Meeting Notes 2015 11 17

These are the notes from the The XXXth Meeting of Noisebridge. Note-taker: Alex; Moderators: John.

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

Introductions

Alex: I do games and stuff. Eric: Safety czar to be determined. Dor: German music guy. John: Bayleaks. Patrick: hack things. Trent: Python, hack stuff. Mari: Hacking, proud of improved soldering skills. Jarvis: Android and 3D art and animation. Edward: Student from Boston U here to learn coding.

• Invite a knowledgeable volunteer to explain what Noisebridge is about:

Noisebridge is a 501c3 nonprofit that provides a space for creation, collaboration, and learning about technology and creative projects. Noisebridge provides space, power tools, and infrastructure to help the public learn new skills and create cool things. Noisebridge continues to exist through and depends entirely on membership fees and donations. Our code of conduct is 'Be excellent to each other'."

• Introduce any experimental or unusual moderation techniques that may be using during the meeting like: direct responses, limited speaking time, orderless stack, &c.
• Round of introductions (remember, announcements come later):
  • What's your name
  • What do you do
  • What do you maintain at Noisebridge?
  • if you are new: how did you hear about Noisebridge?

Short announcements and events

• Cool new projects? Something you'd like people to know? Say now, but keep it short! One or two sentences please!
• Any happenings at the space of which members should be made aware.
• Don't hog everyone's time since we all just want to hack!

Eric:

   New safety program developed to stem damage to equipment in space. New posters floating around. Name and sponsor for short training for tools to ensure people learn how to use the tools.
   When we finally get new laser cutter, you can't touch it till you learn the skills.
   Looking for people to be station chiefs. Kyle for sewing for example.
   
   John: How often is training?
   Trent: Discussion after.
   
   Trent: Book barcode scanning app is over here. I can show you how to use it if you're interested. The goal is to scan all the books barcods, about 2000 books, all the blue taped sections have been scanned, we'd like it done in a couple weeks and we need now labor. If anybody can help we'd love to have you, after meeting we'll teach how!
   
   Alex: Five minutes of fame team reformation, come talk to me!

Membership Binder

Alex: Being a member of Noisebridge is not like being a member of a gym or your local chess club. Anyone can come to Noisebridge to hack and learn: you don't need to be a member for that. At Noisebridge, membership is something different: it means taking responsibility and committing to help to maintain, improve, and govern Noisebridge. As a member of Noisebridge, you don't just come here to hack and learn, you actively work to improve what you see around you, help to deal with problems, and make this community and space better than it is today.

Philanthropists

Philanthropists is

Eric Michaud: I'm applying to be philanthropist.

Patrick: Mitch has signed for you.

Eric Michaud are a philanthropist.

Dor: Dor is now a philanthropist also too. We will email him.

Mari is a member as of last week.

Erica has a membership application and a philanthropy pledge.

Zach is up for membership and has the ability to do a monthly donation to be worked out with Patrick.

We need a new secretary if someone wants lots of responsibility and business doing work.

Financial Report

• Funds in bank: $35000 in bank.
• Just paid insurance for the year.
• Just about to pay rent.
• Will drop to 2-3000 in the coming month.

Consensus and Discussion

• Alex: Consensus happens when members need to decide if some major proposal needs to be blocked.
• Patrick: It happens maybe 3 times a year.

Proposals from last week

None.

Proposals for next week

None.

Discussion Items

Eric Michaud's Safety of tools discussion will follow meeting.

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

End of Meeting

Post meeting discussion of safety:

   Eric: When working at PS1 and for Argon LAbs I learned the lockout procedure.
   
   If a machine is in maintenance mode, it means don't touch it while its being worked on.
   
   They have a clamp from ULine, you put a colorized lock on the machine till you are done with it so no one can break it.
   
   Stop work authority: You can tell someone doing something on a machine that's problematic to stop and listen to safety information.
   
   Everyone has ability to ask people to slooow down and preserve the machines and do their work later.
   
   They might do things differently, but the people who have the most accidents are the 10K+ hours riders who become lazy intermediates who take more chances.
   
   They still go through the standardized explanation.
   
   John: Culturally, how do we make this not being told not to touch anything?
   
   John: I run the book scanning group and I would like anybody to be able to use the book scanner.
   
   Eric: Understood. The idea of the "don't teach an asshole" culture is when each person trained can train anyone they sponsor their trainees and they'll be careful not to train people who are known to be irresponsible that you'd be accountable for.
       
   John: I see how some tools like laser cutters and 3D printers need some tutorials to make sure people don't break their moving parts or start fires, the book scanner is quite safe and easy to use and I think a poster with instructions for it is sufficient.
   
   Eric: Great.
   
   Alex: I'd be happy to help make the poster as readable as possible to make learning how to use the scanner easy and inviting.
   
   Patrick: This is a laser. Do not stick your eye in it! Good instructions for people to sign off on before playing with it.