CCHS name change

[Brett Sutton]

Without wanting to start a war :)

I wanted to raise the subject of the name of CCHS.

From a marketing perspective, I have to say that its not a great choice.

It has several problems.

1) I caught an uber home from the space the other night and the driver showed an interest in joining. So what do I tell him to google to find us? I couldn't even remember what CCHS stood for at the time, nor exactly what the initials were.

2) The term 'hacker' has negative connotations to the great unwashed masses and even to the younger generation of tech savvy.

3) the name does not tell the greater community what we do.

4) the name tends to drive away the greater community as it sounds elitist (assuming they even got past the 'its a group of evil geeks').

As such I would like to suggest that we consider renaming the group to something more friendly and which would give the greater community a better idea what we do.

So I would like to start with a suggestion:

Hawthorne Maker Space

It tells everyone where we are and what we do, its easy to google, the geeks will know we do 3D printing etc and we won't scare the greater community away.

So does anyone agree with my suggestion that we look at changing our name?

Does anyone object to a name change?

Any other name suggestions?

With the best of intent,

Brett

[tubular]

Don't worry about starting a flame war, it started many, many years ago.   It comes up again from time to time.   From my point of view, happy to consider it.

[Rob B]

I like something a bit more explanatory eg Hawthorn Shared Workshop

Makerspace has American connections and they trade on that to their own benefit 

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[Brett Sutton]

Not bad. Only issue is it makes me think of woodworking.

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[aj]

What if you move to another suburb. Even 1 or 2 over?

The Hacker part is the real issue.. Just change that word to Maker.

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Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

[Brett Sutton]

I think the name is still too long.

I'm not certain that a name change due to a move would be that concerning as we are not taking about normal brand issues here. But maybe melborne maker space.

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[Roman Valls]

Shorter (and sweeter?): Melbourne Makers?

> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/connected-community-hackerspace/CABJpD3GOEaoN_4p4%3D0%2B3Xy11itva1dgwmhqp6HZVqwq9%2BP_5dg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Brett Sutton]

I like short but sounds like we are a group rather than a workshop/space.

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[Roman Valls]

Add "pace" suffix after "Makers" then, still 2 words ;)

> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/connected-community-hackerspace/CABJpD3HSugFAHYD2%2B077qSCFwmOeMgAsu%2BmngOCty8H8mqUjZw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Brett Sutton]

😊

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[AJ]

Amateur Community of Mechatronics Enclave

A.C.M.E.


On 17/03/2018 6:57 PM, Brett Sutton wrote:
> 😊

>
> On Sat., 17 Mar. 2018, 6:56 pm Roman Valls, <brain...@nopcode.org

> <mailto:brain...@nopcode.org>> wrote:
>
> Add "pace" suffix after "Makers" then, still 2 words ;)
>
> On Sat, Mar 17, 2018 at 6:45 PM, Brett Sutton
> <bsutton...@gmail.com <mailto:bsutton...@gmail.com>> wrote:
> > I like short but sounds like we are a group rather than a
> workshop/space.
> >
> > On Sat., 17 Mar. 2018, 6:43 pm Roman Valls,

> <brain...@nopcode.org <mailto:brain...@nopcode.org>> wrote:
> >>
> >> Shorter (and sweeter?): Melbourne Makers?
> >>
> >> On Sat, Mar 17, 2018 at 1:14 PM, Brett Sutton

> <bsutton...@gmail.com <mailto:bsutton...@gmail.com>>

> >> wrote:
> >> > I think the name is still too long.
> >> >
> >> > I'm not certain that a name change due to a move would be that
> >> > concerning as
> >> > we are not taking about normal brand issues here. But maybe
> melborne
> >> > maker
> >> > space.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > On Sat., 17 Mar. 2018, 12:40 pm aj, <ajba...@gmail.com

> <mailto:ajba...@gmail.com>> wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> What if you move to another suburb. Even 1 or 2 over?
> >> >>
> >> >> The Hacker part is the real issue.. Just change that word to
> Maker.
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> On 17 March 2018 12:36:12 GMT+11:00, Brett Sutton

> >> >> <bsutton...@gmail.com <mailto:bsutton...@gmail.com>>

> wrote:
> >> >>>
> >> >>> Not bad. Only issue is it makes me think of woodworking.
> >> >>>
> >> >>> On Sat., 17 Mar. 2018, 11:57 am Rob B, <rbr...@gmail.com

> <mailto:rbr...@gmail.com>> wrote:
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>> I like something a bit more explanatory eg Hawthorn Shared
> Workshop
> >> >>>> Makerspace has American connections and they trade on that
> to their
> >> >>>> own
> >> >>>> benefit
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>> On Sat, 17 Mar 2018 at 11:38 am, Brett Sutton

> <bsu...@noojee.com.au <mailto:bsu...@noojee.com.au>>

[Neil Brennan]

Hi, I'm quite external to the group these days (my robot-building son is deep in Year 11 busyness) so I hope you won't mind me adding a small amount of input to the discussion.

Many schools these days are now running their own "makerspaces", such that the term has fully entered the educational vernacular. I share the feeling that blindly aping America is not a particularly desirable thing, but this one looks like a lost battle to me.

For the next generation of makers, the word "hacker" really does have only one meaning and unfortunately it's the bad one. From the perspective of attracting new, especially younger members to CHHS, I'm glad to see the possibility of a name change being discussed.

Kind regards,

Neil Brennan

 

[Graham]

Does the name have to be an acronym. I'd be happy with Shazam - just as long as I knew what ppl did at Shazam.....which I know why groups have acronyms for their names :)

Sent from my iPhone

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[Brett Sutton]

I would strongly recommend against an acronym or an odd name that bears no resemblance to what we do.

We are a small org with essentially no marketing budget so the name really needs to say exactly what we are about the first time someone comes across it and it must be easy to google even if they aren't looking specifically for us.

You point about schools calling them maker spaces is also interesting as both students and their parents will be associating the term with the form of service we offer.

Brett

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[Brendon]

Hello

What was the thinking behind the word Connected in "Connected Community Hacker Space"?

On Sun, Mar 18, 2018 at 3:41 PM, Brett Sutton <bsutton...@gmail.com> wrote:

I would strongly recommend against an acronym or an odd name that bears no resemblance to what we do.

We are a small org with essentially no marketing budget so the name really needs to say exactly what we are about the first time someone comes across it and it must be easy to google even if they aren't looking specifically for us.

You point about schools calling them maker spaces is also interesting as both students and their parents will be associating the term with the form of service we offer.

Brett

On Sun., 18 Mar. 2018, 12:46 pm Neil Brennan, <ne...@anywhich.com> wrote:

Hi, I'm quite external to the group these days (my robot-building son is deep in Year 11 busyness) so I hope you won't mind me adding a small amount of input to the discussion.

Many schools these days are now running their own "makerspaces", such that the term has fully entered the educational vernacular. I share the feeling that blindly aping America is not a particularly desirable thing, but this one looks like a lost battle to me.

For the next generation of makers, the word "hacker" really does have only one meaning and unfortunately it's the bad one. From the perspective of attracting new, especially younger members to CHHS, I'm glad to see the possibility of a name change being discussed.

Kind regards,

Neil Brennan

 

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[John Bosua]

I agree with AJ. I think Community Maker Space (no need for connected) CMS

just my 2 c worth

John Bosua

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[AJ]

CMS is such an overused acronym though..   especially for searching on
the web.

'Community Maker Space'  sounds more like a  craft workshop offering old
ladies a weekly space for their knitting circle!
it's too 'soft'..  it needs something slightly harder that implies
construction/manufacturing/electronics etc..

just my knit-picking 5c (2c was phased out a while ago).
aj.

On 17/03/2018 12:58 PM, John Bosua wrote:
> I agree with AJ. I think Community Maker Space (no need for connected)
> CMS
>
> just my 2 c worth
> John Bosua
>
>
>> On 17 Mar 2018, at 9:40 AM, aj <ajba...@gmail.com

>> <mailto:ajba...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>> What if you move to another suburb. Even 1 or 2 over?
>>
>> The Hacker part is the real issue.. Just change that word to Maker.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 17 March 2018 12:36:12 GMT+11:00, Brett Sutton

>> <bsutton...@gmail.com <mailto:bsutton...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>> Not bad. Only issue is it makes me think of woodworking.
>>
>> On Sat., 17 Mar. 2018, 11:57 am Rob B, <rbr...@gmail.com

[Clifford Heath]

You could solve the suburb name problem by calling it
Melbourne Maker Space.

Is there even another maker space in Melbourne?

Is "Space" even needed? Why not "Melbourne Makers"?
Clear and punchy.

If you're worried about being confused with a sewing circle
(you shouldn't, sewing is a great skill to have!) then you
could include "Tech", e.g. Melbourne Tech Makers.

Just my 2c.

Clifford Heath.

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[Graham]

"Community" does imply that it's a local group ( for Hawthorn only) and that it's free/ cheap.

Sent from my iPhone

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[Roman Valls]

AFAIK, there's Brunnswick, Footscray and depending on the definition
of "Makerspace" also a couple of libraries in town.

So I'm with Rob in that calling it "Melbourne" is a little bit
pretentious? Also not very future-proof if and when other makerspaces
start popping up around :-S

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[Roman Valls]

Community != Communism, that's a common misconception.

In the open source *community* nobody forces you to do anything,
communism on the other hand worked a bit differently in some countries
;)

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[Roman Valls]

Sorry Graham, I just noticed I implied some random fact from your
implication, disregard my comment ;)

[Graham]

What was the random fact?

Sent from my iPhone

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[Roboticist Mark]

Does this mean that my vote for the

Connected Communities Computer Programmers Subcommittee for Hackers is not appropriate either ?

Mark

[Brett Sutton]

Now if it was a clever acronym it might be worth a conversation, but no, that's a total fail 😁

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[John Spencer]

Connected Communities Computer Programmers Organisation would be C3PO

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[Brett Sutton]

Ok, so that's at least clever, now what we need is use of that other 'C' word. I know it offends many people, but hey I'm that kinda guy.

Constructive. 

There I said it.

Never make the mistake of taking me seriously, I never do.

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[Roboticist Mark]

Awww, I thought that being on a CCCP Subcommittee for Hackers might get me elected later in the year ! not communist enough for some people I guess

[AJ]

this is a lot funnier on my desktop email client!  (3 didn't render on
phone)


also,  if going for a more modern name... surely:  Crypto Blockchain AI
Big-Data CCCPO Hacker Space Covering All Melbourne.
not very catchy acroyn, except for the last 4.

On 21/03/2018 3:18 PM, John Spencer wrote:
> Connected Communities Computer Programmers Organisation would be C3PO
>
> On 21 March 2018 at 14:58, Brett Sutton <bsutton...@gmail.com

> <mailto:bsutton...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Now if it was a clever acronym it might be worth a conversation,
> but no, that's a total fail 😁
>
> On Wed., 21 Mar. 2018, 2:52 pm Roboticist Mark,

[Bogdan Bednarczyk]

Open Makers

On Wed, Mar 21, 2018 at 4:46 PM, AJ <ajba...@gmail.com> wrote:

this is a lot funnier on my desktop email client!  (3 didn't render on phone)


also,  if going for a more modern name... surely:  Crypto Blockchain AI Big-Data CCCPO Hacker Space Covering All Melbourne.
not very catchy acroyn, except for the last 4.


On 21/03/2018 3:18 PM, John Spencer wrote:

Connected Communities Computer Programmers Organisation would be C3PO

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Cheers
Bogdan

[Bogdan Bednarczyk]

Open Makers Space

Makers Space Help

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Cheers
Bogdan

[Stuart Young]

If you want to go down that route....

Open Hardware Makers Space.

OHMS!

Might make it a bit hard to search. :P

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Stuart Young (aka Cefiar)

[Adric Landman]

You want a short name and to the point. The current name is a bit convoluted. 

Also if we do change the name we can keep our current Trading name and all our government registrations and just use the new name. It should not cost us anything.

So we can be called "Melbourne Makers" (or whatever)  and still trade as Comunity Connected Hackerspace. 

If the community puts forward a reasonable suggestion (No Hacky McHackface!) we as a committee could consider it. 

Adric

Secretary CCHS.

Open Makers

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Bogdan

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[tubular]

We could put bars on the windows and call it the STEM Cell 

STEM seems to be all the rage

: ) 

[bsu...@noojee.com.au]

So I've gone through and attempted to collate the suggests so far ( at least the ones that I thought were serious suggestions) and added a few more a came up with with the help of a thesaurus.
If I've missed yours let me know and I will add it in.

As to how we might move this forward I was thinking that we run a survey and get people to vote and then submit the outcome to the committee for there final deliberations.

Open Makers
Open Maker Space
Maker Space Help
Hawthorn Maker Space
CCHS
Melbourne Maker Space
Community Maker Space
Connected Maker Space
Melbourne Makers
Hawthorn Shared Workshop
Hawthorn Open Workshop
Mechanized Maker Space
Mechanized Open Workshop
Mechanized Workshop
Hawthorne Mechanized Workshop -too commercial?
Mechanized Makers
Spaced Makers
Melbourne Creator Space
Hawthorne Creator Space
Mechanized Creator Space
3D Maker Space
3D Workshop
Hawthorne 3D Workshop
Hawthorne community Workshop
Open Fabricators Space
Community Fabricators Space
Open Fabricant Space
Hawthorn Fabricant Space
Fabricators of Hawthorn
Fabricant Place
Fabrispace
Hawthorne 3D Fabrispace
Hawthorne 3d Fabricators
Hawthorn Open Studio
Hawthorn 3d Studio
Hawthrone 3D Mill
Workroom
Hawthorn 3d Maker Mill
3d Maker Mill
Open Fabricators Space
Hawthorne Open Machine Shop

[AJ]

Electro-Mechanical Fabricators of Hawthorn      E.M.F.of Hawthorn.


cons: lacks the community, maker, connected,open  motif.

i was originally against the idea of putting Hawthorn in the title,
because any move will invalidate the name, however using it  like  ``...
of Hawthown``  would mean
  1. a location change would be less of an issue, just change that part
  2. if there were multiple locations under the same banner.. you have
  E.M.F. of Narnia


just my 0.0000001 Bitcoin.  (2c was phased out)
aj.

[Quan Li]

how about Hackspace Hawthorn? back then when i was in south australia our group was called hackerspace adelaide

在 2018年3月17日星期六 UTC+11上午11:38:32，Brett Sutton写道：

[John Spencer]

I've always been rather fond of Melbourne Hackerspace.  It matches the names of Ballarat Hackerspace, Coffs Harbour Hackerspace and Hackerspace Brisbane.

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[bsu...@noojee.com.au]

I'm trying t o suggest that we move away from using the term 'hacker' in the name as it only appeals to a very specific demographic.

A key reason for suggesting a name change is to appeal to a broader demographic than the bunch of ugly geeks we currently appeal to :)

[Bogdan Bednarczyk]

I would like to add more name ideas but also some logistics.

Think the name should be simple and short, that smoothly rolls of the tongue........ like Open Space (OS)

and sure it can have other meanings,

the next in line of checks is Availability ..... are they registered?

There are about 40 odd " ...*... Open Space ...*... " names registered with ASIC

So its not only what members like but also what available to register as well. So there might be a good

we all do some extent of
1. Developing not only Making, Building but also designing and research

2. Open source mostly

3. and we all HELP (or try to)

- Open Space Help
- Help To Open Makers

- Open Developers Help

the Open Developers does not short well (OD) , me think

Cheers

Bogdan

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Cheers
Bogdan

[AJ]

`open space`  sounds too much like one of those co-working spaces that
are soulless PC desks aimed at Mac-using vapid-hipster web-designer types.

#include <std disclaimer about it being just my opinion>

[John Spencer]

Hi Brett

Tone in an email is difficult, so I'm going to say straight up that I'm not trying to be overly negative or discouraging.  I love the courses you are running and wish I could participate more.  I've definitely been a member in absentia for the last 18 months so I'm a bit cautious about getting in the way of anyone's good work.

I understand the intention, I simply wanted to make it clear that there are members of the hackerspace who rather like the name and don't think it necessarily is the cause of our membership lull.  My personal opinion is that the term Makerspace is a commercial construct in most of the world and in this country seems to be the domain of Schools and Libraries.  If CCHS had been advertised as a Makerspace when I joined, I doubt I would have continued with it as it does not describe the group I wanted to be a part of.

That said, I recognise that I have a bias and that any good theory deserves an opportunity to be tested.  The name change has come up as an idea several times and here (In my Opinion!) is the way to move forward.

1. The Committee is always on the edge of exhaustion.  Unless they are passionate themselves they will not be able to dedicate themselves to dying on anyone elses particular hill (this is true for EVERY issue).  If you present a well thought out plan I expect they will be happy to proceed, but if you are waiting for it to come from on high you might be waiting for a while.

2. Pick a name that is similar but without the loaded word or even pick several.  Try not to get caught up in trying to define what we are.

3. There is no requirement to actually change the name on the books.  We can test many names with "CCHS trading as _blah_".

4. Approach groups multiple times with different names to see if the response actually does differ.

5. Keep paying membership and running such awesome events :) It's a real inspiration and every week you mention it I get a little closer to actually writing a PCB fab class.

Lastly, and hopefully everyone following this thread takes note of this, regardless of what you identify it as CCHS is in fairly big trouble.  Our membership is at a historic low (after a very rocky 2016, completely unrelated to our name) and we only had 6 people attending at the last General Meeting.  If a name debate/change is what it takes to get people making good use of the space again I am 100% for it.

John

https://slides.com/mage0r/cchs-name/live

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[Graham]

Has the committee contacted those that no longer use the space to find out where they have gone etc. I know I know, another bloody survey but there could be a common thread in the responses - moved, money, time etc

Gra

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[ajfisher]

I've been watching this unfold for a bit but felt I wanted to add the perspective of a long standing member, a non-committee member and the organiser of one of the longest continually running interest groups of CCHS. 

The name, while it may or may not help from an organic discovery stand point, is secondary to the issue of landing people well and converting them into members.

As John S notes, membership right now is at very historic lows and this isn't related to the name (at least not as much as some other things). Some of the reasons for this:

More spaces

Even a few years ago there was only one "hacker space" in Melbourne. This number has grown markedly on directly equivalent spaces but opportunity for people to engage in communities that may have naturally aligned to CCHS (or may have even started there) is greater than ever. The rise of programmes like CoderDojo, library marker space services etc have all contributed to this.

This means CCHS numbers have dropped but the overall community in Melbourne is much bigger. This is a great outcome - the whole rising tide floating all boats thing is a wonderful achievement. We should also recognise that CCHS has had a part to play in some of these groups either directly or indirectly. 

Outreach

Much of our outreach has historically been done by a very small group of people. Whether it was the "regulars" doing Masters / Bunnings sausage sizzles or members participating in make days at places like docklands, BuzzConf etc. Regardless of a name, we need to understand that the majority of people who have been to our space have been introduced not by a search for some kind of space on Google, but as a direct interaction with a member or visitor through some form of event or activity.

Availability

This is also related to the currently low membership, but the space being available at various times has been challenging. As the membership has dropped, things like the regularity of the space being open at convenient times (earlier evenings and Saturday for example) has waned or become inconsistent. I know there is a push happening to "reboot Saturday" but without people at the space regularly this is challenging if it's only one or two people, because life.

Welcome, landing and conversion

Right now I believe this is one of our single biggest challenges. How are we welcoming, how are we landing people and how do we get them involved in the space initially and then longer term? I walk into the space right now and I see a messy, dusty, cluttered space that looks like a disorganised shed. Imagine what that looks like to someone new. Imagine what walking up that laneway on a dark evening is like if you've never been there before. Imagine walking into the space for the first time and you're not greeted, welcomed and hosted through a tour and introduction to other people. 

This takes a commitment to the physical and social aspects of our space to be welcoming on all levels. Right now I don't feel like we are at the bar we once were. This is only achieved through the consistent commitment of members to prioritising it - cleaning up when you make mess, seeing someone come in and greeting them warmly and whole heartedly rather than as an interruption to what you're doing.

Personally, I don't mind what the name is. I come to the space because I like being with a group of people who are interesting, who can challenge how I want to do something but are supportive and generous in sharing their time and skills to improve mine. The space itself also happens to be conveniently located, well priced in terms of membership, and (mostly) provides me access to a bunch of tools I wouldn't have otherwise. None of this is related to whether it's CCHS, Hack Melbourne, Hawthorn Community MakerSpace or some other variant. People are what drives a community, not just it's name. We could call it "The most amazing, collaborative, inclusive, fun, tooled-up space in the world" but the effect of this would be minimal at this point if we don't support the other functions we need to do to grow the membership of the space. 

I appreciate that there's been a long standing discussion around the name and I agree that it could be better, but having a friendly, descriptive name is only part of the job, presenting and delivering on being a friendly, understandable space that people can engage with at whatever level they want is the other 99% of it.

[Brett Sutton]

AJ,

Really well said.

As you noted, I too believe that we have several issues that we need to address head on.

Essentially we need to build a funnel that gets people into the space and then gets then coming back.

The training courses that I'm trying to get up and going are a part of that funnel but there are many other issues that need to be addressed.

Now that I don't use the term funnel lightly.

If you have ever been involved in web development you will understand where the funnel metaphor comes from. As a potential group of customer transition from page to page you get drop outs. You then analyse each page to work out why people were exiting at that page rather than continuing down  to a final sale.

Our membership funnel needs to be viewed in the same way, we need to tune each step that a potential member goes through to the point of active membership.

The name change is just one part of the funnel but it needs to be right, it needs to appeal to the broadest section of the community that are potential members and to be blunt right now it fails almost completely.

I've seen a lot of suggestion, heard a number of arguments, spoken to lots of non-members  and considered a lot of possible names over the past few weeks and the reality is that the original name I suggested is the right one if we want to move the group forward.

(That sounds a little arrogant even as I write this but this is one area I do have some experience in and I've never been very patient :)

It's simple to the point and delivers the widest funnel and as such I want to formally propose a name change for the group (as you mentioned no need to change the actual business name) to Hawthorne Makerspace.

We can turn this into a recognisable brand, market training programs to a wide audience which will deliver a secondary revenue stream and new members.

With a few other improvements we can make the space cash flow positive which means we can invest in more equipment and we will have more members to share the work load.

So I'm not quite certain how we move this forward. I guess at this point the committee need to express a view. Do we need to put this to a vote across the broader community or is it something for the committee to decide. 

If we are going to have a vote we should probably ask the community if any one else wants to formally propose a name change or retention of the existing name.

Sorry if I'm coming across as pushy but it is time to move this forward.

Brett

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[russm]

Some thoughts from an outsider's perspective:

I suspect I'm pretty much your core demographic, and have dropped in a couple
of times over the last few years to use the facilities at casual rates, but
unfortunately transport and time mean I'm not likely to become a regular
dues-paying member. Sorry :(

I like the term "hackerspace" and it'd be great if that name didn't have
unpleasant black-hoodie connotations for the general public, but it does and
that's the world we live in. And yeah, "CCHS" and "Connected Community
Hackerspace" are pretty unwieldly.

Brett - You've spelled your suggestion as "Hawthorne Makerspace" a few times.
Is this intentional, or do you mean "Hawthorn Makerspace"? That name (spelled
correctly) sounds good to me.

Specific events to get people in the door is a great idea. The laser-cutting
thing that seems to be coming up is almost certain to get me along. And having
an organised group thing is a great way to get people over the "I just walked
in and I'm new here and don't know anyone and everyone else knows everyone else
and I'm uncomfortable" hump, making them much more likely to come back once the
course is over.


cheers

R.

> > *More spaces*

> >
> > Even a few years ago there was only one "hacker space" in Melbourne. This
> > number has grown markedly on directly equivalent spaces but opportunity for
> > people to engage in communities that may have naturally aligned to CCHS (or
> > may have even started there) is greater than ever. The rise of programmes
> > like CoderDojo, library marker space services etc have all contributed to
> > this.
> >
> > This means CCHS numbers have dropped but the overall community in
> > Melbourne is much bigger. This is a great outcome - the whole rising tide
> > floating all boats thing is a wonderful achievement. We should also
> > recognise that CCHS has had a part to play in some of these groups either
> > directly or indirectly.
> >

> > *Outreach*

> >
> > Much of our outreach has historically been done by a very small group of
> > people. Whether it was the "regulars" doing Masters / Bunnings sausage
> > sizzles or members participating in make days at places like docklands,
> > BuzzConf etc. Regardless of a name, we need to understand that the majority
> > of people who have been to our space have been introduced not by a search
> > for some kind of space on Google, but as a direct interaction with a member
> > or visitor through some form of event or activity.
> >

> > *Availability*

> >
> > This is also related to the currently low membership, but the space being
> > available at various times has been challenging. As the membership has
> > dropped, things like the regularity of the space being open at convenient
> > times (earlier evenings and Saturday for example) has waned or become
> > inconsistent. I know there is a push happening to "reboot Saturday" but
> > without people at the space regularly this is challenging if it's only one
> > or two people, because life.
> >

> > *Welcome, landing and conversion*

> > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/connected-community-hackerspace/0b275ce5-79b3-493f-8e48-88f27f11c274%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
> > .

> > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
> >
>

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[Bharanee Rathna]

Hi,

Long time lurker here 👋

AJ and John have made excellent points. I enjoy "listening" in on the slack and mailing lists, occasionally dropping by CCHS but haven't had the time to become a regular. As AJ said, life gets in the way.

The name doesn't matter to me, perhaps it will to someone completely new to what the hacker / maker culture is about - having it short and easy to remember might be good enough. Hawthorn Makerspace or Melboure Makerspace.

What struck me is the fact I didn't know the full time paying membership had dropped, I probably missed it. Running a community like this has fixed costs and even if I only drop by occasionally I do feel like I benefit from it overall through the mailing lists and slack channel - I've decided to become a paying member again.

Hopefully other long time lurkers like me that benefit from the CCHS community will do the same and support it financially.

Also I think running more workshops and tutorials would certainly get more people interested. I think that's a great idea.

Cheers,

Bharanee

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> > To post to this group, send email to

> > connected-community-hacke...@googlegroups.com.

> > To view this discussion on the web, visit
> > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/connected-community-hackerspace/0b275ce5-79b3-493f-8e48-88f27f11c274%40googlegroups.com

> > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/connected-community-hackerspace/0b275ce5-79b3-493f-8e48-88f27f11c274%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>

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> >
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[Brett Sutton]

Yes I can't spell to save myself, so the correct spelling is the way to go.

My observation during training also confirms your suspicions.  A multi week course gives participants a chance to get familiar with the space and as well as a few of the regulars. I believe this will help greatly with the conversion rate as it's clear that casual  just don't know how to merge onto the flow. The result being that they don't come back.

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[tubular]

Hi Brett 

Because silence is so open to interpretation, just wanted to assure you the committee are aware of your request and various committee members have discussed it informally as opportunities arise, but its the kind of thing that benefits from having all committee members in the same room for maximum benefit.  Apologies for that not being as instant as you'd likely prefer

Just to summarise, you're asking to be able to operate your next course(s) (mid April?) under the name/alias "Hawthorn MakerSpace", but don't need a formal name change.  Ie its really a 'trading as' kind of alias.  Personally I don't see this as problematic, Shane and I were going to run some kids/family sessions down at the Hawthorn Town Hall under the name 'Batmania MakerSpace' for similar reasons, had the Launchvic funding come through.   

Have I captured what you're requesting correctly?  Are you looking for something formal ("trading as" registration), or just permission?

As for the broader discussion, I think there are some really good points in this thread, irrespective of whats decided regarding "Hawthorn MakerSpace" and we should continue that discussion, its just that the above request looks sufficiently bite sized

I point out also that *spaces seem to collect aliases along the way, eg Mesh was 'easthack' originally

regards

Lachlan 

Treasurer

[Brett Sutton]

Lachlan,

thanks for the response, I've been pretty busy this week so had gotten to the point of wondering about a reply.

As to the name, I don't see any need to change the underlying business name, this is purely a marketing discussion.

The idea of a name change came from a number of interactions with external parties and some time spent considering how to improve the group's membership.

I've attended a few of the bunnings bbq's of recent times and it was very clear from these interactions that no one had any idea what we did (despite a large banner) and I felt we really lacked appeal to the wider audience of 'makers' which I see as quite different to our current core demographic which I would more typify as elite hackers.

Its clear from our current membership and utilisation levels at the space that we have a problem.  

So how do we more clearly communicate who we are and what we offer and how do we convert that to a larger membership base.

I've been working on a proposal for an 'action plan' (for want of a better term) that attempts to address a number of the issues that I see at the space.

My experiment with a training program came directly from my observations of causal drop ins and my impression that we are missing out on converting these people to members because we didn't offer a path to integration with in the space - where do I start, who can I talk, what can I use, what are the rules, how do I learn new skills.

I really felt people were coming in and feeling lost, so they left.

I saw training programs as a way to introduce people to the space, create relationships with others in the space and feeling comfortable in the space. There is still more work to do post training course to complete this integration process but I believe we can make this work.

So the name change is about branding, yes I want permission to advertise the training under the Hawthorn Makerspace 'brand', but I'm also looking to get the group to change its external branding. This would mean changes to items such as Facebook, Meetups, Website, Banners and brochures that we handout. Essentially all of our marketing material.

I understand there are resource and financial considerations with a number of these so we would need to consider how we phase the changes in looking to do the highest profile items first.

Essentially the re-branding is just one element of making us more appealing to a wider demographic.

So here are my broader (unfinished) thoughts on what we need to look to do to increase our appeal and membership and improve our financial position.

I'm sure I'm not telling you anything new when I say that we need to grow our membership to at a minimum cover our monthly operational costs.

So here are my thoughts:

• Clean up - working bee - do this quarterly to keep the place looking neat, less dusty and through out any junk.
  

Maybe some paint with some brighter colours to make the space a little less blokey. We should discuss with some of our female members what would make the space more appealing to them.

• When people walking they really don't know who to talk to and badges are never too popular.
  

So what about a Wall of photos with names so people know who to talk to. 

Make the photos large and string them from the roof about 4m in from the door, making them impossible to miss.

We should have a A5 photo, the persons name and their core skills.

We need a meet and greet pack. I seem to recall from several years ago we used to have these but I've not seen them being handed out of recent.

The pack should have:

Overview

Rules of the space

Community details (group email, facebook etc).

List of forth coming events (training, regular nights etc).

Membership sign up form.

• Branding 
  

Group Name

website
Banners
Facebook
Meetup

• Casual Fees
  

How do we collect casual fees - what is the process.
Are causal fees being collected?
Can we increase fees to $15.

Make it more obvious how and when to pay (attach something to the wall of photos).

• Advertising:
  

Advertise training at community events. It's a great way to get people in.

I see training as a piece of the marketing. From the first round of training it was clear that a no. of the attendees had never been to the space before. Meetup seems to be a fairly good way for people to find us if we can run a variety of training courses. This actually looks like the strongest piece in actively marketing the group. 

More on this below.

Better branding will help make us more attractive to a broader community which will help attract more people at community events.

Even if you don't like Hawthorn Makerspace, CCHS has to go because its too long to say/write and the abbreviation means nothing and as I've said previously 'hacker' means evil programmer to the world at large.

• Vending machine
  

Increase the price on vending machine to $2.

$1 is too cheap, no one will think about paying $2 for a can of drink. Its still good value and no one is forcing anyone to buy the drinks.

• An official greeter
  

  how would we resource this? Do we make a specific night for walk ins? This can make it hard for people to attend.

This is a hard one.

The volunteers that open the space also come down to do there own thing. Its difficult to great/train people whilst you are trying to get other things done.

This is essentially a resourcing issue that only a larger membership will easily fix (chicken and egg problem here).

This is also why I think training will work as I think it will be easier (but still hard) to get people to volunteer to run a short course rather than committing to coming down every Monday night. And standing around waiting for drop ins is rather boring.

See my notes later on 'induction nights'. This feels like a better method. A causal drop in is invited to the next induction night where we will be training on 'x' on mondays and 'y' on tuesdays. Which night would suit them better.

• Name badge

Very few people like wearing name badges which is why I've proposed the picture rail. 
But they would be good.

 - think this was done originally. 

We could make it a condition of a 24 hour pass but this is likely to make more enemies than friends.

• 24 hour access
  

Make it easier to get 24 hour access or at least make the process clearer.

• Get Saturdays back up and running.
  

‎Roster system would help. Are sundays better?

• Better documentation on each machine. Training may eleviate this issue.
  

• An induction night on different tools.
  

This is essentially mini-training programs. Come done and in one night we will training you use 'X'.

So as above a casual drop in is invited to an induction night.

We could rotate what day of the week they are on across the month and what tools was being taught.

I kind of like this one.

We also advertise induction nights via meetup. Require people to RSVP via Meetup and then have a volunteer that knows they have 'n' people coming down for an induction.

We charge for the induction, say $20 and they get a 50% discount off the first months membership if they sign up for direct debit.

• Training
  

Develop a number of Training programs. At least one night per week.

Two nights a week feels like it could be a possibility but we would probably need four volunteers to keep this going.

Also need to look at impact on other users of the space. May need to re-org the space a little if we are going to do this on a regular basis.

We need a number of training packages that overtime we work up so that different people can deliver them without having to put a lot of prep into it.

I'm happy to co-ordinate the develop of these if the committee are OK with the idea.

I see training packages as a key part of our membership 'funnel'.

We advertised via different channels (facebook, meetup, community engagements etc)

People attend the training and we generate a direct revenue stream.

I'm guessing that we can generate around $2,000 per year per training course (working on the assumption that we charge $15 per night, 6 night course and average 6 paying participants and we run the course four times a year.) In reality we can probably run the courses 6 times a year so maybe as much as $3K per year. I'm happy to run the 3D printer course 1 night a week for the foreseeable future and spend some time co-coordinating other courses. I'm having a discussion with another member (can't remember her name but she is there on mondays doing lazer cutting) about a laser cutting course and she seems interested.

The real meat with training is not the revenue for the courses but rather recruiting new members.

Most of the attendees expressed an interest in joining the group.

We need to look at a package so we can convert these during the course, whilst they are excited about the whole prospect.

I would like to be able to offer a package where in they get a %50 discount on the first month if they sign up for a direct debit whilst doing the course.

If we assume that we can sign up half of the attendees that gives us 18 new memberships across the year.  We would need to do additional work to keep them engaged. A fair number of these would drop off after three months, so lets call it half, so maybe 9 new members over 12 months.  Again thinking about how we better engage and create community will help retain these people.

If we can retain 9 members that's 9 * 60 or $540 per month in additional revenue or $6120 per year. Add that to revenue from a single training programs and that's an additional $9000 per year.

So some observations from the first training program.

I saw a lot of excited participants that were eager to get there hands dirty after the course completed. But I think we need to do something to get them up and running and signed as members.

Training gets people in the door and a reason and a means to engage.

As I mentioned before I would like to offer a discount membership to get them hooked but I think we should then arrange an 'induction night'.

Ideally this would be in the week following the end of the course where we have a group induction. Perhaps organise a few extra volunteers on induction night.

We tell the new members to bring their ideas down and we do a group mentoring session where other participants also act as mentors and trainees. And we talk them through what they will need to bring their project together. We can then set them up to come down on appropriate nights when one of our 'tool experts' will be on hand to train them equipment.  Again we need to look at how we resource these events but if we are only doing it at the end of each course we probably need only one or two people ever 6 weeks or so.

If you are OK with it I actually want to organize this for the course that has just completed to get them back in, working on projects and sign them as members. Could I offer the discount to this group?

I'm going to stop here now. Its late and this has become a bit of a brain dump.

I would love the chance to perhaps catch up with the committee and discuss some of these ideas.

I apologise if I'm being pushy but I'm a 'see a problem, must fix it' kind of guy.  

The training experiment worked much better than I expected and I believe that its shown a  path to fix a number of problems that I've witnessed over a number of years of my very loose relationship with the group.

Regards,

Brett

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[Tim Sheahan]

This thread really has had legs.

It's been a while since I put my head up (hi!).

Please allow me to add my voice in favor of "Maker".

This movement might seem to have originated in the U.S. but, to the extent thst it is becoming a worldwide phenomenon, I believe that is making the world a better place.

I regard Adam Savage as one of the movement's patron saints. Who among us with children wouldn't like to see them draw inspiration from such as he?

The internet is making the world a smaller place. Makers are our people, we are theirs. It seems entirely appropriate to connect to that, as directly reflected in the name of this organization.

Respectfully,

Tim Sheahan

On Sat, 17 Mar 2018 11:38 am Brett Sutton <bsu...@noojee.com.au> wrote:

Without wanting to start a war :)

I wanted to raise the subject of the name of CCHS.

From a marketing perspective, I have to say that its not a great choice.

It has several problems.

1) I caught an uber home from the space the other night and the driver showed an interest in joining. So what do I tell him to google to find us? I couldn't even remember what CCHS stood for at the time, nor exactly what the initials were.

2) The term 'hacker' has negative connotations to the great unwashed masses and even to the younger generation of tech savvy.

3) the name does not tell the greater community what we do.

4) the name tends to drive away the greater community as it sounds elitist (assuming they even got past the 'its a group of evil geeks').

As such I would like to suggest that we consider renaming the group to something more friendly and which would give the greater community a better idea what we do.

So I would like to start with a suggestion:

Hawthorne Maker Space

It tells everyone where we are and what we do, its easy to google, the geeks will know we do 3D printing etc and we won't scare the greater community away.

So does anyone agree with my suggestion that we look at changing our name?

Does anyone object to a name change?

Any other name suggestions?

With the best of intent,

Brett

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[tubular]

hi Brett 

I think a lot of your suggestions are good but lets focus on the "important & urgent" items first and foremost.   

With the bbq now out of the way, the two most urgent items as I see it, would probably be supporting the Robocars day this Saturday (which has 41 rsvps thus far), and supporting your effort to keep people from your first course engaged with the *space.   

From that point of view I'm fine with the 50% discount on first month, but it needs committee approval.  Lets see if we can make that happen

As to welcome pack etc, the various components of this already exist, primarily electronically, but can be put into a physical pack/showbag if you like.  

regards
Lachlan 

[Clifford Heath]

> I regard Adam Savage as one of the movement's patron saints. Who among us with children wouldn't like to see them draw inspiration from such as he?

I admire his experimental playfulness, but I'm glad my children learned
some actual science also. The Mythbusters team seem to wallow in
their ignorance of what has been learned. Real scientists don't do that.

Clifford Heath.

[Stuart Young]

I've only had a short response with a name (that I wasn't joking about, despite the rather jokey way I brought it up), so please keep that on the list (I noticed it got dropped).

So, time to weigh in with a few things that I think contribute to CCHS's lack of members.

1. Web presence/activity (or lack thereof)

Between April 2016 and March 2018, we had maybe 2 blog posts on the website total. We had a few small pieces of the website updated, but all in all this left anyone who visited the website thinking we were pretty much dead.

This to my mind is the biggest contributor and definitely affects the other 2 points I mention later in this message.

Things that notably weren't blogged about on the website but definitely happened over that time:

 - Election of the Ctte in Oct 2017; maybe simple coverage of the event and a treasurers report would have been nice too.

 - Brett's 3D printing workshop; maybe some details & link to the meetup, some pics and further details (eg: how many people participated, etc) in a follow-up post.

 - Various events used for money-raising or grants being awarded, plus pics of the equipment that these things helped purchase would have been nice

One thing that I will note is that Adric and now Gil are getting some content up there and so far the posts over March have definitely made things look a lot better.

And a note here: Before April 2016, there used to be a lot of posts that fall into the category of "huge number of pics, hardly any words". While this shows things happening in the base, just a few words that explain how things are going as well as a few pics really do make the website a lot more useful in understanding what goes on. It also ends up with a huge wall of pictures and no real context for outsiders to see what's going on, etc, which can discourage members.

Another thing that I know Adric has worked on a bit is improving what info we have up on the website (and on Meetup), to help try and reduce the standard questions that people have (eg: Does my first visit cost money, what does CCHS provide, etc).

Also I would note that the issues with content on the website really extend back well before this. People push to finish a project (or some event) and then they're either so sick of it or simply need a break that they don't get around to posting it on the website in a timely fashion, and at that point the feeling is: It's out of date now so why bother. It really does matter though and extends through to clarity about what CCHS is doing/up to.

Some might say "well we should ditch wordpress and get something better", which doesn't address the problem of people providing the content in the first place. Sure, a revamp of the website would be nice, but that's nothing compared to having useful, meaningful, relevant and up to date content on the website.

Regardless of the name, if people look at what is supposed to be your "online presence" and find either really out of date info or useless information, then they're going to go looking elsewhere, even if you look like exactly what they are after.

2. Burn-out/life in general

A lot of members got burned out around 2015-2016. Many were so involved that they simply didn't have the time anymore, or it got to the point that they really needed to prioritise health and family (or even work) over CCHS. I won't go into more detail here as this stuff just happens and we need to accept it. We could do better to help people avoid it, but that's probably a completely different conversation.

However, this issue, combined with #1, means that these people who were dropping out weren't being replaced, or if they were, the people who replaced them simply didn't see how big a thing they might be in (due to reduced numbers) and this changed their mind about further participation, perpetuating the issue, and a general downward trend in membership.

3. Clarity and transparency of the org as a whole

To me, as an ex-paying-member, I hardly see anything on the website (which is mostly due to #1) or on the public lists about certain stuff the Ctte is doing or working on. Things like ongoing membership numbers would have brought the extreme lack of members to people's attention far earlier than now.

I do see stuff happen on the Ctte list (which I'm still on as I help with the sys admin side of the website). Note that due to #2, I really don't have the time to help out with content, mostly as I'm never at CCHS to know what's going on in the day to day to give any sort of accurate info.

A lot of this can be addressed by a bit more info making its way to the website (#1), but I've noticed this more and more since we had some issues between members, where the Ctte was forced to intervene (complicated by the fact that one of the members was on the Ctte at the time). Not long after, the Ctte moved a lot of their deliberations to Slack, which definitely has reduced the amount that gets onto even the Ctte list.

Overall, while I know that the reason for #3 here is mainly #1, it's something that CCHS needs to work on.

I'll stop here on this topic. A wall of text is just as intimidating as a wall of pictures.

[tubular]

Thanks for taking time to post, Cef 

The main thing that killed wordpress posts back in April 2016 was uncertainty relating to those legislative changes arising from the then TPP.   Specifically, what publishers/blog posters might be liable for.   I still don't know where that stands, nor whether the revived TPP has the same provisions.  

At the same time wordpress stalled, Slack became more convenient and has a closed circle of people watching.  

It therefore begs the question, could our website perhaps display postings fed from a slack channel eg go-cchs-announcements (or similar?) 

regards
Lachlan

[Andy Gelme]

hi All,

"Larrikin" is great and uniquely Australian word ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larrikin

The 19th century usage was quite derogatory ... however that started
changing around the first world war ... and it is now quite positive.

One of Australia's internationally famous sporting larrikins is Dawn
Fraser ... her exploits are remembered fondly.

We like to embrace a spirit that is a rebellious for good cause or
reason ... and we have no trouble using a word that doesn't have a
black-and-white meaning.

In the world of technology (and now beyond), hackers are just that. It
can be a good thing to be perceived as "a little edgy and alternative".

--
-O- cheers = /\ /\/ /) `/ =
--O -- http://www.geekscape.org --
OOO -- an...@geekscape.org -- http://twitter.com/geekscape --

[Andy Gelme]

hi All,

hack ...

1300:  "tool for chopping"
1570:  "a cut or notch"
1700:  "person hired for routine work"
1800:  "short dry cough"
1810:  "hired or mercenary"
1826:  "hack writer"
1830:  "the act of cutting"
1850:  "hack work"
1900:  "a try or attempt"

hacking, hacker ...

1955:  MIT Tech Model Railway Club (TMRC):
http://tmrc.mit.edu/hackers-ref.html
           Meeting minutes: "Mr. Eccles requests that anyone working or
hacking on the electrical system turn the power off to avoid fuse blowing."
           HAM radio operators and electronics tinkerers use the word
"hack"
1959:  TMRC Dictionary: http://www.gricer.com/tmrc/dictionary1959.html
(see HACK): The beginnings of the famous "Jargon" file

1960s: Hack, hacker and hacking used by computer professionals and
students working with a certain level of craftsmanship and skill
1963:  Early negative usage: MIT student newspaper article: "hackers
tying up phone lines with long distance calls"
           Also at MIT, many large-scale creative pranks and hacks over
many decades
1968:  MIT again: Incompatible Time Sharing (ITS) system: Very
influential on both technology and hacker culture
           TECO, Emacs, SpaceWar, Adventure and much more ...
https://github.com/PDP-10/its
1968:  Douglas Engelbart: The Mother Of All Demos: Nearly all elements
of modern computing, influences Xerox PARC and everyone else
           https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_of_All_Demos
1969:  Unix development started.  Popular with hackers, underpins the
Internet, influences Linux, Mac OS X, iOS, Android, i.e 99% of mobile phones
1969:  ARPANET: First implementation of TCP/IP and the birth of the Internet
1969:  Whilst nothing to do with hacking, but Apollo 11 happened ...
okay, 1969 was a pretty outstanding year !

1970:  Xerox PARC is founded: Creates or refines: Laser printers,
Ethernet, Mouse, GUI, WYSIWYG editor, Smalltalk
           Later on, that refinement of mouse, icons and windows
influences Steve Jobs (directly) and Bill Gates
           Also, artists-in-residence were paired with engineers /
researchers (see Xerox PARC PAIR)
           http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/~marshall/recalling_pair.pdf  #
Keen to try this at the CCHS
1975:  The Jargon file captures hacker slang from the TMRC, ITS,
ARPANET, LISP/PDP10, MIT and Stanford AI Labs
1975:  The two Steves with a Blue Box ...
http://paulgraham.com/bluebox.html ... for hacking into phone systems !
1975:  Homebrew Computer Club (Palo Alto):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homebrew_Computer_Club
           Effectively, the prototype for HackerSpaces, where hobbyists
and enthusiasts share knowledge and ideas
1976:  First demonstration of the Apple 1 by Steve Wozniak at the
Homebrew Computer Club

Late 1970s - 1980s: Golden age for hobbyists with 8-bit microprocessors
and classic video games

1981:  Chaos Computer Club (CCC) is founded.  Now (2018), it is Europe's
largest group of hackers (over 5,500)
1983:  Jargon file published as "The Hacker's Dictionary" by Eric S
Raymond and Guy L Steele (creator of Scheme)
1983:  GNU project announced by Richard Stallman.  1985: GNU Manifesto
(free "as-in-freedom" software).  1989: GPL
1984:  Steven Levy's book "Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution"
           Media usage of the word "hack" ... "Illegally enter a
computer system"

1991:  Linus Torvalds sends an email: "I’m doing a (free) operating
system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu)"
1991:  Revised edition: "The new Hacker's Dictionary": incorporating
Unix, C, Internet, IBM PC, Amiga and Mac communities
           Version 5.0.1 (2012-01-05):
https://web.archive.org/web/20130827121341/http://cosman246.com/jargon.html
1995:  c-base founded in Germany ... probably the first prototypical
HackerSpace
1997:  Eric S Raymond publishes "The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings
on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary"
http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar
1997:  Bruce Perens launches the Open Hardware Certification Program,
but open hardware didn't really catch on (at first)
1998:  "Open-source" term coined by Christine Peterson at a meeting,
which lead to the OSF, ASF and many other foundations
           https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_model

2001:  Processing language IDE created (ex MIT Media Lab, licensed as
Open-Source), which begat Wiring in 2003 and also Fritzing
2003:  Arduino hardware and IDE created, based on Processing IDE and
Wiring libraries
           Open-Source hardware, communities and ecology really takes
off from here
2003:  Nathan Seidle founds SparkFun
2004:  Adrian Bowyer initiates the RepRap 3D printer project, with an
Open-Source license, most electronics designs are based on the Arduino
2005:  Make Magazine is founded to serve the Maker community
2005:  Limor Fried (MIT student) founds AdaFruit
2005:  Linus creates Git ... 3 years later, GitHub is founded
2005:  "Hacker Foundation" organization founded to foster hackers
meeting in a less ad-hoc fashion, which results in "Hackers on a plane"
2006:  Metalab founded in Vienna ... one of the first intentionally
created HackerSpaces outside of Germany ... influencing many others to start
2006:  First MakerFaire held in San Mateo
2007:  "Hackers on a plane": Americans, including Mitch Altman, travel
to Chaos Communication Camp (see CCC 1981 above) ...
           "To get a sense for the potential of European HackerSpaces
... and inspire Americans to produce similar facilities at home"
2007:  Mitch Altman founds NoiseBridge HackerSpace in San Franscisco,
but not yet a physical space
2008:  NYC Resistor HackerSpace founded.  Two of the founders go on to
create MakerBot, which is prototyped at the NYC HackerSpace
2008:  October:  NoiseBridge HackerSpace finds a physical space in South
Mission, San Franscisco
2009:  January:   MakerBot Industries founded, the CupCake is inspired
by the RepRap 3D printer, uses an Arduino and is licensed Open-Source
2009:  March:     Wired Magazine article inspires the formation of new
HackerSpaces around the world
                          https://www.wired.com/2009/03/hackerspaces
                          First HackerSpaces in Melbourne, Sydney,
Brisbane and then Canberra all start-up around this time
2009:  March:     Connected Community HackerSpace (CCHS) founded
                          Primarily inspired by the Homebrew Computer
Club (1975) and also NoiseBridge, etc
           August:   Michael Joffe brought his MakerBot CupCake 3D
printer along to a CCHS meeting where it stayed (thanks Michael)
2009:                 KickStarter founded

2012:  January:   Connect Community HackerSpace (CCHS) with PaulZ and
team hold the first Australian MiniMakerFaire at Swinburne
                          Rough estimates: 60 stalls and probably
around 1,000 attendees
                          https://makerfairemelbourne.wordpress.com
2012: February: Raspberry Pi released

Late 2000s - ????: Second Golden age for hobbyists with access to ...
nearly everything

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The intersection of creativity, innovation, technology, craft ... and
the physical places in which these activities occur, where experience
and knowledge are shared ... has a long, rich and convoluted history.

We are defined by what we do and our shared culture.  Not by what other
people carelessly call us.

Richard Feynman:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Do_You_Care_What_Other_People_Think%3F

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

If you got this far ...

- Hacker Culture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_culture
- Hacker Ethic:     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_ethic
- Maker Culture:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maker_culture

[Roman Valls]

Here are a few thoughts I had over the easter break about this topic
in no particular order nor clear connecting thread between them:

Brett, I really like your drive and stamina with this, keep it up.
Here's what I think about energetic people that want to drive change
(when and if they have the time and will) and how a (m|h)ackerspace
should operate, IMHO:

http://nowviskie.org/2012/lazy-consensus/

Please note that I am not advocating against the (silent?) committee
;) I'm just suggesting that more transparency, communication and/or
distributed governance and trust might be beneficial for everyone...
i.e: potential members should not be untrusted by default, sermoned
*several times* about the same agreed upon safety rules (rules I
totally endorse without debate from the first time) and having to
request access for weeks when they are able and willing to contribute
in positive ways to the community then and there.

As a SF Makerspace puts it, there's only one rule that is the root of
how they operate the space: "Be excellent to each other".

Also, questions like how well, financially speaking, is CCHS doing
should inform/motivate/move members to appreciate and work towards the
maintenance of a great common space. How much offset is needed to
maintain the place comfortably and make some of the investments Brett
pointed out? Can that be made public/open?

Thanks Brett for your back of the envelope calculations, but what is
really the current financial status? How critical is it? Does it
deserve that much attention after all?

I think that renaming the space makes sense in terms of a ”relaunch”
from a marketing perspective. I'm personally not interested in driving
it, but I see the possible benefits if the current financial situation
is problematic. I’ve seen orgs ”reinventing themselves” that way after
a "perceived decay" of the institution.

On the social dimension of the org, sorry Brett: Ugly nerds #FTW! ;)

Jokes aside, I have my own interpretation on what Andy is implying
with his last email: let's not lose the skunkworks/misfit feel of
CCHS. Other blooming *-spaces popping around do have different
audiences/targets, or as Gil puts it in the recent youtube video in
the CCHS wiki: He uses CCHS to **actually work** on his projects while
going to other spaces/libraries to socialize and teach instead.... the
fact that the place is sometimes messy can be an asset too: I detest
places where I have no freedom to experiment because I might mess up
the floor's fancy waxing of the day. And no, this is not a rant
against tidy spaces either, I like order too.

Those were my 2 Swedish kronor or Spanish pesetas, whichever you prefer.

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[tubular]

Don't have time for a full post right now Brett, but the committee voted yesterday in the affirmative on 
1. Permission to use the term "Hawthorn MakerSpace" (or Hawthorn Maker Space) 
2. 50% discount on first month membership for those wanting to transition from short course to membership 

I'm drafting some guidelines to make it easier to set up and maintain subgroups under the CCHS umbrella, covering things like meetup, communication with the committee, communication with members, insurance requirements, access cards, parking, transition and benefits to membership, etc.   Its mostly a case of drawing together various fragments of information that reside  

While I'm getting that together just continue to use the committee email address for requests and feedback

I've set up domain hawthornmakerspace.org and pointed it at the current site.   

*and* 

The domain kerspace.org was available, so we can now redirect things like 
ma.kerspace.org

hac.kerspace.org

hawthornma.kerspace.org etc

There, all sorted.  Other ideas?  

[Conor Maher]

I love a good vanity domain. Nice job!