a LibLab update and some requests-

[Nate Hill]

Hello all-

I had a great conversation with Abe and Jason of Noll & Tam today.  They'll be doing a first round charrette with Chris shortly, I'll join them for one next week.

Based on our conversation, we identified a few key things we need to sort out and assign ASAP. 

• We need to identify the go-to person at DCPL for all of this.  While N & T have blueprints, we need to figure out things like the ceiling height and pinch spots - the width of doors etc.  We need a key person on site who can answer questions like this on the fly, as they come up.
• We need to know if there is indeed someone writing this Learning Labs planning grant proposal on behalf of DCPL and partners, as the Aug 15 deadline associated with that is *soon* and puts quite a bit of additional pressure on N & T.  
• We need to know who will be doing fabrication of the LibLab.  Hopefully this could be a DC FabLab because it is local and we'd like to have them as engaged volunteers in the programmatic elements of this thing as well. 
• I think we need to talk about the LibLab name a bit.  I get it, we all get it, I'm not sure the DCPL patrons will get it.
• I'm going to pull some public library folks together to act as a design review panel and get a few more public librarian voices in the mix at this point.

Also: I suggested in our discussion today that while the components of the lab can be portable and modular, I think thats something we'd like to aim for but not be completely tied to.  If elements of this are to be recreated on different scales in different combinations at facilities elsewhere in the country, I suspect that many would be at least semi-permanent.   Feedback on this thought would be greatly appreciated.

I may well be forgetting something.  This is moving forward in a beautiful way, but I'm nervous about the timeframe.  Friends, help me be less nervous!

I'll add all of this to the wiki as well.

Cheers

Nate

--
Nate Hill
nathan...@gmail.com
http://www.natehill.net

[Nate Hill]

Aha... I lied... I'm not adding this to the wiki as it is just a list of tasks that I hope will be accomplished via email.  Thanks

N

[Samuel Klein]

> We need to identify the go-to person at DCPL for all of this.  While N & T
> have blueprints, we need to figure out things like the ceiling height and
> pinch spots - the width of doors etc.  We need a key person on site who can
> answer questions like this on the fly, as they come up.

Katie, James and I had a discussion with them today. I think, given
time constraints, we should come up with an abstract design that is
not tied to a specific implementation. The space we will be using is
in one corner of the 1st floor reading room, with floor-to-ceiling
windows, roughly an open 30'x40' rectangle with 20'ceilings and one
small off-center pillar..

> We need to know if there is indeed someone writing this Learning Labs
> planning grant proposal on behalf of DCPL and partners, as the Aug 15
> deadline associated with that is *soon* and puts quite a bit of additional
> pressure on N & T.

Our two proposal deadlines are Aug 15 and Sep 1. The designwork for
both should be very similar.

The first proposal summarizes *a vision, and design and planning work
to be done* over the course of 2012, which will end up producing a
social and tech-savvy hackspace for youth. [proposal constraints
defined by the grantmakers]

The second proposal lays out *a vision, and a set of design patterns,
materials, and use cases* that can be used to create collaborative
hackspaces for knowledge-work, particularly in or around libraries.
[proposal constraints defined by us]

A description of use cases (for the second) addresses much of the
design/planning work to be done.
A set of design patterns + basic comments on how they might apply in a
given space, can illustrate the design in the first proposal.
The vision of the second includes that of the first, a few new
audiences and use cases, and thoughts on flexibility and scale.

> We need to know who will be doing fabrication of the LibLab.  Hopefully this
> could be a DC FabLab because it is local and we'd like to have them as
> engaged volunteers in the programmatic elements of this thing as well.

While I do want to engage people to try making some of the designs in
the proposal, doing this at any scale will be done over many months,
and not right away. We will only have a small % of the theoretical
designs realized by the end of september.

I would engage fablabs right away, by all means, but for help
prototyping and playing with ideas.

> I think we need to talk about the LibLab name a bit.

Yes, we should replace it :-D Today we discussed "studio" rather
than lab; and something evoking collaboration or creation. When
presented as part of a library plan, the 'library' part is taken for
granted, so doesn't need to be there.

> I'm going to pull some public library folks together to act as a design
> review panel and get a few more public librarian voices in the mix at this
> point.

Great. Someone from NARA would be a welcome addition as well; their
input in today's discussion was valuable.

> Also: I suggested in our discussion today that while the components of the
> lab can be portable and modular, I think thats something we'd like to aim
> for but not be completely tied to.

Right on.

SJ