Meeting Notes 2015 12 01

These are the notes from the The XXXth Meeting of Noisebridge. Note-taker: Chris Bassano ; Moderators: Patrick

• One or two bullet points of high-level meeting summary.

Introductions

• Invite a knowledgeable volunteer to explain what Noisebridge is about:
• J gives an excellent introduction

• J - not so new to the space. loves the space, been here fro 18 months.
• frank - enjoys the space, studying wireless communications.
• douglas - likes to audio stuff, music. likes working on projects @ noisebridge. Likes to collaborate with folks.
• dan - coming to noisebridge over 3 years ago, over 1200 days ago! part of the neurohacking group on Wednesdays.
• steve - physicist and software dev. coming here 3 years
• chris - new to the city. first came here last week to take a soldering class w/ J. most incredible thing he's ever seen. a student starting january.
• trent - teaches the python class on Mondays. does webdev and hacks things. current project: SICP in scheme.
• andy - came here a year ago. coming down for the python class the last few months. ME background, but does environmental hacking
• michael - coming here for a long time. taken courses, given workshops, grown mushrooms, blown things up here. hacks on everything! likes to make computing affortable
• zach - coming for ~6 years, hoping to become a member tonight. given classes here on hardware hacking & laptop repair. likes to fix up old gear for people to make computing available. specializes in audio hacks.
• Danukeru - dangerous hobo with a laptop
• Patrick - does numbers things @ noisebridge.
• mari - hacks wearables and vidya games.

Short announcements and events

• trent - after the meeting today I'll teach whoever wants to learn how to use the book scanning (barcodes, not content) equipment to catalog our books.
• trent - we still need 4 more hours donated (estimated) to catalog the books! (3 donated as this is being written)
• patrick - crypto-wg on Thursday @ 7pm.
• j - after the meeting would like to discuss the secretary duties, if you want to help out that'd be great.

Membership Binder

• zach - commitment to be involved in the space, and to the consensus and doocratic process. a commitment to pay dues and help out in the running of the space. also if you're a member you have full participation in the consensus process, up to and including a block. the space is all run by members and philanthropists + donations.

• steve - what have you done in the running of the space? paperwork, administrivia and other things.
• zach - not so much WRT to paperwork, I made an effort to help out w/ conversations shaping the culture of the space and help out, particularly in 2011 during the Occupy movement. I helped out a lot with troublesome people abusing the space, and substances in the space, both to deal with them and to come to meetings to help with long difficult conversations to push forward the space. That's not my strongpoint though; my main contribution is a through repairing things and helping out with infrastructure like the TV monitor above the door and the laser cutter. I'm not a fan of bureaucracy, I'm more a hands-on fixit person.
• j - 3 part question 1st: we don't need a member to do anything cool @ the space. we can teach, building things and even get 24/7 access. there's only one thing that you get with a member so why become a member?
• zach - couple of benefits to be a member. I've always wanted to be in a position to contribute financially to the space on a recurring basis. I've done it thruogh the years with cash donations, but I like being a financial pillar with a recurring donation requirement. It helps me as much as it helps the space, by helping me up the level to which I contribute to the space. the second reason is that I've talked to a lot of people and advocated for the space and they always ask "so you're a member?" and it's weird to say "well everyone is and isn't", and it'd be nice to be able to own that identity when asked. And also to verbally display my commitment to the space
• j - second part: it's great to donate :) the one thing that you get is full participation in the consensus process. How would you appreach a consensus item and how would you mediate whether or not to block something.
• zach - there was a very recent example about this; I keep up on discuss a lot. sometimes something comes up and i'll come to the meeting to participate. someone asked recently to have a political meeting at the space, and I would like to have spoken as a member to help guide that discussion.
• j - give me a couple of things that you'd block and tell me why
• zach - political meetings for candidates is one example. if someone wanted to remove ADA accessible items I'd be a huge advocate against. maybe a removal of a member for incomplete reasons.
• j - so how would we operate open access? what would you change?
• zach - I think it's working pretty well. I think maybe having a more formalized way to close up the space would be great. It works 90% of the time but sometimes we make mistakes.
• mari - multi-part question. what is your greatest contribution to the space? what is the greatest contribution that the space has done for you?
• zach - greatest contribution is a "was". in 2010 there was a 40" flatscreen monitor donated (they were expensive at the time) and Miloh and I spent a lot of time here reverse engineering here. We used it all the time for classes and presentations including what I'd call gamebridge alpha. that was my biggest physical contribution. It had a run-in with the ground unfortunately :(. biggest contribution for me? I'd say that'd be introducing me to really awesome people. Mike here for example is a great person I've gotten to know over the years through the space. there's a real community here which is great.
• trent - question alongside J's: question is when does something need to be "consensus" over doocracy. maybe some past examples?
• zach -
• dan - the idea of a block and how you'd handle it. it sounds like you'd be willing to block where appropriate. the question is: how do you deal with a block and the aftermath? how do you negotiate a solution.
• zach - I have a slightly different take on that. I don't think a block ends the discussion, but it can be the end of a consensus discussion. we're still a community space and around each other a lot. If I were to block something and make them unhappy, I'd not just stonewall them afterwards, but rather happily engage in discussion. The block is there to stop unhealthy discussions.

Philanthropists

• steve - philanthropist is like membership without consensus and less obligation to demonstrate your commitment to the space. we made this position to allow people to contribute and also access the space outside regular hours. you just need a member to vouch for you at the meeting where you're both present . You get to give us $80/month or $40/month starving hacker rate, and you get 24/7 access, but you *do not* get to be involved in consensus. You must know how to shut down the space at night and help out with the problematic individuals that come by from time to time. You're a responsible individual in the eyes of the space
• J - you're contributing more ownership to the space.

• douglas presents his application! Mari is his sponsor. Everyone loves it.

Financial Report

• Funds in bank: $32,485.78
• Noisetor (See the bulletpoints at the bottom of http://noisetor.net/finances/#summary):
• Any other details by those participating in handling our financials

Consensus and Discussion

Proposals from last week

(Add any items which are consensed upon or someone has raised a principle objection for to the Consensus Items History page.)

Proposals for next week

(Add any new items for consensus to the Current Consensus Items page.)

Discussion Items

If any important discussion happens, it should be happening after forward progress is made during consensus.

End of Meeting

• Reprise of the Hackernationale. [This is anarchy - we do what the wiki says!]
• PGP Key Signing could happen now (if it doesn't happen before any given Meeting). Ask others around the space or check the list to see who wants in on the action.
• Return the membership binder to its rightful location.
• Clean and tidy the meeting notes including removing all these really verbose instructions, then save them to the wiki.
• Send a summary of the meeting notes to the discussion list.
• Enjoy the company of your fellow hacker, robot, or robothacker.
• Discuss any items for which there was not time during the meeting.