Collaborative Play: Improving the World by Making Fun Stuff with

Smart People

Rose WhiteNYC Resistor

rose@yarnivore.com

Hacker Spaces!

(Wait, what’s a hacker space?)

The Noisebridge hacker space in the San Francisco Mission District, with someone hard at work.

(credit: Susanne Forbes)

Who is “A HACKER”?

Maker, Geek, Crafter, Coder, Nerd, and Hacker –

all are welcome

In 2008 there was a huge increase in the

number of hacker spaces, both in the US and worldwide

Just the Facts• USians have been visiting German cons• December 2006 – 23C3 • August 2007 – DEFCON • HACKERS ON A PLANE• August 2007 – Chaos Communication

Camp• December 2007 – 24C3 • January 2008 – THE RACE IS ON

WHY?

Again, some facts:

• Bre Pettis and Nick Farr came home and spread the word

• The tools they used were targeted and sophisticated – let’s have a look!

It was the right moment

Whether we live in cities or suburbs, many of us are frustrated

(Chris Luebkeman mentioned the tension of density vs. sprawl)

Alex Steffan asked: Why does everyone own a drill?

Lane Becker and Thor Muller talked about pride of ownership vs. stewardship and the YMCA

“Hacker spaces are like YMCAs for geeks and hackers” – Eric

Michaud

After a year, we’re just getting started

How to get in touch

• My group: nycresistor.com

• San Francisco space: noisebridge.org

• Lots of hacker space info: hackerspaces.org

• My email: rose@yarnivore.com