What is Hack-the-Space day?

On Sunday 11th March 2012 we had (what I think was) our 5th Hack-the-Space day at the Nottingham Hackspace. A Hack-the-Space day is a day dedicated to the larger project of making the Hackspace more awesome.

Nottinghack (as ever) is in need of a good tidy and sort out. After months of cold weather making the Hackspace occasionally less than pleasant to be in and after a few good large hauls of donations we have virtually no clear space left in the workshop.

The area between the metal working bench and the bike repair/storage area in particular needs attentions. Part of the problem is one that every Hackerspace probably faces. The sort of people who like Hackspaces are the self same sort of people who like to hoard stuff... I'm not sure if there is an anti-pattern here but I always think of it as "Don't Touch the Precious Things!" Basically it's a large amount of junk that is both at the same time completely useless and potentially useful. We try and address this problem at the Nottingham Hackspace by having several rules which include:

The 35L Rule which is probably the worst enforced rule we have. The rule basically says that every member should use one or more 35L jelly boxes to store their projects in and no more. However in reality lots of members have much larger projects and WIPs that need stashing about the space. I'm probably as guilty of that as anyone is!

Probably the better rule to help us is the No CRTs Thank You rule which pretty much says what it is in the name of the rule. At London Hackspace (I think) this has been stretched to include PC tower units and laptops. At Bristol Hackspace there is a shelf literally piled with about 60 laptops circa 1990 and of a type we recently threw 2 away of! Stuff that is just a little too good to throw away but that NO ONE WILL USE any more........ usually.... but that is the

problem. Sometimes WE DO use these obsolete items and where else would you expect to find them but in a Hackerspace?

Jake Howe spent a considerable amount of time and effort on the donations boxes, putting up signs as well as slips to be filled in when items are donated. As a Hackspace we've been fairly soft on the donations box. The idea is that items are put in it for a limited amount of time, and if members what the items they take them and use them. Anything that is in there for a month or more gets thrown away. The items is considered to have had a long enough amount of time to sit and wait to be appropriated. Items will then either be stripped for useful parts for the Hackspace parts bins or taken for appropriate disposal.

Filling the parts tubs and bins is an ongoing

ordeal and to help with this David Clarke has provided two milk cages so we can remove the plastic and metal for hacking from the large

shelving unit behind the electronics bench. As the milk cages have 3 shelves it should be easier to retrieve items, we also sorted through and took out anything that could go in a storage box of it's own.

I was pleased to be able to sort out the laser cutter area making it a lot clearer and further from the woodworking area. I've set up an area where the materials for sale are much easier to find and much more straightforward to see what the prices are too. The shelf consists of an area with a black bin for large off cuts of various materials at 50p each as well as a rack I hacked out of a VHS tape holder from Ikea which holds individually prices sheets of perspex, birch ply and MDF. The prices are written on the top left corner of each item! There are 2 black bins on the floor with scraps of material that you can use for small parts or cuts for free. Please do save any useless scraps of ply or MDF waste for me to put in the wood burner on my boat as kindling! You can put this in the small pink trug-tub that is under the desk.

These Hack-all-the-space days are always enjoyable though we may have made more mess than we cleared up! We did however make a start of organising and sorting. Over the next few weeks when possible we can try and finish the job.

Thank you to all involved!