24c3: Design patterns for running a hacker space
Von heute an findet in Berlin am Alexanderplatz der 24. Chaos Communication Congress (24c3) statt. Kurz gesagt handelt es sich bei dem ganzen um eine jährlich stattfindende Hackerkonferenz, auf der es neben der eigentlichen Technik und deren hacken um damit im Zusammenhang stehende gesellschaftlcihe und politische Themen wie z.B. die Vorratsdatenspeicherung geht.
In meiner ersten Session ging es um den Eigenbau von Flugdrohnen. Im wesentlichen wurden Moellflugzeuge um Rechner, Sensoren und Kameras erweitert und das ganze mit einer Software versehen. Schon konnten wir im Sall live verfolgen, wie auf einem Acker irgendwo in Frankreich eine Drohne startete und nach unseren Anweisungen Schleifen flog und uns dabei Videobilder der Umgebung lieferte. Wirklich sehr nett das ganze – mir ist nur noch nicts eingefallen, was ich damit überwachen wollen könnte. Vielleicht die Staße vor meinem Haus, um zu entscheiden, ob ich fürs Fahrradfahren Regensachen anziehen muss oder nicht? Hm. 
Die zweite Session hieß “Design patterns for running a hacker space”. Das Thema Orte aufbauen ist für mich vor allem im Zusammenhang mit dem 9to5-Projekt (kein upstream-Projekt) interessant, bei dem es um den Aufbau von Orten geht, in denen (vor allem) Selbständige in Zukunft ihrer Abeit nachgehen können. Mehr dazu später in diesem Blog bzw. vorerst im 9to5-Wiki.
Eine weitere Session, die für 9to5 interessant sein dürfte findet heute abend statt: 22 Uhr, AnonAccess – Ein anonymes Zugangskontrollsystem. Wie der Name verät, geht es dabei im ein System, um Mitgliedern zu einem Ort Zugang zu gewähren, ohne mechanische Schlüssel zu verteilen gleichzeitig aber den anonymen Zugang zu gewährleisten, d.h. das System weiß nicht, wer wann gekommen und gegangen ist. Ich werde leider nicht da sein können. Falls also jemand hingeht und mitschreibt, wäre ich für einen Link dankbar.
Im Folgenden jedenfalls meine Notizen zu besagter Session, eine Liste der vorgestellten Patterns, die sich mit dem Aufbau und Betreiben eines Ortes für Hacker befassen. Der erste Punkt beschreibt jeweils das Problem, die nachfolgenden die vorgeschlagene Lösung. Vorbemerkung: Patterns sind keine Anleitung, über ihre Anwendung sollte jeweils am konkreten Fall entschieden werden. (die interessantesten Dinge hab ich mal fett gemacht)
sustainability patterns
infrastructue pattern
- first infrastructure or projects?
- first infrastructure
- infrastructure-driven – ideas come out of infrastructure, even stuff you didn’t think of
grace hopper pattern
- is this the right time? have you thought about all the problems?
- sure it is time
- it’s alwasy easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to get permision
- when in doubt, do it
- problems will be solved (don’t think about it now)
community pattern
- how should your group communicate
- 3 problems: realt time communictation, discussion, documentation
- mailing list, wiki , irc (ich würde da noch Sachen wie IM (in meiner Umgebung z.Z. meist Skype), evtl. twitter, Blog hinzufügen)
critical mass pattern
- how many people?
- 2 + 2: one partner to get kicked of, 2 more to get the work done
- aim for 10 for a start
strong persomalities pattern
- nothing gets done
- need people who have authority, strong personalities, not people who use authority and get laughed at
- need people with experience with building up spaces
independence patterns
landlord and neighborhood pattern
- weird landloard, picky neighbors
- talk to neighbors, need cool neighbors, they might call the cops too often
- you don’t live a majority livestyle – better if your neighbors don’t either
roommate anti-pattern
- guests are fine but don’t have anyone live in your space
separee pattern
- want to chill/work in small groups, but main room is occupied, want to smoke without disturbing anyone
- smaller, separate rooms instead of one big
- use curtains, doors
- smokers room
kitchen pattern
- you need food and caffeine at odd times
- have a kitchen (cooking together – socializing)
- have fridges
- sell soft drink – income (most spaces 50% of income)
- have a dishwasher (!)
- freezer for pizza etc.
coziness pattern
- bring in couches (also for sleeping), sofas, comfortable chairs, pillows, tables, ambient light, stereo, projector, videop game consoles
- bringing in plants didn’t work
shower pattern
- people start smelling funny after hacking for too long
- have a bathroom with a shower (also for people staying over night, guests from other cities)
- washing machine for towels if you wanna get fancy
membership fees pattern
- need money for rent, utilities, projects
- collect fees regularly
- choose appropriate amount, then make no exceptions ever
- student discounts
- have a totalitarian treasurer
- always have 3 months of rent on your account
the sponsoring anti-pattern
- never depend your space on external sponsors – companies go broke
- space should not be located at company/university – you exclude people not in that culture ( non-students e.g.)
- donations are ok
- room must be independent
regularity patterns
plenum pattern
- internal conflicts, have democratic decision-making
- have a regular meeting with all members
- have an agenda and set goals
- make people commit themselves to tasks
tuesday pattern
- every weekday sucks for a meeting, there’s alwasy someone who has an appointment
- pick tuesday. end of discussion. (for all spaces – you always know when everyone is meeting at every space)
open chaos pattern
- you want to draw in people, have an interface to the outside world
- have a monthly public and open lecture, talk or workshop for everyone
- then invite interesting people to regular meetings, don’t tell the weirdos
u23 pattern
- your space needs fresh blood
- recruit young people through a challenge, course that spans several weeks
- let them solve problems in teams
- tutor them, give them room
sine curve pattern
- enthusiasm goes away after some time
- enthusiasm has a sine curve with a cycle duration of 4 years
- keep it running, don’t give up
conflict resolution patterns
consensus pattern
- need a group decision make sure no one gets left behind
- don’t take votes – discuss until everyone agrees
democracy pattern
- discussion doesn’t lead to goal
- do take votes, majority wins
command pattern
- nobody cleans up etc.
- order people, *always participate*, yell if neccessary
sudo leadership pattern
- uou start with a nie group but you suddenly find yourself in a dictatorship run by a single person
- do not have ranks
- use leadership only temporarily
responsibility pattern
- don’t have time anymore for a task you volunteered for
- take pride in your volunteer work
- it you can’t do it anymore hand it over
debate culture pattern
- everybody’s yelling at a meeting and nothing gets done
- make people with actual socail skiils lead the discussion (e.g student council)
- learn not to interrupt others
bikeshed anti-pattern
- you suggest building a new bikeshed, but now everybody discusses about the color
- if you suggest something everybody will discuss it
- identify useless discussions and end them
- www.bikeshed.com
- if it’s complicated people will not discuss, it it’s trivial and they can contribute they will
private talk pattern
- someone causes a problem that cannot be resolved in the group
- let someone experienced talk to the person, don’t expose them in front of the group
old hadware pattern
- space filled up with junk/old hadware, can’t bring in new
- create a pile of old/unused hardware, let everybody take from it
- anything left should be thrown away
- announce it, with an escalation system (3 times)
- http://wiki.koeln.ccc.de/index.php?title=Hacker_space/Hardware-Gesetz
creative chaos patterns
key pattern
- space shoyld be accessible all the time
- hand out keys, track who owns keys, collect deposit for it
- have a goof lock
- or electronic locking system (creates problems)
- other presentation at 24c3 about it
club mate pattern
- need to raise funds
- buy a pallette of club mate
- didn’t really get that – people only productive with club mate?!
Am Ende wurden noch URLs zu bestehden Hacker Spaces genannt: das-labor.org, c-base.org, netzladen.org.
