Badges?

[Brian Westgate]

Not sure if it's ever been discussed before, but has the shop ever considered the use of badges to track who is/isn't a member, and who is/isn't qualified to use tools?  I appeared to SynShop a year and a bit ago, registered as a member, but after several months of not attending (training/work stuff), I discontinued my membership.  I renewed it last month, but it's felt kinda weird that just because I renewed it, some guy no one recognizes can just walk into the Danger Room and start playing with the laser engraver.  There was really no way for anyone there to know if I was / wasn't welcome there.

Some people may not like the idea of having to wear a badge or carry some kind of token (even an RFID chip), but there's obviously some appeal to the management of the space.  If there are tools and things to train on / "unlock" before you can use them, a newcomer like me may find it a fun challenge to try to learn them.  If the badge is visible on each person, I know who to ask if I need help.  For each tool/skill, it'd be easy to implement beginner/novice/advanced/expert/master skill levels.  Or at least mitigate strangers or complete n00bs from walking in and destroying our valuable equipment.

This is approaching boyscout/girlscout badges, but if you make it less childish, it could be fun and really show the experts around the shop, as well as who's a paid member.  

[Kelly Anderson]

This was proposed at Make Salt Lake, and after a lot of thinking we arrived at the conclusion that if we can't trust a member to only use the machines they know how to use, then we couldn't trust them to even be a member. Aside from that, setting up all the RFID stuff on each machine was really prohibitively complex and expensive.

Maker spaces that have these kinds of policies usually have full time staff. That's not something Syn Shop is remotely ready for. But during open hours there is always some "responsible adult" present.

-Kelly

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[Brian]

Good point.  

We can lay off the RFID or any kind of tool control idea.  May be beneficial to still have some badge, or a sponsor policy, but seems you've already considered it.  So, I'll just say I appreciate the trust, and pray I don't accidentally break something!

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[Joshua Paxton]

I could be extremely wrong, but the issue is the planning. To program sensors, and have a robust system, is wanted, but not cost effective, and we don't have the techs willing to program it. Before someone makes a program to allow access to the tools, I would love a simpler program to see a photo, and then what they can do, but it is easy to say what we need but in the end, it is what that can happen that matters!

Virus-free. www.avg.com

[Aakin Patel]

Brian Munroe has been working on such a system for a little bit. I think it is almost ready to deploy.

- Aakin

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[mr jones]

I'm some one who isn't at the shop that often, but is a vetted member who holds the shop open every now and again. My low tech solution is along the lines of what Kelly suggested: anybody I don't recognize I introduce myself and ask what cool project they're working on. As well, I don't hide my question of, "cool, are you a member/trained to use this tool?"  This is win/win/win: I get to meet folks, find out what cool project they're working on and I get to ensure everything is on the up and up!

Cheers,

-adj