser | http://probablyprogramming.com | @pib

[Yama Ploskonka]

+1, especially the concept of "classes of things". If we develop that
further, I believe it would cut a big dent into the assorted amount of
treasures that are in the storage shelves. Like, Computer Things,
further divided into Computer Cables, etc., the idea being that stuff
has a place, and within that place can be kept reasonable, i.e., no
more than say 4 keyboards - beyond that, hackshelf 'em, maybe rotate
if a fancy one comes in, we let go a PS/2 one... etc. Just as example,
YMMV, etc., but I am glad that we are getting some good communication
and consensus. I agree the Top Shelf term must go because it gets
confusing, following Luke's we could go into a color scheme.

Yes, consumables need be its own thing. And we need to, as
intelligently as possible, weed or separate what is actually useful
away from what might be useful in a .001% kind of way, like 64 KB
RAM... I trust we have people who understand this better than I do,
happy to defer, but all in all it's part of the mess the hackshelf
was, there was a complaint that electronic parts were "lost". I hope
that will be less of a problem if such parts actually have a place and
they go to that place...

Thank you!

>>> [edit<http://atxhs.org/index.php?title=Inventory&action=edit&section=5>

[Amishacker]

It's seconded, so it's an agenda item. Here's the proposalified thing:

http://www.atxhackerspace.org/wiki/Agenda_Items/Hackshelf

I like the description, and the bones of it seem good with some tweaking. I don't think it communicates quickly or clearly, but it's fun.

I suggest accompanying the humor with a picture of the shelf and labels that describe the policy for each labeled section sort of like this:

CPU socket: Items kept briefly here, don't bother returning them

System memory: Items kept 2-15 minutes after power fails or shortly after reboot.

IDE connectors: Items kept here until the day after the warranty expires. Return all items from this bit to this bit.

...or not like this. Just clear colorcoding, terminology and categorization in images.

[Chris McLaughlin]

I think the "Top Shelf" should be renamed to prevent any confusion. 

It should also not be the literal top shelf, but a set of shelves just like the Holding/Receiving shelves.

I think both those things would help cut down on the confusion and on the possibility of mixing.

[Matt Printz]

Not to be a buzzkill, but if this is to be an official agenda item, can we get it re-written in plain English?

Matt

On Fri, Oct 4, 2013 at 10:55 PM, Amishacker <marshall...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Yama Ploskonka]

I agree "Top" is down.  I am racking my liver for something coming from the literature (Monthy Python primarily, and others such lore), but nothing really adds up to it, except maybe Hackbat Shelf... The argument to use that lofty name being that it is where /insider/ stuff happens, special hacks, and goes and comes back, and the sort of "living museum" of the best of the best... Not a place where you take and put things lightly. What would go there would be prime items for good, high expectation hacking (the mostly dead CNC parts, the mostly dead 3D printers, the PowerWheels unit, 'scopes, Kinect). A sort of Library mentality, you borrow, use, and bring back improved or at least in good usable state. We'll need to polish what that means, so even new members understand and can use.

Also, as mentioned by someone, that consumables and tools go to consumables and tools, not to this areas/shelves.

Maybe if we define better what should go to this Special Place, the name will pop up.  I guess it's evident and apparently mostly agreed that Holding/Receiving and Hackshelf are a go, maybe some tweaks, but the concepts and names hold at least for now.

That real usable consumables go to where they belong (electronics, metal), tools likewise.

It would seem that the difficulty has to do a lot with that in-between status of so much good stuff that is not quite somebody's (were that the case it either must go to a banker box, monthly-paid extra storage, or the member's home or car), but is not quite for anyone to simply grab and run away with...

And pregnant projects, not operational or useful right now, but not quite abandoned.
As we (as the whole Community, not just the Hoary Hoard Keepers) go along and move and sort out *all* of the junk/treasures in the process of clearing the Lounge and Classroom and Shared Space oh my, I believe we will come to some sort of understanding to deal with what needs be kept, as it goes to a relevant spot, and what gets downgraded to Hackershelf status on its way out. 

IMHO we need to avoid simply moving the piles of Special Stuff from the current shelves to other shelves where it still is in hoary limbo, not clear under what terms someone can use it, and no responsibility for its current Guardian to do something with it in a reasonable time *or else*.

All in all, I am so glad on how this is getting a good grounding that lets it be expected we will all gain a better sense of better use of the space in the Space.

[Mert]

+1 for plain English. Sorry to be so humorless, but if it doesn't "communicate quickly and clearly" it won't get used.

[MutantGarage]

On Saturday, October 5, 2013 12:27:15 AM UTC-5, Yama Ploskonka wrote:

I agree "Top" is down.  I am racking my liver for something coming from the literature (Monthy Python primarily, and others such lore), but nothing really adds up to it, except maybe Hackbat Shelf... The argument to use that lofty name being that it is where /insider/ stuff happens, special hacks, and goes and comes back, and the sort of "living museum" of the best of the best... Not a place where you take and put things lightly. What would go there would be prime items for good, high expectation hacking (the mostly dead CNC parts, the mostly dead 3D printers, the PowerWheels unit, 'scopes, Kinect). A sort of Library mentality, you borrow, use, and bring back improved or at least in good usable state. We'll need to polish what that means, so even new members understand and can use.

I think the HackerSpace Parts Library is a good idea, put an index card on the item for people to check it out and store in a index card file so anyone looking for the
item can see who has it and for how long. It also reinforces the idea that these things are to be returned. Although if you have a really cool use, it would be nice to have
a permanent checkout policy in place. Perhaps the finished project stays at the space for a while to be demo-ed.  The same goes for the items of historical interest, tag them as such.