Meeting Notes 2023 07 11

These are the notes from the The 731st Meeting of Noisebridge.

• Live notes
  • https://pad.riseup.net/p/nbmeeting
• Virtual Meeting (jitsi mic/cam off by default)
  • https://jitsi.noisebridge.io/hackitorium#config.startWithAudioMuted=true&config.startWithVideoMuted=true&userInfo.displayName=%22n00b%22
  • Backup link: https://meet.jit.si/noisebridge
  • Update last meeting: https://www.noisebridge.net/index.php?title=Last_meeting&redirect=no
  • Update next meeting: https://www.noisebridge.net/index.php?title=Next_meeting&redirect=no

Date: 2023_07_11

Previous Meeting

Next Meeting

Note-takers: Mike, Sean

Moderators: Ryan

Meeting Summary

FILL OUT AT END OF MEETING AND SEND TO MAILING LIST/SLACK/DISCORD Include: TLDR what happened at the meeting:

• Fundraising Update:
• Announcements:
• Finances:
• New members:
• New philanthropists:
• Consensus Items:
• Discussion Items:

Introductions

- Ryan - Pyconaut (Pronounced "psyconut") (he/him) - I'm BACK!!!!!

- John - Woodshop, wood artist, painter.

- Mike - first day here - code person

- Farley - FreeCodeCamp hosting, learn2code, etc. code stuff - Sunday @ 2-6

- Evan - Design engineer, loudspeaker company, 3d printing, cad, cool

- Soul (she/her) - from Argentina, project manager, live in city. 3d printing, technical stuffs, AI, etc.

- Ben - Down here in the shop, laser cutter, cnc machine, (he/him)

- Tino (Ken) - Carpentry, all kinds of fields

- Brian - all kinds of arts

- Karmit, he/him, work on some projects, come pretty frequently, check out what's happening, open booths

- Shivam, he/him, Austin student, interning here - NB is really cool, exploring!

- Audi - also from Austin, first time here, like building cool shit.

- Sean - he/him - been here for 4-5 months now, usually working on laser cutter when not broken

- Peter - SWE by day, hardware stuff by night, 7-8 years.

- Mark - video game stuff here, been coming around a while, 7 years thereabouts.

- David - from LA, first time here, wood stuff.

- Colin, laser cutter sometimes.'

- Jess - first timer here, mech E, building a satellite to launch in Sept.!

- Sasha - he/him - fairly new here, EE by trade, laser cutter dabbling, carp project.

- Josha - they exist, good to see some familiar faces

- Calvin - cyan in discord, in SF for a week, new, SWE by day, etc.

- Ryan: This weekend is opensauce.live !!!! Makerfaire meets Youtube convention at Pier 45! Will have a booth and there will be parties at NB thurs fri and sunday!

If any NB guilds have a project they want shown at the booth, please let Pyconaut know on discord or Slack in the appropriate channel or via DM. MUST have it ready by early Thurs morning.

Our booth is MASSIVE, bring your projectz.

- Sean: Sunday Streets application was granted. It's on July 30th - we also need to plan what projects we want to bring for our booth for that! (at Valencia Street). Sean will post a link for volunteers later in the week.

- Mark: Another event: MagWest is going on this weekend in Santa Clara (music and gaming festival) - all day party, Fri, Sat, Sun. Video game, video game music, it's awesome. If that's more your thing than MakerFair, do it. Or not. I'm not your parent.

Elan: also MagWest stuff

My friend made a NOISEBRIDGE discount code. I also have a 2 free ticket if people are interested. https://www.magwest.org/

Excellence

Our One Rule is to Be Excellent to Each Other. (On first Tuesdays, seek a few definitions. Other Tuesday, give a 1-3 sentence summary.)

Josh: For me it is taking an action that benefits all users of the space, but also encourages the person who takes the action to get more curious about some aspect of how things work at Noisebridge. It's like doing good, particularly in a way that brings a level of engagement with the space and community and serves as an example for other people to do good.

Ken: There is no schedule - doing things are initiative based - doing things on your own intitiative is excellent!

What does that mean? Please see our page on excellence https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Excellence!

Anti-Harassment Policy & Community Standards of Excellence

Noisebridge has an Anti-Harassment Policy https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Anti-Harassment_Policy Everyone is expected to follow the Anti-Harassment Policy, please familiarize yourself with it.) TWO MINUTES MAX

Conflict is bad, but almost unavoidable at a radically open space. There are rules - to be excellent to each other! This is a very important component to our anti-harassment policy (etc. etc.). Please consult the above wiki document!

Guilds

• What are guilds - briefly describe (much like the previous section on "Excellence")

Guild Announcements:

Ken: I propose - we need to clear out the wall, very difficult. I propose to move these tables to the robotics room, and the tables in the robotics room to remove (because they are low quality, shakey, etc.)

The other two, perhaps put on wheels and put them here. I'm not sure if I need consensus to this, if anyone objects they should raise concerns probably now.

Mark: Please write up a slightly more formal proposal in the space maintainers channel on Discord, so we have it written down as a plan.

Ken: I'll do it.

Ryan: City approval might be needed for building the woodshop wall, but we're acknowledging that this is merely preparing for that.

FYI laser training from 2-4 this Sunday--jd

New Members/Associate Members

What are they? Is anyone trying to become a Member or Associate Member? If not move on. No long discussions.

Membership is partially about a monthly donation. It's about taking responsibility and stewardship of the space. Associate Members less so than full members. (Full members are part of large decisions). Associate Members have the following responsibilities:

   - Closing the space if after hours.
   - Encouraged to be excellent, take action, introduce new folks.
   

Full members need more sponsors to become one (two vs one). Two sponsors.

Ken: Not quite sure where I stand, but my understanding is that the distinguishment is the level of responsibility, ability to take action independently, in line with the spaces demands.

Mark: One key difference is that full Members can block formal processes - i.e. consensus items, can block other memberships, etc. Associate Members cannot do this. Full members are essentially the decision makers of the space. Policy changes, consensus (e.g. deciding on a lease, move, etc. deep structural changes)

More small differences: associate members renew 30-day access cards, while full members can grant 30-day access cards. Full members can vote for the annual board elections (but the board are the legal targets for bad things ???)

We are making no particular procedural note of folks who are not present.

Applications to process (who are here)

- Ben - Associate membership

Sponsors for Ben: Mark. And there was much rejoicing And then everybody clapped (feat. Albert Einstein)

Mark: Why are you applying?

Ben: So I can open and close

Ryan: What project would you like to see for Noisebridge in the future?

Ben: Once the wall is built, flosh & tosh on the whole wall. I love to help out with projects! Other than that, working on quality of life things for CNC, perhaps a shelf. I want to start doing classes for it once it's working again.

BEN IS NOW A ASSOCIATE MEMBER (APPROVED, NO BLOCKS)and there was much rejoicing

Financial Report (first Tuesday of month only)

Anarchist societies under a capitalist state need money to survive and thrive, yo.

A few Ryan updates: - OpenSauce overall will probably cost altogether about ~1,200$, A/V setup, reinforcing flosh & toshen, renting a uHaul, insurance costs, etc. - Hopeful to bring 2k - 5k via folks coming by over the weekend. So cash flow positive, hopefully! If you're giving tours, make sure to encourage donations, and mention that we are completely donation based. Online, you can get NB's EIN to have tax deductible donations. Equipment is fine to donate, materials, etc. - No housepaint. There are guidelines on the website for what to take and not take. Re computers, anything newer than 2012, or older than 1980.

If you're part of the guild, please try to be here over the weekend to let people know. Manage your donation boxes, put lights on it, big signs! People donate! If people want merch, let 'em know about our stock.

Actual finanial update: - Runrate: Our expected run-rate. 8k in donations, spend about 12k (9k in rent). Reaching out to main treasurer to get further updates, i.e. real numbers. - 250k - 300k in bank overall as estimate, 4k drain.

Ken: Turnaround time on ordering T-shirts or merch? Answer: Can be pretty quick. Probably not ready by Thursday. Alternatively, our logo is Creative Commons, you can legit just set it up (local print shop, etc.) Discussion around balance between space usage and fundraising.

Ryan: Have we applied to any grants recently? We should probably start doing that again. We also may have unutilized grants (related to Hackathon-esque)

BIG NUMBOs - $11,688 OUT - $7,333 IN

• Monthly revenue, expenses. Big projects. Big fundraising events. Reserves in bank.
• Any other details by those participating in handling our financials
• The latest financial reports from the treasurer are available at https://noisebridge.net/wiki/Finances

Spending Needs

Gotta spend money on XYZ (i.e. Gate, wiring etc.). WHO CAN SIGN THE CHECK OR LEND THE CREDIT CARD!?!?! It doesn't matter if we agree to do something and it can’t be paid for.

Fundraising Update

How's it all going

Big C Consensus Items

Nobody likes 3 hour meetings, only explain if people ask. https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Current_Consensus_Items

No current consensus items.

Consensus Items

Only for talking about Big C consensus items, small c consensus items should be discussed with people at the space at the time of the change/new item.

Discussion

Discussion Item 1 - Ryan: OPEN SAUCE

The next couple of days: CHAOS. After this meeting, I am going to modifying Flosh & Toshen to ensure rigidity for not falling at the event, as well as ratchet-strapping compatibility with event space posts. They have very strict requirements over 5 ft. 8 in. A lot of approval requirements!

We are essentially building a moving wall. After I do this, I could use some help rebuilding the AV setup for the stage. This includes mounting the speakers to the stage walls, as well as working on building the AV cart that uses rack mounts.

Finally, we are going to be building the new VR pool noodle barricade. Things I could use help with: - We are missing one of the Flosh & Toshen power supplies, and a few of the power cable extensions. If anyone has free time, looking around the electronics room upstairs, that would be amazing. I can show them what the devices look like. If we can't find any, we will need to make new ones. (Solder job, part hunting job, fun elec stuff) [Quest Get!]

When it comes to volunteering, we have five currently. We have one more slot open. I am currently looking through applications for the final slot. It's pretty crucial that any volunteers are available all-day Saturday and Sunday, and if possible, all-day Thursday and Friday: For setup, training, and event logistics. Since we only have five total volunteers allowed by OpenSauce, we need to utilize folks as well as possible. We need a minimum of three volunteers at the booth at any time.

There is a possibility of having different volunteers on different days (shift system), but this introduces additional complexity re training. The training is at OpenSauce after setup, so on Friday - or if we finish setting everything up Thursday night, or perhaps at Noisebridge itself.

The training is knowing how to explain NB, how to run the VR exhibit safely, and being able to quickly learn and explain all of the other makerspaces / hackerspaces in the Bay Area, and any projects that are brought to the event.

Ken: Just want to clarify - is there a preferable set of skills for the volunteers? Electronics, knowledge in VR, etc.?

Ryan: General knowledge, being excited to learn and teach. As well, there will be weekend parties at Noisebridge.

WEEKED PARTIES

On THURSDAY, from 6 PM to 1 AM, I (Ryan) will be here. There will be a lot of exhibitors coming into the Bay Area - who will be coming here to repair their equipment. Noisebridge is used by folks running exhibits in the Bay Area this weekend. I've already gotten confirmation by four or five folks coming in Thursday.

The rest of the day, there will be folks coming in while setting up at OpenSauce, so we need other folks around.

On FRIDAY, after the VIP event, I will be back here from 10 PM to 2 AM for an after party - I'll try to bring some of the guests and VIPs over here to hang out, see the space, etc. If you want to give some famous YTers some tours or show them projects you're working on, just be here Thursday to Sunday.

On SUNDAY, we are having the Noisebridge OpenSauce afterparty. We will try have folks bring projects, the stage will be set up, different Bay Area makerspaces may come and give talks about their spaces and projects.

Saturday night there are a few other parties if you want to go:

   - Unofficial OpenSauce afterparty at Brewing Co.
   - ODrive Robotics party on Saturday at Studio 45.
   - More info at "opensauceafterparty.com"
   

If you want to host a party yourself here, feel free to do so on Saturday. As of right now, other than the NB parties, there are not really others yet. There will be 5,000 maker/hackers in SF that will be DESPERATE for cool shit to do. So be around, hang out, give folks tours, milk that sweet cash so we survive in this capitalistic hellspace.

Ken: Music options?

We'll have Apple TV, ChromeCast, laptop input, and perhaps scrounge around for a Raspberry Pi to do cool stuff. There's a new switcher that has two outputs - we can output to the projector, and if anyone wants, to output to another TV. 50 ft HDMI cable, run a projector to project onto the building next to us. A lot to set up!

All speakers will be hooked up together. <Lot of notes around technical item inventory and logistics>.

Final notes: Come by, hang out - having folks here is an excellent way to show what Noisebridge is. There will be photos and videos taken in this space, so let people know if you don't want to be photo'd and video'd. We can perhaps decide having a room upstairs be no photo'd or video'd.

Ken: There is a lot of visual clutter in the big space. (Limbolandia?)

We may need to take a bunch of the stuff and store in the patio. This stuff is basically going to the dump, queued for DEALLOCATION. Feel free to take stuff if you want garbage. There are possibly computer stuff present that could be allocated for computer stations upstairs (we will need to get power supplies as well).

Re Limbolandia - feel free to look through and organize. Useful cables should be stored under the stairs. Note: we should also be careful not to daisy-chain power cables, and generally ensure we are following the Directives of the State re fire marshalls.

Discussion Item 2 - Josh: Speeding Ticket

1. SigilToNoise on Discord. I got a speeding ticket a couple of weeks ago. I want to use NB as a community service thing. I need 8 - 10 hours of service to get signed off on. There's a PDF form that needs to be filled out. I am going to stop there, please contact me if you have 8 - 10 hours of Noisebridge community work for me.

Discussion: Emily & Elan may have organization work to do. This also needs to be signed off by board members. Prior to actually doing the work, this form needs to be filled out. Any 501-C in the world needs to be signed off on and approved by Sonoma County.

Our current board members: All Officers are on the board. Emily, TJ, Liz, Elon. We also have the Github / Trello for project information to find tasks. Use Email for comms as a better trail of doc. secretary@noisebridge.net

<Various discussion around potential tasks, re logistics, wall, etc.>

- Meta wiki article as a guide on doing community service through Noisebridge.

Ken: I was asked by Emily to keep an eye on the project of THE WALL, perhaps we can coordinate on the organizational logistics of this task.

Do-ocratic Task Board

Participation also means doing stuff to contribute to the space. Propose new tasks or pick some tasks from Github, from what needs to be done around you, or whatever, and see if someone will sign up to work on that task. Anyone can sign up and it's a great way to show you are contributing!

Q. = End of Meeting =

Fun things to do after

• Do a 10 minute cleanup, bring dishes up stairs and wash them, clean the bathroom
• Have some beers on the patio
• Prepare the next weeks' meeting notes
• Lick the walls. Or just draw on them
• sing the Hackernationale (this almost never happens)