October 29, 2013 at 02:51What is hackspace
TED Conference in Brussels: Hackspace Movement (Mitch Altman)
(translation of video presentation)
Glad to see you all!
I foresee a world full of centers of a unique community in which each person is helped to explore the world and do what he likes. Centers where everyone is inspired by the idea of real education or who seeks to learn in order to live the life that he wants to live. Centers where everyone supports this community for its further prosperity. This is what the Hackspace community means. And it is already flourishing all over the planet.
How do I know about this?
Yes, because this is the life that I live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every night for a whole year. Over the past 63 months, more than 1,100 hackspaces have appeared around the world. Unnoticed, from nowhere and in strange and unexpected places.
What's going on here? Why do they appear?
The fact is that the Hackspace community provides two important and deep universal needs, two needs that have been so much feared for so long: community and creative expression .
We all develop as a species on the planet in order to survive in a busy environment, supporting each other in society. We need a society. It is built into our DNA. Earlier in society, we came together to do cool things and share them, but now we just buy everything. But this does not mean that we do not need to create, because the drive of creativity is embedded in our DNA. Hackspace participants provide this magical combination: creative expression plus community. They mix them so that dreams turn into reality.
Hackspace is a real physical space, such as a Los Angeles storefront or a Detroit warehouse, where people support each other in research and the things they like thanks to hacking. Hacking is when you take something that really exists, improve it and share it. Since everything, even the most modern, can be improved, we can hack everything, and not only computers and electronics, but also art, craft, mathematics, science. You can "hack" and yourself, and society, and the planet. We can do everything.
The decisions we make have a big impact on our lives. I began to live a small and depressed child, but now I am a crazy designer of jet planes who love his life! I began this transformation through decision making, good and bad. I learned from my mistakes and successes, studied and grew up with all my strength, and as a result I shared it. That's what hacking means, and it works! Even if it was not so simple. Even if it is not easy now. But it's worth it. Ultimately, this allowed me to do what I love, for example, turn off the TV in public places. I invented a similar keychain that does this, and I make money from it. Life is a strange thing.
But this project led me to the first Hackspace conference. Imagine a world in which, in contrast, people do what they love. He is incredibly tall. This was my experience at the first Hackspace conference. I did not want it to end, but, like all conferences, it came to an end. I wanted more, and I succeeded. This happened six months later in the "Camp of Communication Chaos - 2007", in a huge camp near Berlin. No one knew this then, but it became the foundation of the Hackspace movement. By that time there were only 50 hacks, mostly from Germany. But this camp had everything: art, craft, technology, and lasers, but most importantly, people sharing their projects. They teach, learn and share - a great supportive community.
There were wonderful speeches and presentations. One speech in particular touched me for the living. Several German hackers talked about how to create your own hackspace community. It was so obvious. No one had to wait for the next conference. We could have that kind of energy all day, all night, all year, and also Hackerspace in my hometown. I was not the only one who was inspired by this idea. The company of North American guys got together and decided that we would create this community when we got home. We did it.
We did it the way every Hackspace is created now: you imagine the culture of which you want to be a part; you create it, and it attracts many people; You choose a name, website, logo and business cards; You are promoting a community and cannot stop talking about it. you meet every Thursday and discuss the details of future projects, and then find a place. It worked for us at Noisbridge, set up in San Francisco. We talked about this for a year and found a place. Everyone was so inspired, because we raised $ 12,000 to rent in 24 hours and have never been in debt since then. Over the next weeks, we raised money for our own kitchen, our own mechanical workshop with modern equipment. We have a lot of sewing machines, tables, lamps.
As a result, we were joined by wonderful people with cool projects. They taught, taught and shared. We have a vibrant community. Also, we began to appear in parallel in other parts of North America, and in collaboration with Hackspace in Europe, we created the site hackerspace.com, which served as an example for the rest of the world, after which many similar communities appeared around the world.
And from that time, wherever I was, I visited the local Hackspeys. If they wanted, then I did what I love - I taught them how to solder and how to do cool things thanks to electronics. It seems to me that this is a lot of fun for people of any age and skill level. It was my way to share what you love in order to develop the community. Here is a photograph of me in a workshop in the local Hackspace in Brussels. In general, there are several of these companies in this city, so take an interest.
I want to share with you the projects that were created in Hackspace. They all appeared thanks to people who do what they love. These projects are open or open source, so you can share and improve them.
I saw a similar project in Berlin before attending my first Hackspace conference. I wanted to know what they were doing there. This project has fascinated me forever. The government of Berlin has given access to this building to the computer club in which the Hackerspace company is located. Hackspace participants installed bright lighting in each window and connected it to a computer to turn the building into a huge display. They laid out a special program to operate these windows on the Internet, and each person could reprogram it, thus changing the image on the building. It all started with simple images, and then animations and moving text appeared. And then two people were able to play ping pong "right on the building." This is a wonderful public art!
A few hackers from Neusbridge decided it would be cool to get a picture of the Earth. It took only $ 250 and 6 weeks to launch the balloon into space and get a shot. They filmed all this on video and put it on the Internet, and after hundreds of launches in other Hackspaces, ordinary students could do it. They could show this project at school science fairs.
This led to the Hackerspace space program, a very ambitious goal: “Hackerspace on the Moon by 2023?” Can we do this? It does not matter. Think about what you can learn during this project, how it happened after the first space program.
MakerBot is a 3D printer. It was invented by only one person from New York who thought it would be cool to create a machine that could make objects. This led to a huge company creating 3D printers that can print any plastic things. They have a website where you can download any object that you want to print. This printer is so cheap that it is in almost every hackspace. Some of these companies have laser [3D] printers, even laser cutters. These are very complex machines where you can cut objects with incredible accuracy. But the people who created such a robot in Philadelphia decided that you can make business cards by engraving ads directly on pieces of meat. Many companies liked this, so hackers make similar projects for them.
Here is another interesting thing. The guys from Artisan's Asylum in Boston decided that it would be cool to ride a robot. This robot weighs 1800 pounds [approximately 816 kilograms]. It is so big that it can walk on the roofs of cars.
Last year, after the Fukushima incident, everyone was disappointed by the lack of information from the Japanese government. Therefore, Tokyo hackers made homemade Geiger counters. They could distribute them so that every resident could calculate the amount of radiation in a certain area. The problem was that no one knew what level of radiation was within normal limits. Therefore, hackers from Los Angeles made similar Geiger counters and handed them out to the residents of the city, in order to then post the results to an online database where you can see the approximate level of radiation. We hope that this database will always work online. This is urban science in action.
Hackspace also innovates on traditional things that are considered expensive and makes counterparts that cost much less and are more affordable. We will talk about it later. BioCurious is a biological hackspace in San Francisco where people invented OpenPCR. This PCR machine (poly-sized chain reaction), accessible to everyone, allows you to duplicate your DNA on a computer.
In conclusion, I would like to talk about Code Hero from Neusbridge. This is a cool computer game with a kind of graphics, accessible to people of all ages. You can not only play it, but also make your own game.
This is only a very small part of those projects that were created in the Hackspace communities by people who do what they love.
Hackspace are also sources of positive things that can improve your life and the lives of people around the world.
I want to especially note two such phenomena:
The first is that there is a real education in the Hackspace communities . As long as our bureaucratic education continues to disappoint us, the Hackspace fill this void with people who teach because they like to teach, people who study because they like to learn. Hackspace aims to help you live the life you want to live.
The second point is that a private economy is developing in the Hackspace communities. Hackspace supports everyone in research and helps people do what they like. Think about it: if you do what you love, then chances are good that someone else will like it, and in a capitalist society the situation is that if someone likes what you do, they will pay you for this! Many companies have flourished thanks to this, including mine. If your company is growing and if you need help, then you can hire people from the local community. This will create a private economy that suits everyone.
The future of the economy must be creative, and Hackspace is a great place to develop your creativity .
I hope that you are already convinced that Hackspace is cool. And I hope you want to know where they are. They may be near you. Just look on the Internet and find. If not a single Hackspace is nearby, then organize it! This is the only way to develop a community. People will love it if you create it. Get started!
Your city needs hackspace! It is not possible to create it right or wrong. Create it the way you want , because it can be done in different ways.
I will give you one example that is close to me. We created Noisebridge. This is a nonprofit community in which decisions are made in concert. We have only one rule: be kind to each other. Every single one is invited, people of any age. You do not have to be a member of the community to do anything in Neusbridge, study there or teach, use the tools. You don’t even have to be in our community to get the key to Neusbridge. I have a few keys with me. If anyone wants, then you can take it. Take it! I am telling you with all seriousness that we will welcome you to Noisbridge.
And wherever you go, check to see if there is a Hackspace nearby. On the screen you see a map with 1100 hackspace around the world on hackerspace.org.
We invite you.
Make new friends, explore and create a community that you like. We all need a society to prosper in the world. The world is counting on us. In Hackspace you will receive support, you will be able to do what you love. If we choose what we love, our life becomes better. If we share this with the others, then the lives of all the people around us are getting better. If enough people support this, then the world will become better. It is up to you and only you.
You choose how you will spend time in this world. Please make the right choice.
I want to thank Maxim Kalinichenko, who completed the translation (1st year student of the Department of Linguistics and Professional Communication in Foreign Languages ISPN UrFU).
I asked to tell him about my impressions, and here is what he replied:
I would also like to express my gratitude for the translation into Russian and the creation of subtitles to Oleksandr Ostapenko from Kiev Hackspace. In addition to translating, he made subtitles, and this is a very painstaking work! You can see the result of his work here .
It so happened that the transfers were made independently and almost in parallel - but this means that interest in the Hackspace movement is growing.
Original video: The Hackerspace Movement: Mitch Altman at TEDxBrussels
This translation is posted on github .
(translation of video presentation)
Glad to see you all!
I foresee a world full of centers of a unique community in which each person is helped to explore the world and do what he likes. Centers where everyone is inspired by the idea of real education or who seeks to learn in order to live the life that he wants to live. Centers where everyone supports this community for its further prosperity. This is what the Hackspace community means. And it is already flourishing all over the planet.
How do I know about this?
Yes, because this is the life that I live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every night for a whole year. Over the past 63 months, more than 1,100 hackspaces have appeared around the world. Unnoticed, from nowhere and in strange and unexpected places.
What's going on here? Why do they appear?
The fact is that the Hackspace community provides two important and deep universal needs, two needs that have been so much feared for so long: community and creative expression .
We all develop as a species on the planet in order to survive in a busy environment, supporting each other in society. We need a society. It is built into our DNA. Earlier in society, we came together to do cool things and share them, but now we just buy everything. But this does not mean that we do not need to create, because the drive of creativity is embedded in our DNA. Hackspace participants provide this magical combination: creative expression plus community. They mix them so that dreams turn into reality.
Hackspace is a real physical space, such as a Los Angeles storefront or a Detroit warehouse, where people support each other in research and the things they like thanks to hacking. Hacking is when you take something that really exists, improve it and share it. Since everything, even the most modern, can be improved, we can hack everything, and not only computers and electronics, but also art, craft, mathematics, science. You can "hack" and yourself, and society, and the planet. We can do everything.
The decisions we make have a big impact on our lives. I began to live a small and depressed child, but now I am a crazy designer of jet planes who love his life! I began this transformation through decision making, good and bad. I learned from my mistakes and successes, studied and grew up with all my strength, and as a result I shared it. That's what hacking means, and it works! Even if it was not so simple. Even if it is not easy now. But it's worth it. Ultimately, this allowed me to do what I love, for example, turn off the TV in public places. I invented a similar keychain that does this, and I make money from it. Life is a strange thing.
But this project led me to the first Hackspace conference. Imagine a world in which, in contrast, people do what they love. He is incredibly tall. This was my experience at the first Hackspace conference. I did not want it to end, but, like all conferences, it came to an end. I wanted more, and I succeeded. This happened six months later in the "Camp of Communication Chaos - 2007", in a huge camp near Berlin. No one knew this then, but it became the foundation of the Hackspace movement. By that time there were only 50 hacks, mostly from Germany. But this camp had everything: art, craft, technology, and lasers, but most importantly, people sharing their projects. They teach, learn and share - a great supportive community.
There were wonderful speeches and presentations. One speech in particular touched me for the living. Several German hackers talked about how to create your own hackspace community. It was so obvious. No one had to wait for the next conference. We could have that kind of energy all day, all night, all year, and also Hackerspace in my hometown. I was not the only one who was inspired by this idea. The company of North American guys got together and decided that we would create this community when we got home. We did it.
We did it the way every Hackspace is created now: you imagine the culture of which you want to be a part; you create it, and it attracts many people; You choose a name, website, logo and business cards; You are promoting a community and cannot stop talking about it. you meet every Thursday and discuss the details of future projects, and then find a place. It worked for us at Noisbridge, set up in San Francisco. We talked about this for a year and found a place. Everyone was so inspired, because we raised $ 12,000 to rent in 24 hours and have never been in debt since then. Over the next weeks, we raised money for our own kitchen, our own mechanical workshop with modern equipment. We have a lot of sewing machines, tables, lamps.
As a result, we were joined by wonderful people with cool projects. They taught, taught and shared. We have a vibrant community. Also, we began to appear in parallel in other parts of North America, and in collaboration with Hackspace in Europe, we created the site hackerspace.com, which served as an example for the rest of the world, after which many similar communities appeared around the world.
And from that time, wherever I was, I visited the local Hackspeys. If they wanted, then I did what I love - I taught them how to solder and how to do cool things thanks to electronics. It seems to me that this is a lot of fun for people of any age and skill level. It was my way to share what you love in order to develop the community. Here is a photograph of me in a workshop in the local Hackspace in Brussels. In general, there are several of these companies in this city, so take an interest.
I want to share with you the projects that were created in Hackspace. They all appeared thanks to people who do what they love. These projects are open or open source, so you can share and improve them.
I saw a similar project in Berlin before attending my first Hackspace conference. I wanted to know what they were doing there. This project has fascinated me forever. The government of Berlin has given access to this building to the computer club in which the Hackerspace company is located. Hackspace participants installed bright lighting in each window and connected it to a computer to turn the building into a huge display. They laid out a special program to operate these windows on the Internet, and each person could reprogram it, thus changing the image on the building. It all started with simple images, and then animations and moving text appeared. And then two people were able to play ping pong "right on the building." This is a wonderful public art!
A few hackers from Neusbridge decided it would be cool to get a picture of the Earth. It took only $ 250 and 6 weeks to launch the balloon into space and get a shot. They filmed all this on video and put it on the Internet, and after hundreds of launches in other Hackspaces, ordinary students could do it. They could show this project at school science fairs.
This led to the Hackerspace space program, a very ambitious goal: “Hackerspace on the Moon by 2023?” Can we do this? It does not matter. Think about what you can learn during this project, how it happened after the first space program.
MakerBot is a 3D printer. It was invented by only one person from New York who thought it would be cool to create a machine that could make objects. This led to a huge company creating 3D printers that can print any plastic things. They have a website where you can download any object that you want to print. This printer is so cheap that it is in almost every hackspace. Some of these companies have laser [3D] printers, even laser cutters. These are very complex machines where you can cut objects with incredible accuracy. But the people who created such a robot in Philadelphia decided that you can make business cards by engraving ads directly on pieces of meat. Many companies liked this, so hackers make similar projects for them.
Here is another interesting thing. The guys from Artisan's Asylum in Boston decided that it would be cool to ride a robot. This robot weighs 1800 pounds [approximately 816 kilograms]. It is so big that it can walk on the roofs of cars.
Last year, after the Fukushima incident, everyone was disappointed by the lack of information from the Japanese government. Therefore, Tokyo hackers made homemade Geiger counters. They could distribute them so that every resident could calculate the amount of radiation in a certain area. The problem was that no one knew what level of radiation was within normal limits. Therefore, hackers from Los Angeles made similar Geiger counters and handed them out to the residents of the city, in order to then post the results to an online database where you can see the approximate level of radiation. We hope that this database will always work online. This is urban science in action.
Hackspace also innovates on traditional things that are considered expensive and makes counterparts that cost much less and are more affordable. We will talk about it later. BioCurious is a biological hackspace in San Francisco where people invented OpenPCR. This PCR machine (poly-sized chain reaction), accessible to everyone, allows you to duplicate your DNA on a computer.
In conclusion, I would like to talk about Code Hero from Neusbridge. This is a cool computer game with a kind of graphics, accessible to people of all ages. You can not only play it, but also make your own game.
This is only a very small part of those projects that were created in the Hackspace communities by people who do what they love.
Hackspace are also sources of positive things that can improve your life and the lives of people around the world.
I want to especially note two such phenomena:
The first is that there is a real education in the Hackspace communities . As long as our bureaucratic education continues to disappoint us, the Hackspace fill this void with people who teach because they like to teach, people who study because they like to learn. Hackspace aims to help you live the life you want to live.
The second point is that a private economy is developing in the Hackspace communities. Hackspace supports everyone in research and helps people do what they like. Think about it: if you do what you love, then chances are good that someone else will like it, and in a capitalist society the situation is that if someone likes what you do, they will pay you for this! Many companies have flourished thanks to this, including mine. If your company is growing and if you need help, then you can hire people from the local community. This will create a private economy that suits everyone.
The future of the economy must be creative, and Hackspace is a great place to develop your creativity .
I hope that you are already convinced that Hackspace is cool. And I hope you want to know where they are. They may be near you. Just look on the Internet and find. If not a single Hackspace is nearby, then organize it! This is the only way to develop a community. People will love it if you create it. Get started!
Your city needs hackspace! It is not possible to create it right or wrong. Create it the way you want , because it can be done in different ways.
I will give you one example that is close to me. We created Noisebridge. This is a nonprofit community in which decisions are made in concert. We have only one rule: be kind to each other. Every single one is invited, people of any age. You do not have to be a member of the community to do anything in Neusbridge, study there or teach, use the tools. You don’t even have to be in our community to get the key to Neusbridge. I have a few keys with me. If anyone wants, then you can take it. Take it! I am telling you with all seriousness that we will welcome you to Noisbridge.
And wherever you go, check to see if there is a Hackspace nearby. On the screen you see a map with 1100 hackspace around the world on hackerspace.org.
We invite you.
Make new friends, explore and create a community that you like. We all need a society to prosper in the world. The world is counting on us. In Hackspace you will receive support, you will be able to do what you love. If we choose what we love, our life becomes better. If we share this with the others, then the lives of all the people around us are getting better. If enough people support this, then the world will become better. It is up to you and only you.
You choose how you will spend time in this world. Please make the right choice.
From the editor
I want to thank Maxim Kalinichenko, who completed the translation (1st year student of the Department of Linguistics and Professional Communication in Foreign Languages ISPN UrFU).
I asked to tell him about my impressions, and here is what he replied:
Thank you for such an interesting job! The talk about Hackspace was exciting, especially considering that Mitch Altman himself talked about everything with love for his work. In fact, it's nice to see people enjoying their work.
There were not so many difficulties. Basically - some turns that were difficult to adequately reproduce in Russian. This was my first full translation from the video, so it was also not very easy at first, but it was only a temporary difficulty. I must say that I really liked this type of translation, since it is very interesting to translate a text read emotionally.
I would also like to express my gratitude for the translation into Russian and the creation of subtitles to Oleksandr Ostapenko from Kiev Hackspace. In addition to translating, he made subtitles, and this is a very painstaking work! You can see the result of his work here .
It so happened that the transfers were made independently and almost in parallel - but this means that interest in the Hackspace movement is growing.
Original video: The Hackerspace Movement: Mitch Altman at TEDxBrussels
This translation is posted on github .