Geek Cr3d: Hacking a Hackerspace – Introducing Dweeb Den!
When returning to Florida to visit family this Christmas, I lead a short Propeller class at the FamiLAB hackerspace in Orlando. It was my first visit to a hackerspace, and I fell in love. There was this an incredible vibe emanating all throughout the building and left me with a fantastic feeling that I can’t quite put into words.
When you’re in a hackerspace, you can’t help but be inspired. You’re surrounded by brilliant, enigmatic personalities who’re all working on incredibly cool projects. So I decided one thing when I got back on my plane to Sacramento…
I need to join a hackerspace – STAT.
However, that goal wasn’t as easily attainable as I thought. Even though Sacramento has several tech companies in the area (Parallax, Intel, HP and Oracle to name a few), there isn’t a single hackerspace. You see, Sacramento is a city often overlooked. With the San Francisco Bay Area being only 80-ish miles away, it’s easy to just assume that’s where all the cool tech projects are happening.
But it’s just not true! And now my task of joining a hackerspace has morphed into a tougher, but far more rewarding task: I’m going to start a hackerspace.
So yesterday, along with my two other co-founders, we started laying the groundwork for Dweeb Den, a new hackerspace coming to Sacramento. You can follow our progress on Twitter (@DweebDen), through our website (dweebden.org), or voice your opinions on our forums (dweebden.org/forums).
As we’re embarking on this epic quest, we’re encountering a plethora of questions that need to be answered: Should we establish ourselves as a non-profit? How do you write bylaws? What membership do you charge? While the interwebs is a great source for these questions, there’s not a whole lot of substance to those answers.
My goal is to help provide that substance here, through ‘Hacking a Hackerspace’. Check back here as I chronicle our steps while we create Sacramento’s very first hackerspace! Hopefully it will help inspire you to create a hackerspace in your city.
Stay tuned for more Geek Cr3d at Nerdy Show, or over at geekcr3d.com. Follow Jessica on twitter at @jessicauelmen.
