SpaceCamps have been happening at Maker Faire Bay Area, Detroit, and New York. The point of SpaceCamp is to propagate the robustness and awareness of hacker- and makerspaces. Attending spaces are curated into a shared area so that space facilitators get to know each other and Faire attendees are exposed to the wide variety of spaces’ interests, personalities, and geographies.

SpaceCamps are a part of Space Federation. Space Federation’s mission is to provide financial and organizational support to open communities in shared physical spaces who use innovative methods and technology in hands-on education. This means we help space facilitators and founders get to know each other, and provide fiscal sponsorship (act as a 501c3 without all of the overhead) to groups who operate as not-for-profit.

We do this because we want hacker- and makerspaces to become the schools of the future (see our panel from Faire, sorry about the audio). For that to happen, we need to be able to focus on making awesome, not figuring out if our zoning designation will fit with our insurance type. In the same way we share a laser cutter, we can share accountants and lawyers. Better yet, we can share what we’ve learned about things like membership documents, bylaws, and epoxies.

Hackathons are great fun, aren’t they? New friends, pizza, maybe some beer. Working on problems that might save the world, or at the very least, a life? We listen to rad music, stare at stacks in confusion, and yell at our code. At the end of the event, we have a working prototype of an idea, and we all feel very good about what we’ve done. But how much impact does it *actually* have? The applications coming out are often poorly documented, stored all over the place, and have quite a bit of work left to do on them. And those devs, the wonderful devs, they disappear back into the mist when the event is done. Leaving their freshly-born application mewling in the cold cold world of the Internet.

So what can we do about that?

Heather Blanchard of Crisis Commons and I sat down at DEFCON to discuss this. We have multiple solutions, which when implemented together, should make this much less of an issue.

1) The problem definitions themselves need a lot of work. Problem definitions are what organizations such as the Red Cross bring to the Volunteer Technology Community in search of software/hardware solutions. You can peruse some on the RHoK site. The individual or organization bringing the problem def also needs to OWN it, making themselves available for questions, resource needs, and feedback.

2) The hackathons themselves are fantastic. But people who are truly inspired and wish to continue their efforts need a way to continue interacting and documenting with their creations.

3) We need a vetting process wherein people actually submit their applications (ala GIS Corps) to be a part of this network and to continue their efforts. When disaster strikes, we must know the people we are calling on for help will respond and will be competent.

4) There needs to be an end to each project. When is something done? Play with it, do a trial run. Did it work? What still needs improvement?

Rinse and repeat.

Crisis Commons and Geeks Without Bounds feels this rough draft of flow will greatly improve the tools emerging from VTCs, give a more meaningful experience to volunteers, and save more lives. And we still get our pizza and 24 hour events for feel-good-feelings, but also a path for continued engagement.

in the past two weeks, I’ve:
+ played on a playground
+ been on NPR
+ held hands
+ seen new people at Jigsaw
+ presented at Dorkbot Seattle
+ spent time with my tribe
+ been tempted to sing the national anthem
+ gone to art walk
+ met Mark Ganter
+ gone on a date
+ been gifted a couch
+ moved a LEGO motor with my mind
+ been kidnapped to a brass band performance
+ blogged on SPWS, and got picked up by MAKE
+ spent 12 hours in Jigsaw meetings
+ worked my rad job
+ eaten pears
+ been cuddled a lot (ok, just the right amount)
+ worked on my bike

this week, I’m:
+ going to NYC and Boston
+ peeling labels off video games
+ seeing Geoffrey Canada speak
+ (hopefully) finishing my bike
+ meeting Raine
+ seeing my sister in a play
+ visiting a bunch of friends and family on the east coast
+ maybe visiting MIT
+ working more at my rad job