[hackerspaces] Cleaning up the wiki "list of hackerspaces"

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Nate Bezanson

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Nov 22, 2010, 3:16:26 PM11/22/10
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The list of hackerspaces is something of a mess. How do dead entries get
removed? Is it okay to edit entries for spaces one is not a member of?

This came to mind because yesterday, on National Public Radio in the US,
there was a story about hackerspaces. The corresponding article is here:

http://www.npr.org/2010/11/12/131268511/diy-hackers-tinker-everyday-things-into-treasure

As you can see, it contains a link to that wiki page. I sorta feel bad for
any curious radio listener who hits the page and tries to make sense of
it. The second half of the npr story airs next week, so any cleanup done
between now and then will help improve the image for new visitors. And in
general, having a clean, organized list is always good.

-Nate-
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Dave Null

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Nov 22, 2010, 3:24:01 PM11/22/10
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Apparently someone edits it. I just checked over the list and notice that our space is no longer even listed..

PGP Key ID: 0x0517358E
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free" - Goethe
--

Leigh Honeywell

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Nov 22, 2010, 3:24:36 PM11/22/10
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On 10-11-22 03:16 PM, Nate Bezanson wrote:
> The list of hackerspaces is something of a mess. How do dead entries get
> removed? Is it okay to edit entries for spaces one is not a member of?
>
> This came to mind because yesterday, on National Public Radio in the US,
> there was a story about hackerspaces. The corresponding article is here:
>
> http://www.npr.org/2010/11/12/131268511/diy-hackers-tinker-everyday-things-into-treasure
>
> As you can see, it contains a link to that wiki page. I sorta feel bad for
> any curious radio listener who hits the page and tries to make sense of
> it. The second half of the npr story airs next week, so any cleanup done
> between now and then will help improve the image for new visitors. And in
> general, having a clean, organized list is always good.
>
> -Nate-

If you have specific entries that are not hackerspaces or whatever, hop
on #hackerspaces on freenode and there should be folks there who can fix
them.

-Leigh

Lokkju Brennr

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Nov 22, 2010, 3:24:21 PM11/22/10
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Not to mention, the limit of 500 makes our Hackerspace (Brainsilo) not
even show up...

Loki // brainsilo.org

On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 12:16 PM, Nate Bezanson <mys...@telcodata.us> wrote:

David Raison

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Nov 22, 2010, 3:24:13 PM11/22/10
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On 22/11/10 21:24, Dave Null wrote:
> Apparently someone edits it. I just checked over the list and notice
> that our space is no longer even listed..

That is probably a result of the vandalism that has been done by a user
called Ipezeny (or similar).

I've been undoing some on his edits but I can't go about it alone and my
post to the tech list didn't get a lot of feedback unfortunatly.

Cheers,
D.

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Matthew McCabe

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Nov 22, 2010, 3:30:38 PM11/22/10
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What should we do about hackerspaces that have closed, are not hackerspaces (instead co-working), or planned hackerspaces that show up on the active list?  I don't want to be an asshat and edit these entries...but it is misleading for someone who is looking for a hackerspace in a particular city.

-Matt

john arclight

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Nov 22, 2010, 3:31:24 PM11/22/10
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The same with our space - seems to be missing from the main list as well.

http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/23b_Shop

Arclight
23B Shop

john arclight

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Nov 22, 2010, 3:32:01 PM11/22/10
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Maybe we need an extra field to describe the place better?

Arclight

Lokkju Brennr

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Nov 22, 2010, 3:32:29 PM11/22/10
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It may be me being an asshole... but if it a co-working space, or a
hackerspace without a physical building, then it doesn't really belong
on the list of open, active, hackerspaces. The goal should be to help
someone find a hackerspace they can go to.

Loki // brainsilo.org

On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 12:30 PM, Matthew McCabe <ma...@mrmccabe.com> wrote:

Simon Dorfman

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Nov 22, 2010, 3:37:05 PM11/22/10
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I was looking for a hackerspace in Dallas (since I was visiting for board game geek con, so much fun!) and the Dallas Makerspace wasn't on that page. I was able to find it by clicking on the state of Texas and finding it listed there.  I tried to "fix it", but didn't see what was missing from this page that would stop it from showing up on the big list page:

Lokkju Brennr

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Nov 22, 2010, 3:39:25 PM11/22/10
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I'm pretty sure it is the fact that the main page will only list 500
hackerspaces: limit=500

Loki // brainsilo.org

Ben Brown

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Nov 22, 2010, 3:40:11 PM11/22/10
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What about splitting/filtering the list depending on Open/Planned/tomato? I think the 'planned' spaces are almost as important to those who are the textbook definition of 'Open'.

After all, some of our members found about Kwartzlab before we had a physical location because it was included in this list. It allowed them to contact our group and get involved in the founding and build-out phase.

Ben

Chris Hardee

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Nov 22, 2010, 3:51:33 PM11/22/10
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Agreed, I think we should divide it active on top, then building, then planned. Or we could make a tree with Country, State/region, City with active, building, planned. Possibly with a few keywords that distinguish the space (focus on programming, security, lab/bio, etc). That way it won't be a race to get a hackerspace active, and people can see all the hackerspaces in the city that could fit their needs.

Peter Smith

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Nov 22, 2010, 3:54:59 PM11/22/10
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To fix some of the clutter, I propose a "REFRESH" button to be
available for any entry that is not "active" or "building".. There
would be a time-to-live applied (30 days?), which would force the
entry to drop from the listing whenever someone hasn't physically hit
the "REFRESH" button within the time-to-live (this would at least
allow those entries/hackerspaces that no longer have any humans that
care about them to get automatically cleaned up.)

Peter

On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 14:40, Ben Brown <b...@kwartzlab.ca> wrote:
> What about splitting/filtering the list depending on Open/Planned/tomato? I
> think the 'planned' spaces are almost as important to those who are the
> textbook definition of 'Open'.

Koen Martens

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Nov 22, 2010, 7:40:59 PM11/22/10
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On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 12:39:25PM -0800, Lokkju Brennr wrote:
> I'm pretty sure it is the fact that the main page will only list 500
> hackerspaces: limit=500

Perhaps if we clean up the list somewhat, we don't need the limit anymore? i've personally always wondered why closed spaces are on the main list, and i know of some entries that shouldn't be on there in nl. I've always been hesitating about removing them though. i do agree the planned & building are important to be on the 'main' list.

gr,

gmc

>
> lOKi // brainsilo.org


>
> On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 12:37 PM, Simon Dorfman <si...@gumbolabs.org> wrote:
> > I was looking for a hackerspace in Dallas (since I was visiting for board
> > game geek con, so much fun!) and the Dallas Makerspace wasn't on that page.
> > I was able to find it by clicking on the state of Texas and finding it

> > listed there. ?I tried to "fix it", but didn't see what was missing from

David Powell

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Nov 23, 2010, 10:12:30 AM11/23/10
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I would simply move the closed spaces to a new page to preserve the history.

astera

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Nov 23, 2010, 6:26:36 PM11/23/10
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Hey folks,

after hanging out on IRC a bit today, I modified the main list of
hackerspaces wiki page as to only show active hackerspaces (while giving
a link to the _full_ list of active/building/planned/closed/whatever
spaces on top), and resetting the limit to 1000 (since without any
limit, the page would get paged automatically at >100 list entries):
http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/List_of_Hackerspaces

This might also encourage hackers to update their space's profile as
soon as the status changes to 'active' IRL, I assume ;)

Lemme know what you think...

Hack on,
/astera

On 11/23/10 4:12 PM, David Powell wrote:
> I would simply move the closed spaces to a new page to preserve the history.
>
> On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 7:40 PM, Koen Martens <g...@sonologic.nl
> <mailto:g...@sonologic.nl>> wrote:
>
> On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 12:39:25PM -0800, Lokkju Brennr wrote:
> > I'm pretty sure it is the fact that the main page will only list 500
> > hackerspaces: limit=500
>
> Perhaps if we clean up the list somewhat, we don't need the limit
> anymore? i've personally always wondered why closed spaces are on
> the main list, and i know of some entries that shouldn't be on there
> in nl. I've always been hesitating about removing them though. i do
> agree the planned & building are important to be on the 'main' list.
>
> gr,
>
> gmc
>
> >

> > lOKi // brainsilo.org <http://brainsilo.org>


> >
> > On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 12:37 PM, Simon Dorfman
> <si...@gumbolabs.org <mailto:si...@gumbolabs.org>> wrote:
> > > I was looking for a hackerspace in Dallas (since I was visiting
> for board
> > > game geek con, so much fun!) and the Dallas Makerspace wasn't on
> that page.
> > > I was able to find it by clicking on the state of Texas and
> finding it
> > > listed there. ?I tried to "fix it", but didn't see what was
> missing from
> > > this page that would stop it from showing up on the big list page:
> > > http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/Dallas_Makerspace
> > >
> > > -Simon
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Discuss mailing list
> > > Dis...@lists.hackerspaces.org

> <mailto:Dis...@lists.hackerspaces.org>


> > > http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> > >
> > >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Discuss mailing list

> > Dis...@lists.hackerspaces.org <mailto:Dis...@lists.hackerspaces.org>


> > http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> >
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list

> Dis...@lists.hackerspaces.org <mailto:Dis...@lists.hackerspaces.org>

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Lokkju Brennr

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Nov 23, 2010, 6:36:34 PM11/23/10
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Yay, good job, for a start. There still needs to be a lot of list
cleanup done, as I don't think spaces that are only virtual, for
instance, should be on there - and same thing with co-working spaces.
FabLabs are a borderline case though...

Loki

Chris Hardee

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Nov 23, 2010, 9:34:47 PM11/23/10
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We seem to have been removed from the list again. 10bitworks is the only active hackerspace in San Antonio; 'San Antonio hackerspace' is another space currently in planning stages.

Elmo

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Nov 23, 2010, 11:59:35 PM11/23/10
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I still see "planned", "building" and "" (empty field) spaces on the
list (for example, Hack@PX). Will it just take some time to refresh?

Elmo

On 11/24/2010 01:26 AM, astera wrote:
> Hey folks,
>
> after hanging out on IRC a bit today, I modified the main list of
> hackerspaces wiki page as to only show active hackerspaces (while giving
> a link to the _full_ list of active/building/planned/closed/whatever
> spaces on top), and resetting the limit to 1000 (since without any
> limit, the page would get paged automatically at>100 list entries):
> http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/List_of_Hackerspaces
>
> This might also encourage hackers to update their space's profile as
> soon as the status changes to 'active' IRL, I assume ;)
>
> Lemme know what you think...
>
> Hack on,
> /astera
>
> On 11/23/10 4:12 PM, David Powell wrote:
>> I would simply move the closed spaces to a new page to preserve the history.
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 7:40 PM, Koen Martens<g...@sonologic.nl
>> <mailto:g...@sonologic.nl>> wrote:
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 12:39:25PM -0800, Lokkju Brennr wrote:
>> > I'm pretty sure it is the fact that the main page will only list 500
>> > hackerspaces: limit=500
>>
>> Perhaps if we clean up the list somewhat, we don't need the limit
>> anymore? i've personally always wondered why closed spaces are on
>> the main list, and i know of some entries that shouldn't be on there
>> in nl. I've always been hesitating about removing them though. i do

>> agree the planned& building are important to be on the 'main' list.

astera

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Nov 24, 2010, 6:24:10 AM11/24/10
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Nope, my fail - should be fixed now ;)

Hack on,
/astera

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Sylva1n

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Nov 24, 2010, 1:39:13 PM11/24/10
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Mmmm ... Ok, so now, hackerspaces in the "building" phase, when
recruiting members is both the most difficult, and the most crucial,
are not visible on the main map. Nor are they visible from the first
link at the top of the page (planned spaces only).

Hackerspaces that report their "building" status honestly are
disadvantaged, and I've already found several example of HS without
physical space being reported as active. Maybe I misunderstand the
definition of 'active'? Is there a more or less formal definition of
the planned/building/active stages?

If clutter/loading time is a problem may I suggest the following fixes:
* the "List of hackerspaces" page could simply show a static world
map, pointing to X pages with regional dynamic maps. For now,
splitting the list as Americas/EMEA/Asia-Pacific should result in 3
relatively equal lists. Add a link to the "whole World" list, off
course.
* color-code the HS geographical markers by status (eg. red planned,
orange building, green active, grey closed). It seems to be possible
to use other types/colors of markers
(http://www.benjaminkeen.com/?p=105).

Can I help with the Google/color stuff?

--
Sylvain

Lokkju Brennr

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Nov 24, 2010, 1:47:48 PM11/24/10
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Just my opinion here, but...

"Planned" means there are some people interested, even if only one
person, in creating a new space. they could be coming up with a name,
thinking about goals, etc - but they are not actively pursuing a
physical space at this point.

"Building" means they are actively looking for people to help them
start a space, are looking for a location, have some idea of a name,
and some idea what their objectives will be with their new space.
This phase also commonly collecting money to help open the space.

Active means a physical space (even if it is someone's garage) with
defined times when members can use it (commonly 24/7, but even
weekend-only spaces could be considered active). The big thing here
is that it *exists*, and is someplace people can actually go.

Loki // brainsilo.org

John Duksta

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Nov 26, 2010, 9:48:15 AM11/26/10
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On 11/22/10 3:16 PM, Nate Bezanson wrote:
> The list of hackerspaces is something of a mess. How do dead entries get
> removed? Is it okay to edit entries for spaces one is not a member of?
>

If someone could remove DC401, that would be good. While we are an
active Defcon group, we don't have our own space. We wanted to set one
up, but given that we have AS220 labs and The Brain Tank in town, we
don't need another physical hackerspace.

-john

Martin Ling

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Nov 26, 2010, 9:57:57 AM11/26/10
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On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 10:47:48AM -0800, Lokkju Brennr wrote:
>
> Just my opinion here, but...
>
> "Planned" means there are some people interested, even if only one
> person, in creating a new space. they could be coming up with a name,
> thinking about goals, etc - but they are not actively pursuing a
> physical space at this point.
>
> "Building" means they are actively looking for people to help them
> start a space, are looking for a location, have some idea of a name,
> and some idea what their objectives will be with their new space.
> This phase also commonly collecting money to help open the space.

Is there really that much distinction between these two? In our case at
least I wouldn't be able to point to a date at which we went from one to
the other. We didn't come up with a name until after we'd got the space,
and we're still formalising the goals three months later.

'Building' suggests that a space exists and it's in the process of being
filled with furniture, equipment etc.

Personally I'm not sure it's useful to have anything between 'planned'
and 'active'. The distinction there is clear: either there's an actual
physical space or there isn't.


Martin

Edinburgh Hacklab

John Duksta

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Nov 26, 2010, 10:13:31 AM11/26/10
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On 11/26/10 9:48 AM, John Duksta wrote:
> If someone could remove DC401, that would be good. While we are an
> active Defcon group, we don't have our own space. We wanted to set one
> up, but given that we have AS220 labs and The Brain Tank in town, we
> don't need another physical hackerspace.

Nevermind. I edited our entry.

It might be a good idea to have a status of 'virtual' for groups like this.

-j

Nate Bezanson

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Nov 26, 2010, 10:33:18 AM11/26/10
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> On 11/26/10 9:48 AM, John Duksta wrote:
>> If someone could remove DC401, that would be good. While we are an
>> active Defcon group, we don't have our own space. We wanted to set one
>> up, but given that we have AS220 labs and The Brain Tank in town, we
>> don't need another physical hackerspace.
>
> Nevermind. I edited our entry.
>
> It might be a good idea to have a status of 'virtual' for groups like
> this.
>
> -j

Seems to me, that this would broaden the field to any bunch of hackish
friends. Every defcon group, every 2600 meeting, etc. While these things
are important, I don't think they're hackerspaces nor should they be
listed with same.

As for dealing with the length of the list, what about splitting it up by
continent? While the big map is interesting, I'm fairly sure that Asian
hackers don't want to scroll through a list of North American spaces and
vice-versa, and this would leave room for nascent spaces on the main list,
which seems important.

-Nate-

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