Here's a quick and somewhat silly make. It's the middle of June and my 2 1/2 year old thought that his sippycup of milk was too cold to hold. His older brothers are always wearing out their socks. So I went through the (clean) laundry basket and found a sock that had the heel and toes worn through. I cut it off at the heel and slipped it over the bottom of the cup, pulled up just enough so it would still sit flat.

I'm happy to report that the wheels are turning to bring a hackerspace to the Kitchener Waterloo area. A small (and growing) group of people have been meeting regularly to dig into the details of what it takes to set up a shared workspace. A survey was worked up and set loose. Results have been tabulated and are being poured over to see what people in the area would like to see in a space.

Here's the plan so far... if you want to see a hackerspace happen, put your money where you mouth is. The group has settled on accepting down payments that show your commitment to the space (if you're interested, let me know or contact someone you know that's been attending the administrivia meetings). The first deposit has already been made (Yay!). Several people are starting to look into spaces, and once a suitable space is found and there's enough cash collected for first and last month's rent, the space will be ready to inhabit.

Oh ya... and there's still the issue of naming. Once a name is settled on, the group will move forward with some form of incorporation. This can/will happen in tandem with collecting deposits and researching spaces.

Congrats to everyone that has been working hard on making this a reality.

Awhile back I wondered which should come first, a hackerspace or a maker group. I took a guess and figured a hackerspace could come first and I asked for a blog mention on the Make: Magazine blog.

That got a big response. The first meeting brought in a lot of people. The second meeting was smaller and got me to thinking... maybe a maker group is the way to start. The third meeting brought in a good number of people and I realized that there's room for both at the same time. The group is gelling to include a smaller set of people dedicated to getting the hackerspace running, and a larger group getting to know each other and starting to help each other with the projects they're already working on outside of the space.

There's a lot to be said for the social geek, and hopefully the forming maker group will meet their needs. Watch for more details:

http://makekw.org/

... where we'll start to consolidate the information about both of these efforts real soon now.

The first meeting of people interested in a hackerspace (or makerspace depending) was a great success. More than 25 people attended and there was lots to say, even if we had trouble hearing ourselves over the music and other people talking at Williams. Next meeting needs to be in a quieter place ;)

We've got some action items down for moving forward, and I'm really pleased. Yay!

A hackerspace? What's that you ask? The name might bring up notions of illegal activities or other unpleasantries to some, but that's not what is meant. The Hackerspaces.org website defines a hackerspaces as:

... community-operated physical places, where people can meet and work on their projects.

Eric Michaud, who is working hard to make the Chicago based hackerspace "Pumping Station: One" a reality describes a hackerspace as a "YMCA for geeks and artists". In the "What is a hackerspace?" post on their blog, the description is further refined as follows:

A hackerspace is an interdisciplinary community for learning, teaching, and creating. Instead of starting with a defined range of projects or programming, a hackerspace is driven by its members. It is a place where members have the infrastructure and resources to work on projects that interest them. Hackerspaces promote people to be hackers in the broadest sense: to learn all they can about the fields that interest them, explore their bounds, and create new and interesting ways to apply that knowledge.

The people in a hackerspace also share their knowledge with others who share their interests, through classes, working groups, or day-to-day discussion while working on projects. That is where the fascinating educational potential of the hackerspace lies: there is no finite list of the skills that can be taught and exchanged. People share what they know with members and the community at large, and it results in more people having the knowledge to make something new and tangible out of their ideas and interests.

There are spaces like this opening up all over the United States and here in Canada too, fueled (no doubt) by MAKE: magazine and a renewed do-it-yourself spirit. As far as I know however, there's nothing in our area (for me, "our area" means Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and Guelph, smaller towns like New Hamburg, Baden, Elmira, and Ayr as well as all the rural areas inbetween). The closest that I've come across is the Studio 490 in Guelph (who are looking for someone else to work in their studio).

I'm not only envisioning a shared space where geeks and artists alike would be able to work on their own projects in a shared space (loaded with tools). I'm also seeing a community where people would teach each other, experiment, stretch their boundaries, collaborate on great works of art, and be encouraged to take the results of their work back out to the communities where they live.

Such a space could attract and bring together people interested in computers, electronics, woodworking, metalwork, clay, glass, cooking and crafts of all kinds.

I'm thinking that the space should be setup as a non-profit with due-paying members given full access to the facility at any time. There's lots of information available from established hackerspaces on how to run such a space. Hacklab.to has a page on working through setting up a Canadian non-profit. I'm willing to work through the business and legal stuff.

Now, if you've made it through the post so far, I'd like to ask you this...

Are you interested?

I've found a few people that were interested in a local maker group (Doug, John, Ken... you know who you are), but what I'm asking now is going to take a little more effort. The plus side is, that effort will result in a great place to build that project of your dreams.

Leave a comment here or send me a note at onecog2many@gmail.com, and spread the word (blog it, tweet it, e-mail it, Facebook it, whatever). The more people that are involved the better.

2009/03/17 Update: I've updated some wiki pages (setup by William Spaetzel, thanks!) where I'll document information about the setup effort. The wiki is a great format since other people can contribute there as well.

I just watched a video created by Dave Jacob Hoffman over on the Dave Makes site. It's a 15 min interview with Eric Michaud, president of Pumping Station: One a hackerspace starting up in Chicago.

Eric is echoing many of the ideas that I've been having for our area... the desire to provide a space equipped with the tools and supplies necessary for geeks and artists to work on projects of their own design. It's a place where people can teach each other and reach out into the community to teach as well. I really appreciate Eric's enthusiasm for hackerspaces as an alternative form of education.

Watch the video and leave a comment letting me know what you think.

Update 2009-03-11: Pumping Station: One got a great mention in The Columbia Chronicle, and the article was also republished on the Hackerspaces Blog.

Cross-posted story from WWBA

For the third time in less than a year, residents of New Hamburg have been hit by serious flooding of the Nith River. Similar to the flooding in April 2008, the water reached a Level 2 status according to the Grand River Conservation Authority... luckily not as serious as the levels reached in December 2008.

For some short videos and photos, check out this set on Flickr:

Nith River Flood in New Hamburg - Feb 2009

I've been researching a bit on maker groups and realized that the groups go hand in hand with hackerspaces. A hackerspace is a group of people that band together to support and maintain a shared physical space where they can meet, collaborate, learn from each other and most importantly... make things. Make: Philly has The Hacktory. Make: NYC has the NYC Resistor.

And... I learn that Ontario has a few hackerspaces of it's own. In Toronto there is the HackLab and in Hamilton there is the Hamilton Hacker Space. Imagine, a place loaded with tools like drill presses, metal benders, dremels, grinders, scopes, digital analyzers and welders, not to mention all of the parts and other supplies.

Now my question is... what comes first, the hackerspace or the maker group? The group can exist without the space, but the space can't exist without a (at least small) group. But with the shared access to the space, the group is pulled together and can more easily grow in skill as they work on real projects together.

Anyone interested in starting a hackerspace or something similar in the Region of Waterloo? It would be a real commitment I'm guessing (e.g. HackLab has a $50/month membership).

Update 2009/01/22: Just stumbled on this... do you think the area would support something like the Reuseum (love that name)? It's an outlet store...

... well stocked with Odd, Unusual, Unique, and "one of a Kind" items for the worlds of Science, Industry & Electronic surplus.

I know we have our very own K-W Surplus, but the Reuseum has a unique slant as can be seen from a recent post on their website:

In 2009 the Reuseum will continue to host small community workshops targeted towards fun creative activities and work to foster the independent spirit of makers and engineers in the Treasure Valley, focusing on the philosophy of sustainability and repurposing technology. We also offer a variety of services including trade and intake of your unwanted or unused technology or strange whatchamacallits so that we can continue to find cool inventory for our store. In uncertain times like these innovation is at the core of creating prosperity, here at the Reuseum you can find something to apply your curiosity to and learn, or create that machine that only used to be a dream on a budget that you won’t mind either.

The new year arrives with the birth of some new television programming from O'Reilly Media. Following in the footsteps of the successful Make: magazine, Make: Television chronicles DIY projects, profiles makers and looks at tools and skills.

If the first offering is any indication, the shows will be polished, informative and entertaining. Make: Television is being made available for free on public television, YouTube, Vimeo, blip.tv and iTunes. I prefer to watch it via Miro.

Looks like this series will be lots of fun!

What is a maker you ask? A maker is a person imbued with the do-it-yourself (DIY) spirit, someone who would rather create than buy. A maker is bold and creative when blurring the lines between technology and art.

O'Reilly Media has been capturing the maker spirit for awhile now with their Make: magazine. I've been an avid follower of the magazine's blog. It's full of more-than-interesting accounts and pointers to how-to instructions for projects that boggle the mind.

This post is a call out to makers in the area. Are you out there? Are our numbers strong? Should we organize, uprise and bring our knowledge of art and technology into our community?

Leave a comment here or drop me a note at onecog2many@gmail.com if you're interested. More importantly, spread the word... blog it, tweet it, facebook it, call your friends, whatever. Let's see who's out there and what we have to offer each other and the community.