[Swansea Hackspace] What next

[Tom Lloyd]

>From the wiki:

That last point is REALLY important, focus on the community first and
> foremost, the space cannot exist without it. Spend several months building
> up a group of people who want to hack together and it'll work brilliantly.
> Don't even start planning the physical space until you have a community of
> enough people to make it viable.
>

We don't have the money now to hire premises, and it isn't a good idea yet
anyway because we're barely even established.  I think some of the things
we're agonising over on the list may sort themselves out as soon as we have
our first meeting, just by virtue of face-to-face conversation.

Regarding H&S, I don't mind taking on some responsibility for that when the
time comes - I've had some basic training (4 day IOSH course) which isn't
much but it's a start.  I have a few well-qualified contacts (NEBOSH,
CMIOSH) whom I can consult, too.  But all in good time, it doesn't apply
yet!

-- Tom


On 27 March 2013 10:06, Paul Harwood <paul at harwood-leon.com> wrote:

> Hi Steven,
>
> I wholeheartedly agree with your concerns. Which is exactly why any
> hackspace/hackerspace should look at the appetite for a hackspace in
> Swansea before considering any serious outlay. There are obviously too few
> members to justify even speaking about a generously sized leased or hired
> premises currently.
>
> A donated premises, one that is part of another setup is going to be hard
> to find and also nearly always comes with conditions. If they fit then
> fine, but I remember reading about hackspaces needing to exist pretty
> independently because if the charity stops or relationship breaks down
> (hopefully not because of fire) then it can create a huge issue for the
> hackspace.
>
> Most of the issues you have raised are also genuine concerns for active
> hackspaces and need a vigilant committee to work through. I said 'plan for
> success' because, if the hackspace in Swansea does grow to 50 active
> members in two years (quite possible) and you have all those systems and
> processes in place, you don't really want to have to move premises as
> Bristol are now forced to do because of lack of space. Equally, you don't
> want the rent to go into arrears in the first 6 months.
>
> If this is going to be done properly then a simple business case should be
> drawn up by the group, the core of any business case is demand for the
> service or product. Without that figure (or a good estimate of that
> figure), it's all rearranging raindrops.
>
> So, flyering the places most likely to turn up members will be one way to
> gauge the levels. Plus, no one will have to worry about COSHH if no one
> turns up :)
>
> Some good tips here -
>
> http://hackspace.org.uk/view/Starting_a_Hackerspace
>
> -- Paul
>
> On 27 Mar 2013, at 09:07, Steven Whitehouse <steve at chygwyn.com> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> On Tue, 2013-03-26 at 22:35 +0000, Paul Harwood wrote:
>
> I saw that reply, shame eh!
>
>
> I was thinking more about flyering for members, rather than asking for
> a space. The more initial membership is = the bigger space the
> hackspace can afford.
>
>
> That may be true, but the bigger questions are:
>
> - What (aside from space) will the hackerspace provide?
> - Who is going to be responsible for health & safety?
>
> When I'm figuring out what I'm prepared to pay each month, the thing I
> want to take into account is what I get in return. I'm already paying a
> subscription to various professional societies who put on talks
> regularly, and the biggest issue with these is getting anybody to attend
> them (in the case of the IET, they are all open and free to everybody,
> not just IET members)
>
> If I want to meet up with a group of people, we can do that in a pub or
> something at very low (or no) cost.
>
> So it seems to me that the only reason that the hackerspace would need
> (expensive) premises is to contain the kit which would help to encourage
> people to join by offering them access to things which they could not
> otherwise have access to.
>
> One of the main reasons for trying to have the uni as a base is because
> there are various things which could be borrowed for little or no money
> (e.g. fancy 3d printer comes to mind) which would provide a real
> incentive for people to join.
>
> If based elsewhere, then the budget looks like it would be so small that
> it would be difficult to purchase the kind of items which would
> encourage people to join - at least unless some initial set up grant was
> available.
>
> As soon as there are premises, we'd need public liability insurance, and
> also someone has to be in charge of health and safety. That means making
> sure that only people who've had suitable instruction can use certain
> items of equipment, it means dealing with COSHH and checking mechanical
> and electrical equipment are safe to use on a regular basis. So there is
> a fair amount of responsibility for anybody taking this on,
>
> Steve.
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>
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