Good ideas from the hustings discussion
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Jennifer Moore
Jun 10, 2021, 3:17:24 PM6/10/21
to Nottingham Hackspace - Nottinghack
Hi folks
I went to the online hustings last night and took some notes as it went
along.
There were so many good ideas talked about, I thought it was worth
documenting some of them here for future reference!
It's not exactly a list of "ideas I definitely agree with", but it
includes all the main points where I was either thinking "yes, this!" or
"hmm interesting idea, not sure but worth discussing".
Apologies to the people with good ideas for not crediting people
individually - couldn't really do that without making this post into a
sort of "hustings at one remove" and then I'd feel I had to try to be
fair, which is a lot trickier than what I've actually done here, esp as
sometimes one person said a thing first and another person built on it.
Eco-friendliness:
- The main challenge is we don't own our own building. Especially
difficult to keep the place reasonably warm in the winter months without
a lot of energy expenditure. Possibility of banding together with other
tenants to push landlord for improvements, e.g. to finish off
double-glazing all the windows.
Scrap stores:
- General consensus that donations can easily devolve into a dumping
ground if not careful, and demand a lot of time to keep organised/weeded.
- If there _are_ going to be donations, could make the areas more
segmented, e.g. metal/wood/textile. This could help to make clearer
what is welcome.
Health and safety:
- It primarily comes down to culture: creating a safety culture.
Making sure that people know the safe way to do things, e.g. via
workshop sessions or information displays or buddy system. Agreement
that it's socially OK to mention to someone, "hold on, that might not be
safe".
- Where there's maintenance which would normally be done by members,
e.g. changing blades, ensure there's a well known standard operating
procedure (SOP).
- "A clean environment is a safe environment".
- Have accident report forms readily available around the space: would
help to remind people that monitoring accidents is important.
- Clarify our regulatory framework: includes Health and Safety At Work
act, but are there others?
- Third-party reviews of the risks in the space: can't be done by
members because then they'd be liable if something went wrong. Has to
be someone with professional insurance. In terms of liability, can go
via solicitor to get those assessments, so that they're confidential;
this is protective of the space rather than protective of people (means
in a court case, someone can't point to "you _knew_ this was a risk").
But obviously the main thing is to address any risks that are flagged up.
Process of people joining, being welcomed and getting involved:
(This bit covers answers to two different questions: one about
welcoming new people, and one - this was my one! - about how people make
the transition from the "newcomer" phase to the co-ownership phase.)
- To build community, have events to encourage new people to meet each
other: for example, new woodworkers all invited to come in on the same day.
- Put together a list of what we need new members to know, to ensure
that gets covered early on.
- Set expectations on what proportion of time at the space to spend
contributing, e.g. if you're there for a couple of hours, spend 10
minutes tidying up.
- Buddy system pairing up new members with old members.
- Videos for intros to using the simpler tools, with a QR code or link
shown in the area. It means that if you're there and you're not sure
about something, it's easy to look at a video explaining it.
- Often when people join, it's because they already have a specific
project in mind - encourage them to start it.
- At open hack night, encourage "asking silly questions".
- Encourage existing members to be supportive - "but not patronising,
which can be a difficult line to tread"
- Informal conversations with members who've been around longer is a big
way of finding out how things work, or why things are as they are.
[more on this below]
- When there was the money crisis couple of years ago, there were lots
of courses, and that seemed to reignite or encourage the community
spirit. Courses can be for non-members too.
- There won't be any one thing that would work for every conceivable
member.
Restructuring teams "so there's more visibility for people to get involved":
- General agreement that it's patchy at the moment. "A massive
opportunity to improve how things are run." "A big missed opportunity."
"I know now to look on the wiki - but if I were a new member I
wouldn't know that." Need to try to figure out a way so the info is as
clear as possible, especially for people who haven't been around long.
"If the team situation was clearer, people would say: oh, I could do
that, I could get involved. We should promote that."
- Each team could have a page on the website, maybe.
- Some discussion of old Trello system for tasks wanting doing: no
longer in use in practice, wasn't maintained.
- Asking: What is it that made the successful teams successful?
- Reaching out to people who aren't members yet but are clearly
enthusiastic about a particular area, who might be likely to join a team
for that area.
At the end there was a bit more general discussion about how you find
out "the history".
To make my own point again in a more succinct way: you don't need to
know the _entire_ history. But sometimes you do need to know "why is
this being done this way?"
Could be (a) There is a good reason why it's being done this way, and
you don't wanna mess with it.
Could be (b) The reason for doing it this way doesn't exist any more. E.g.
i) there _was_ a constraint and it's gone
ii) someone once did it that way randomly, and no-one's ever changed it
since but you totally could.
And often a tradition is a mix of (a) and (b) - there's _some_ elements
which are in response to constraints or risks which remain current, and
there's _some_ elements which could just as well be changed now.
If you don't know which is which, making changes is a worrying business!
This to me is a key ingredient in people being able to move from
"tentative newcomer" to "I know my way around here, this is my space".
It's not just about having the right attitude - the basis of that
feeling includes actual knowledge. Being briefed on the current
constraints is empowering!
Thanks again to all the candidates and organisers :-)
Jennifer
--
www.uncharted-worlds.org/blog/
www.single-bass.co.uk/what-is-single-bass
www.single-bass.co.uk/songs
I went to the online hustings last night and took some notes as it went
along.
There were so many good ideas talked about, I thought it was worth
documenting some of them here for future reference!
It's not exactly a list of "ideas I definitely agree with", but it
includes all the main points where I was either thinking "yes, this!" or
"hmm interesting idea, not sure but worth discussing".
Apologies to the people with good ideas for not crediting people
individually - couldn't really do that without making this post into a
sort of "hustings at one remove" and then I'd feel I had to try to be
fair, which is a lot trickier than what I've actually done here, esp as
sometimes one person said a thing first and another person built on it.
Eco-friendliness:
- The main challenge is we don't own our own building. Especially
difficult to keep the place reasonably warm in the winter months without
a lot of energy expenditure. Possibility of banding together with other
tenants to push landlord for improvements, e.g. to finish off
double-glazing all the windows.
Scrap stores:
- General consensus that donations can easily devolve into a dumping
ground if not careful, and demand a lot of time to keep organised/weeded.
- If there _are_ going to be donations, could make the areas more
segmented, e.g. metal/wood/textile. This could help to make clearer
what is welcome.
Health and safety:
- It primarily comes down to culture: creating a safety culture.
Making sure that people know the safe way to do things, e.g. via
workshop sessions or information displays or buddy system. Agreement
that it's socially OK to mention to someone, "hold on, that might not be
safe".
- Where there's maintenance which would normally be done by members,
e.g. changing blades, ensure there's a well known standard operating
procedure (SOP).
- "A clean environment is a safe environment".
- Have accident report forms readily available around the space: would
help to remind people that monitoring accidents is important.
- Clarify our regulatory framework: includes Health and Safety At Work
act, but are there others?
- Third-party reviews of the risks in the space: can't be done by
members because then they'd be liable if something went wrong. Has to
be someone with professional insurance. In terms of liability, can go
via solicitor to get those assessments, so that they're confidential;
this is protective of the space rather than protective of people (means
in a court case, someone can't point to "you _knew_ this was a risk").
But obviously the main thing is to address any risks that are flagged up.
Process of people joining, being welcomed and getting involved:
(This bit covers answers to two different questions: one about
welcoming new people, and one - this was my one! - about how people make
the transition from the "newcomer" phase to the co-ownership phase.)
- To build community, have events to encourage new people to meet each
other: for example, new woodworkers all invited to come in on the same day.
- Put together a list of what we need new members to know, to ensure
that gets covered early on.
- Set expectations on what proportion of time at the space to spend
contributing, e.g. if you're there for a couple of hours, spend 10
minutes tidying up.
- Buddy system pairing up new members with old members.
- Videos for intros to using the simpler tools, with a QR code or link
shown in the area. It means that if you're there and you're not sure
about something, it's easy to look at a video explaining it.
- Often when people join, it's because they already have a specific
project in mind - encourage them to start it.
- At open hack night, encourage "asking silly questions".
- Encourage existing members to be supportive - "but not patronising,
which can be a difficult line to tread"
- Informal conversations with members who've been around longer is a big
way of finding out how things work, or why things are as they are.
- When there was the money crisis couple of years ago, there were lots
of courses, and that seemed to reignite or encourage the community
spirit. Courses can be for non-members too.
- There won't be any one thing that would work for every conceivable
member.
Restructuring teams "so there's more visibility for people to get involved":
- General agreement that it's patchy at the moment. "A massive
opportunity to improve how things are run." "A big missed opportunity."
"I know now to look on the wiki - but if I were a new member I
wouldn't know that." Need to try to figure out a way so the info is as
clear as possible, especially for people who haven't been around long.
"If the team situation was clearer, people would say: oh, I could do
that, I could get involved. We should promote that."
- Each team could have a page on the website, maybe.
- Some discussion of old Trello system for tasks wanting doing: no
longer in use in practice, wasn't maintained.
- Asking: What is it that made the successful teams successful?
- Reaching out to people who aren't members yet but are clearly
enthusiastic about a particular area, who might be likely to join a team
for that area.
At the end there was a bit more general discussion about how you find
out "the history".
To make my own point again in a more succinct way: you don't need to
know the _entire_ history. But sometimes you do need to know "why is
this being done this way?"
Could be (a) There is a good reason why it's being done this way, and
you don't wanna mess with it.
Could be (b) The reason for doing it this way doesn't exist any more. E.g.
i) there _was_ a constraint and it's gone
ii) someone once did it that way randomly, and no-one's ever changed it
since but you totally could.
And often a tradition is a mix of (a) and (b) - there's _some_ elements
which are in response to constraints or risks which remain current, and
there's _some_ elements which could just as well be changed now.
If you don't know which is which, making changes is a worrying business!
This to me is a key ingredient in people being able to move from
"tentative newcomer" to "I know my way around here, this is my space".
It's not just about having the right attitude - the basis of that
feeling includes actual knowledge. Being briefed on the current
constraints is empowering!
Thanks again to all the candidates and organisers :-)
Jennifer
--
www.uncharted-worlds.org/blog/
www.single-bass.co.uk/what-is-single-bass
www.single-bass.co.uk/songs
Malcolm Childs
Jun 10, 2021, 3:35:32 PM6/10/21
to notti...@googlegroups.com
Agree and found the summation useful
Thank you
Malcolm C
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Sam Roberts
Jun 11, 2021, 9:36:56 AM6/11/21
to Nottingham Hackspace - Nottinghack
Thanks for that Jennifer. I couldn't go to the hustings due to a prior commitment in the pub (hard to pick another Zoom call over that!) but it's good to get a bit of visibility. All look like good points.
Andrew Armstrong
Jun 15, 2021, 8:49:48 AM6/15/21
to notti...@googlegroups.com
Sorry we didn't record it, although I suspect next time hustings may be in person...will see if people want to have a recording next time I hope.
Great notes Jennifer - glad you found it worthwhile and good questions too.
Next hustings - which I might not be able to run if I stand again
- I'll try and help figure out a better system to limit
interruptions and long answers. Was quite a long night!
Andrew
To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/nottinghack/65f5d9f9-f9b4-4317-b997-6030f2b774d0n%40googlegroups.com.
Froggy
Jun 15, 2021, 9:30:54 AM6/15/21
to notti...@googlegroups.com
I recommend liberal use of airhorns.
To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/nottinghack/1df5664c-0837-307a-9011-9ba1b8b06109%40aarmstrong.org.
Sam Roberts
Jun 16, 2021, 6:44:44 AM6/16/21
to Nottingham Hackspace - Nottinghack
I assume you mean everyone has to ask and answer questions in Morse code using airhorns.
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