Meeting Notes 2015 01 13

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These are the notes from the The 329th Meeting of Noisebridge. Note-taker: Nthmost; Moderators: Teapot.

  • Signal is now a Member of Noisebridge.
  • I think we're more than that. Whatever. Ship it.

Introductions[edit]

  • Devon - Privacy, anonymity
  • Nthmost - new meeting notes template, wtf
  • Signal - privacy & anonymity, Deidentification and machine learning classes. Now wants to be a Member!
  • Jade - neurohacking meetup on Wednesdays. psych, neuro, computer science. Python.
  • Kevin - Member, been here 2 years. Machine learning, privacy&security, biochem, neuroscience (neurohacking group on Wednesdays)
  • Norman - try to help out, more interested in designing things that help ppl out.
  • Harry - been coming for about 6 months
  • Jay - new here, heard about NB from a friend. With Free Code Camp, trying to find a place to get a meetup and learn how to code, studying electrical engineering.
  • Liana - ambassador from LA hackerspace, Crashspace, mostly looking for something that drives a floppy disk (refurbing a Mac classic)
  • Scotty - CS and programmer, trying to refurb the metalworking tools. Into modes of transport powreed by wind. Building a Land Yacht.
  • Matt - also new here. (Scotty) CG researcher, doing tech to make games feel like films.
  • Monad - I tinker.
  • Mike Kaan - doing things to give a good name to science, to make it accessible and useful to ppl. Electronic workbenches that don't wobble or teeter!
  • Patrick - software eng. interested in physical electronic stuff & security.
  • Torrie - cryptoanarchist. I try to sleep at night. Been coming to NB a while, this is my first time here today.
  • Teapot - IOS developer, interested in crypto & privacy. Mac Hacking Fridays!
  • Mohammed
  • Gary
  • Gustavo

Short announcements and events[edit]

  • Nthmost/Signal: PROJECT X! Event set for February 7th.
  • Patrick: Iron Blogger! Ppl in the group commit to write one blog post a week to be syndicated on planet.noisebridge.net, and if you don't, you put money into the beer fund.
  • Harry: delivered most of the t-shirts in SF! The rest need to be mailed out.
  • Signal: We did the European T-shirts!
  • Gary: looking for activist-engineers. Want help with fundraising? Ask me!
  • Torrie: NB is Broke!!!11one -- WUT DO!?
  • Torrie: Circuit Hacking Monday last night was cool, lots of newbies. I ran it. It would be great if others would host it. Be here next Monday!
  • Nthmost: Golden Spiral Library, gonna build it! Visiting Discount Hardware this week (before the weekend) and then building not this weekend but the next. $$ contributions welcome (but not required). Helping hands very needed.
  • Mohammed: 3D printer working! gonna start a 3D modeling class "real soon now". Dual-head extruders.

Membership Binder [edit]

It is important to know that at NB you don't have to be a Member to do anything. You can contribute, be loved, use tools, donate, and not be a Member. The only thing you can't do is have full participation in Consensus. NB makes big decisions via Consensus. Membership also comes w/ a dues requirement. Membership is an agreement to have greater involvement in the space, active stewardship.

Application Process: Print an application. You need signatures of 2 active Members in good standing at Noisebridge. Every week your app is read out and we mark off each week that we read it, along with your sponsors and statements. On the 4th week if you have all the things on your application AND you are present at the meeting, you are eligible for Consensus as a Member. Ppl interview you, there's then a discussion without you present, people say various things, and decide go or no-go. Your app will stay in the binder for 12 weeks if it sits without all aspects being fulfilled.

Norman: how do I donate without being a Member? Donate

  • Signal - sponsors Naomi, Torrie, Jarrod - Week 4.
  • Sam Tepper - sponsors Monad, Kevin - Week 5

Signal's Interrogation[edit]

Patrick: What hackerspace were you involved with first? what brought you to Noisebridge? Signal: The first was an anarchist run community that had an event where kids came out and show their true colors, and this 10 year old girl decided to put on a chicken mask and play piano, it was amazing. Completely w/o money and worked naturally in a way that blew my mind. Ever since then i have been chasing that kind of "Situationist INternational" culture. Since then I've been making, hacking things, contributing time, cleanup crew. This is maybe my 4th-ish hackerpsace and it's pretty different here at Noisebridge. It's easier to penetrate this culture than at other hackerspaces.

Kevin: under what conditions does Consensus works well? Signal: where everyone knows each other, respect is had. "I disagree w/ this proposal and here's how i would modify it to work for everyone." Consensus doesn't work well when it's seen as an up or down vote. it's not a vote, it's a process. If someone were to disagree w/ me I would try to understand where they're coming from and propose something else.

Kevin: Example? Signal: Occupy DC -- the problem of how to solve the unsanitary conditions. They had to pass Consensus proposals quickly. a gnarly set of constraints, they got people to form a team to solve the problems quickly. Probably because they were very experienced activists. Experience is required for good Consensus process. NB is different to me because previous experiences were maybe 6 to 10 members where everybody knows each other. Here is much harder, more people, more divergence of opinion.

Nthmost: what do you see as the benefits and disadvantages of NB's very open-door policy? Signal: benefits, anyone can participate on a moment's notice. downsides: the same. NB is a bit laissez-faire. Always been a bit weirded out about how open-door we really are. NB does way more classes than other hackerspaces do. NB should get a cookie for that. Let's double-down on that. Disadvantages: hard to rely on volunteers to keep the doors open. That's a big requirement/request.

Torrie: what makes you happy? Signal: when things work and I wasn't involved in making them work. So, you make me happy, Torrie.

Harry: Why do you want to be a Member? Signal: up until a month ago, i was running w/ a torch saying maybe we don't need to have Members. Then it became clear that there were responsibilities that needed to be taken on and I felt like it was weird not to be a Member and to have these responsibilities. I think i'll act about the same as before but also have full participation in Consensus. I've given lots of time and money and effort as a non-Member and I want to confirm ppl can do anything w/o being a Member.

Jade: what do you see as the responsisbilities of Members? Signal: help keep the lights on! Consensus process. Voting on board membership. I think of responsibilities like, Mitch is out of town and he needs someone he trusts to give a tour to someone from out of town. Key sharing. Trust.

Teapot: NB as anarchist org, what does that mean to you? Signal: It means money is boring, and the only reason we talk about it is because we have to pay bills. Privilege should be irrelevant and leveled. I have an expensive education and i hope i can share what I've learned w/ everyone regardless of background. If I can't smash the state and have fun doing it, I'm not coming.

Torrie: Are you a cop? Signal: Nope.

Patrick: Are you allowed to lie about being a cop? Signal: Yes.

Harry: "Smash the state", explain? Signal: I consider myself something of a hacktivist. I've met few laws that I liked. Consent is one that I do like.

Teapot: any questions for yourself? Signal: Yes, why am I doing this? I'm doing this because we need Members for various things. To help keep NB funded, to keep the space open, and help keep our 501c3 status.

Results: Signal is now a Member, yay.

Financial Report[edit]

  • Funds in bank: $22,800 checking (less some checks), ~$2500 in savings.
  • Noisetor (See the bulletpoints at the bottom of http://noisetor.net/finances/#summary):
  • Any other details by those participating in handling our financials
  • Patrick: some $1000+ checks have not been cashed yet. Monthly recurring incoming from PayPal is ~$1800. About $10,000 is NOT for Noisebridge, it's for NoiseTor.
  • So, NET Noisebridge funds is about $10,000. Fixed outgoings ~$4900.
  • We are below the 3 month watermark.

Consensus and Discussion[edit]

  • invite a knowledgeable volunteer to give a brief primer on consensus process
  • It is important that everyone in attendance understands at least:
    • Blocking with verbalized principled objections.
    • Why we use consensus over other approaches to decision making.
    • How consensus isn't a legislative process
    • Why consensus isn't applicable to some things like conflict resolution, resolution of time sinks, and the like.

Proposals from last week [edit]

Nope.

Proposals for next week [edit]

Nope

Discussion Items[edit]

Access Control Check-in[edit]

  • Kevin: so there's an upstairs door now and it gets locked when the last person in the space leaves the space. I made a page about keyholders w/ contact information. Just wanted to check in, see how things worked during the break. I received 2 phone calls from people wanting to get into the space because of this page.
  • Torrie: i've been on vacation for the past month, keen to work on the RFID system (unless other people get to it!) -- take Henner's parts and actualize the system. We HAD a system but some of the parts are missing.
  • Norman: As someone who doesn't have a key, if I am just going to show up, do I call ahead of time, or do I just show up? I live in San Mateo, it takes me 2 hours to get here.
  • Teapot: A good way to check ahead is to use Slack or IRC. Generally people have been here between 11am and 11pm.
  • Norman: And the front gate buttons don't work?
  • Torrie: Nope!
  • Harry: Mohammed could you talk more about how Noisebridge has been open?
  • Mohammed: Someone was here to open the space, close the space, at any given time. Dan and I and other regulars shared the responsibility, kept an eye on the door mostly. Tried to find out how to prevent things from happening. Dan has a lot of experience, we stopped some people from coming in who had no idea what NB was. Had ppl try to take the door off. We developed a tactic: when someone needs to be here, we give them a copy of the front gate key. We say the place is open from 10 to 10. If he has the gate key, he doesn't need the upstairs key. We're doing our best and cannot do more than that.
  • Torrie: I came back to NB last week, the place was NOT on fire. Only one incident. It worked, it was cool.
  • Nthmost: Please install INFRASTRUCTURE. Lock things, screw things into hard metal boxes, etc. Raise the metaphorical shelf as high as possible. Example: the AV system and server closet Rubin put in.
  • Kevin: Now that there are more ppl in town, we can all participate in the model Mohammed and Dan established. I encourage ppl to put their names on the wiki page for Keyholders.
  • Nthmost: got the chance to talk to ppl at Cbase, they have a 6-month waiting period before someone can have a key to the space.
  • Signal: the top door key has been changed three times. Let's make sure anybody who gets a key is someone we really trust. A whole lot of nodding about that person for many months.
  • Norman: how's the key card thing going?
  • Torrie: that's the RFID system. We used to have a system in a little box up there... and it's not there anymore. We don't know where it went physically. The code and concepts are still out there. I'm going to work on it again.

Breakout Session about NOISEBROKE[edit]

End of Meeting[edit]

  • 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.