Meeting Notes 2020 11 03

Tuesday Weekly Meeting

8pm (20:00)

https://pad.riseup.net/p/nbmeeting

https://jitsi.noisebridge.io/hackitorium

NEXT MEETING

These are the notes from the The 602nd Meeting of Noisebridge.

• Live notes: https://pad.riseup.net/p/nbmeeting
• Jitsi: https://jitsi.noisebridge.io/hackitorium

• Date: November 3rd MMXX
• Note-taker: Pyconaut, others
• Moderators: Pyconaut

UNMEETING

Discussion

Pyconaut- SF election is mess

Zack- SF election has many cool things

Zack- curcit reflow ovens, to get both reflow ovens working would be about 80 dollars. Looking forpeople to chip in

Dan- reflow ovens are cool, we should try to get them fixed. Software might be bad, but it is hackable.

Zack- THe displays are kind of bad, and are really proprietary. New parts would come with a new screen. Would be easy to do the new firmware updates if new motherboards were added.

Zack- SMD parts robert droped off, and it needs sorting, we need some bins to help sort it. Bin's need to hold a lot of bags of parts. Large tupperware would work probably.

Zack- Reparing comuters, do people need doner laptops right now?

Dan- There is a noisebridger who needs one. Alax May

Zack- Specs are athalon 2, dual core, 2.2 Ghz, 3GB ram, 500GB hard drive.

Zack- how are computer donations doing right now.

Zack- how can we get the word out for getting more laptops and more recent computers.

Ryan - maybe not right now (during our closure), but it could be useful to re-rig laptops, give them a second life.

Zack - They know the laptops is worth money, but they won't sell it.

TJ- can we reach out to ewaste people. Is there an industry companny that specialises in this?

Dan - Do you know tech soup?

Ryan - I've talked to ewaste companies and such back in the early 2000's, but I have no idea what happened recently.

Dan - Idk if being the new ewaste collector is a good idea, but we don't have as much space, time, and energy for it (and that's all we need lol). Have a dedicated person, no work for other people. I've moved so much shizzle, if ppl aren't moving their shizzle, they forget how painful and hazardous it is.

Ryan - we need to limit what we take, or take it ourselves. Re desktops, any desktop made after 2008 would be fine, any laptop after 2008 as well. But we need to check functionality beforehand. We can get a lot of donated old computers, but may not be helpful in itself. If we want to have a repair shop, great. But that should be afterward. We have so many computers that are so old and finnicky, they're basically obsolete.

Zach - Let's put together what kinds of laptops/computers labeling we DO what. We can detail for days what we don't want. We should make a laptop repair group like before. Getting the word out to organizations over individuals is key. Grandma's laptop isn't as good as SF state's recently outdated computers.

Ryan - Schools and such often have end-of-life return policies.

Zack - We could talk about this for hours. It could be true for bigger organizations, but maybe not for the little guys.

Ryan - E waste recycles at City college, I could talk with them. They may have other stuff (chairs that are more recent)

( we have a lot tho)

Zack - That can also encourage people to come to and donate to NB. Win-win. I've approached small biz like the Women's building, and offered to help with their equipment. We could get the Circle of Life going of donating and repairing like the glory days. Rejuvinate the old spirit.

Ryan - We need to get the space to function first, so once it reopens we can get up to speed quickly.

Zack - Just get the conversation going. Maybe get a laptop here or there. It's better than waiting 6 additional months to build these connections.

Ryan - I don't have time for this, but we need to volunteer this.

Zack - Just distribute the work among everyone, no need for specific, time-intensive group

Dan - Let's talk about this a lot -- later. For now, let's get to having classes at noisebridge. I have a perspective, from reading SF city of public health directives for higher education, will share once it's brought up. There's a TON.

Ryan - Let's move to it then!

Discussion Item 1

Classes

Ryan - Zack mentioned CHM. Have you read the City education ^^^ but it explains much of what we need to do to have NB classes in person.

Zack - That wasn't the topic I wanted to have. I wanted virtual classes, not physical ones

Dan - For sure!

Ryan - (agrees)

Zack - Zach has strong opinions about COVID, and wishes to stick to virtual classes.

Ryan - Do you think NB has the ability to meet those criteria ---

Dan - NO.Well, maybe. But a lot of work. Maybe 10 hours to get the basics, not fun, but if they really want to do it, they can. No corner-cutting though.

One example: Contact tracing could be *kind of* handled, but goes against anonymity principle.

need to have written plan, with summary, handed to everyone coming in, screen them for COVID, etc.

Zack - Since it was broached, let's go into this. 2 weeks ago, the mayor talk about reopening and such. Within a week, there were covid spikes, 1,000 dead, and the mayor rescineded her previous policy. The mayor herself has made mistakes that lead to increased infection. We need to analyze the risks ourselves. Let's move forward, though.

Pyconaut- I proplsed the question, because I agree with the thought that noisebridge can not have in person classes.

Zack- Online classes. I taught a 4 part online class about PCB design a few weeks ago and it went well. I want to do a arduino class, but no one responded online. But not interested in cat hearding people online.

How can we get the word out better. Propmotion time should not need to be done by the teacher.

TJ- without having in person passer by people, it is hard to get new people interested. Split in communication channels is also hard. And is not invting for most people. Meetups are also not very useful right now without people

Dan- How people find out what is happening.

Carl- Many spaces are having almost nothing happening (sudo room, omni, etc).

Zack- Online Curcit hacking Monday had almost no one showing up.

Zack- a lot of people are turning inward and not seeking out learning new things.

Carl- I feel I need to call into meetings to have personal connection

TJ- Medium might be more of an issue then intrest.

Zack- might be a lack of curiosity right now.

Pyco- I agree with TJ, I think medium is impotaint, it could be done on Twitchh or youtube, as those have been very popular.

Dan - CHM has done well with kits. Learn how to solder, solder together a circuit, with blinkenlicht, *some hardware*. Physical distribution of kits is something to consider, but something physical to work on and get familiar with. (less screen exposure), maybe some community interactivity through Q and A. Otherwise, we are just saturated with video.

TJ- It's why cooking is so ppopular right now.

Zack- I have been making arduino shields

Ryan - people are *reserved* for learning new things , and arduino is super easy

Zack - I don't want to make a whole class if no one is interested. That's why I do interest check. Not going to spend energy of cirricula that go nowhere. I want more interest.

Ryan - It's a catch 22 People won't say their interested if they get nothing out of it right now. I usually sign up for things I'll never do. But now I won't sign up for things if I don't get anything out of it due to stress. People may think if they say they're interested, it implies commitment.

Zack - i don't want to baby people, and it kills my interest in teaching. Maybe it's just me.

Dan - I hear you. What is your motivation as a teacher? Let's address that, just to get the perspective of seeing a lack of NB activity (vs. normal), but a lot of opportunity to make use of special moment of our future history. We do not want to deal with many people. We got work, and 5 ppl who show up are more interested in teaching than learning. We're in a good position to enjoy our position. We can pay rent for a year, maybe we should slow down and build ourselves up for when people come in. We don't have to reach out to the masses yet. Takes a while to get the group.

Not a lot of people doing things at NB, and that's ok. It's a vacation; let's make the most of it.

Zack - I think we are expressing different desires, coming from different places. You're in the space and doing more than I do, so you're maybe overworked. I'm not there. I think classes are fun, and am excited about doing it virtually. I won't be able to get into physical space when virtual is over. So I enjoy this time to connect with people. It was awesome to attend CHM then. I'm not worried about potential debt and stuff. I'm just learning cool things, and would love to share that with ppl.

Ryan - I'm more in the middle. I want to fix NB, but I know we're in a place where online events would be awesome for the community. I think they can be explored separately. Amount of people interested in either is very small, and overlapping. Most of ppl here are interested in both. Everyone has taught at least 1-2 things and has a deep interest in making space better for community. There's a conflict of interest / avenue. I want to teach online classes too, and get NB happening. Want to host meetings / events at NB to get (online) interest in NB. Just have teacher at noisebridge, so online learners can see the space. That can get people interested, make classes a bit easier. We had 8 ppl on Discord show up to watch anime and chat and it was AWESOME (+1 from TJ). There are different things that can be done, and get online classes going. How do we get interest to focus our efforts? (after all, writing a cirriculum for nothing will be counterproductive if no one is interested).

Zack - I don't want ppl to do a lot of work, just interest

Carl- Can somethnng happpen

TJ- CHM was often a gatway, while people don't fee like joining a new community right now.

We might not all want to talke a class, but many o us are learning new stuff. Stuff like 5mof is really good at allowing people to share what they are learning, they then can show intrest afterwards.

Dan - Re classes in the driveway : I think it would be safe, depending on who shows up, BUT gov't regulations (written in *blood* iirc) will say (for adult education programs of classes for students), we'd have to do SO much work. We may have one person at a time to work on equipment. But having a class will bring a lot more paperwork with the government. The most we can do rn is basic operations. We have to thread the needle here. Don't call it a "class", because that puts up in deep water. NB is closed until we can open safely, only people who help invited. Don't listen to the city, make our own decisions. But also, don't cross them.

Pyco- I agree, teachers might be ok in the space, but not students.

Carl- I started to set up Flashen Taschen in the new noisebridge. We might need to reflash the SD card.