Based on the NOISEBRIDGE experience (among other hackerspaces in San Francisco Bay) recounted by Michel LALLEMAND in “L'AGE du FAIRE”, Editions du Seuil, 2015
A community place where individuals sharing the same values can meet and work on their projects.
A physically located place where individuals share and use material or intangible resources.
Hackerspaces and other fablabs are equipped with numerical control machines, machines for cutting wood, metal, plastic, but the star is the 3D printer (or rather in the 2010s its precursor, the replicator — RepRap). One tool is particularly dear to members of hackerspaces: the Arduino. It is a device the size of a mobile phone that allows, thanks to simple programming, to serve as an interface between a computer and physical objects (robots for example).
Noisebridge, one of the oldest hackerspaces in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the most well known, is located in an urban area of San Francisco, in the middle of Hispanic neighborhoods; it's not the richest place in the city. It occupies a former sewing workshop. It is defined as a place dedicated to sharing, creation, collaboration, collaboration, development, companionship and education. It is self-financed. It is inspired by similar European clubs: Metalab in Vienna, C Base in Berlin, MAMA in Zagreb and ASCII in Amsterdam. Its premises are a huge industrial loft with a patchwork of machines, computers, books, various utensils.
Noisebridge offers multiple activities: 3D printing, photography, photography, social engineering, social engineering, design and launch of small space equipment, learning computer languages, and three activities in which the author participated: mushroom cultivation, cooking, and German language practice
What form does this space take in concrete terms? It is a rectangular room of 483 m2, with closed spaces (classrooms), shelves, in a huge loft, a large electronic screen. An injunction is present everywhere: “Shut up and hack” and a single rule: “Be excellent to each other, Dude”. It is a diverse accumulation of objects, clothes, computers, books, tools,...
There is a sheet of instructions to follow in case of an FBI visit, because the community is closely linked to TOR, the network that allows you to surf the Internet without revealing your IP address.
Note: 3D printers, laser cutting machines, clothing workshop, electrical DIY, a kitchen, a dining area, classrooms,
The equipment comes from recovery and donations.
Are hackerspaces communities?
A community — in the sense of intentional community — is the product of an organic will that is expressed through pleasure, habit, and memory. It must have at least five members, who have a common objective and place themselves on the margins of society, know how to sacrifice their own interests for the benefit of the collective, live together in a given place. Hackerspaces are not really hackerspaces: hackers don't live and work together all the time, but they share community values.
These are: free cooperation, the refusal of hierarchy, the freedom to exchange information and knowledge, the rejection of discrimination, the belief that techniques have emancipatory potentials, the importance given to do-ocracy (power to do)
The hacker ethic was formalized in 1984 by an American journalist, Steven Levy:
All information should be freeDo not trust authority, promote decentralizationMeritocracy: hackers are judged on their technical performance, not on their degreeAbility to produce art and create beautiful things using a computerComputers can change your life for the better
In 2001 Pekka Himanen provided additional lighting. In the hacker world, work merges with passion because it corresponds to an activity that is intrinsically interesting, inspiring and exhilarating. But this is not unique to hackers; in addition, time management - the compartmentalization of social time and the repetition of tasks must be avoided and net-ethics (or network ethics): freedom of expression, respect for privacy, respect for privacy, interest in others and the desire to integrate networks.
And in Noisebridge?
Work only under the condition of assigning to the task a status of purpose and not of means
Refuse chores, but sharpen your interest with the help of goals that are stimulating, intellectual, and socially useful.
Exaltation in work without counting the time
Be effective but with elegance
To rehabilitate not only pleasure but also aesthetics at the heart of work.
Recognition and reward: hackers are not isolated individuals. They are in the middle of their peers who evaluate them without complacency: you have to prove yourself and show it. Peer recognition is the most valuable reward. Becoming a hacker requires intelligence, practice, dedication, and hard work... but also humility. However, some hackers have also been able to obtain recognition through money (Bill Gates).
Long live the bazaar: in addition to pleasure, efficiency, elegance, elegance, competence and recognition, the hacker ethic requires knowing how to organize effectively, in a mixture of competition and cooperation, without perverting the meaning of competition for money, without distorting the rules through the untimely intrusion of an actor (the state). The mess is the spontaneous cooperation of all vs the bureaucratic cathedral: mistakes are quickly identified and repaired, ideas for improvement are never lacking. However, the bazaar requires procedures for discussion, supervision and punishment.
From principles to practical achievements: what characterizes hackerspaces compared to other communities is the co-presence of hackers; alone or in small groups, they develop their projects in the same place and at the pace that suits them. But it is necessary to work on a project that is passionate and that makes sense. This is the essence of doing. One of Noisebridge's most iconic achievements is the wheelchair, the result of the cooperation of two hackers, one “software”, the other “hardware”, joined by a roboticist and a passing hacker providing a control device.
What is a hacker?
Today: is a hacker anyone who wants to realize their passion with others and create something positive for society with which they will obtain the recognition of their peers.
Originally, in the field of computer programming: “a person who makes a good using an ax”, according to the hacking dictionary (a simple and precise gesture). He is someone who:
Loves to go into the details of programming systemsProgram with enthusiasm Is able to appreciate the value of a hack: fast, efficient, ingenious workCan program quicklyExpertly and/or repeatedly uses a particular programIs an enthusiastic expert in a given fieldFind intellectual pleasure in creatively overcoming constraints or limitationsFind sensitive information by snooping here or there
In fact, it is difficult to find a clear definition: a hack would be the least bad French translation.
In the early 1980s, a sociologist proposed three criteria: the simplicity of the action, control and illegality (here we would rather be dealing with a cracker). The difference between hacking and crime is mainly based on values: for the hacker, the feat is worth more than the result obtained.
With the 2000s, more emphasis was placed on the technical dimension: a practice that creates difference, that produces new things in the field of computers, networks and communication technologies.
Then the definition was extended to fields other than electricity, electronics and computers.
Don't confuse real hackers with crackers: hackers solve problems, they build, and they believe in freedom and voluntary mutual assistance.
Some points emerge from the biography of hackers: an unfulfilling childhood and adolescence, an attraction to science, a middle- or upper-class social environment sensitive to politics. They got their hands dirty very early on. But often they are prone to depression, feel the fear of failure. They were marginalized at an early age and few completed their university studies.
The Noisebridge hackers: most of the 80 people interviewed are white men, between 25 and 40 years old, active, fairly single, from middle classes+. Technique and art were part of their childhood. They had early contact with computers and mixed relationships with the school system.
Elsewhere in the Bay Area, hackers are older and more diverse.
Social types: the author identifies 4 typical profiles according to two criteria: relationship with the market and time management.
HOMOGENEOUS TIME (Mostly dedicated to Doing) CLIVE TIME (Doing/working) ACCOMMODATION TO THE MARCHTHE VIRTUOSETHE FAITHFULLEST VALUATION OF THE MARKETTHE CONVERTED PROFESSIONAL
For all four profiles, the common point is that they fall within the paradigm of doing insofar as, in each case, the work finds its own purpose in itself.
The virtuoso establishes the hacker ethic as a principle structuring all of his life behaviors. The professional assigns priority to him in the way he works, but without being governed by an imperative of profit: economic success is an indirect but welcome consequence of doing so. The faithful has fragmented his life into 2 worlds: Noisebridge where he is very involved and the classic business that allows him to live decently. The last profile, the convert, first practiced hacking as a springboard before converting to his values.
Frailties: many studies have popularized the image of the hacker-geek, bordering on autism, computer addict, monomaniac, uncomfortable in society. There are a lot of suicides among young people, an inability to blend in with society, difficulties in establishing social relationships, in projecting into the future, a feeling of being different, a sensitivity to the torments of life and to the anxieties that it causes. And becoming a hacker is a way to compensate for social downgrade, to take back control of their destiny.
Noisebridge is a not-for-profit association managed collectively.
Funding: the equipment comes from recovery and donations. Noisebridge even has a bus. It operates at $800 per month, covered by contributions ($40 to $80 per month) and donations (including from companies like Google and Microsoft). The very vigilant community has always managed to have a positive balance. There are no public subsidies; one-off donations guarantee autonomy.
Integration, self-presentation and gender relationships: community time is rare, freedom to socialize is the rule. The feeling of belonging to the same collective is more important than in-depth mutual acquaintance. If clothing is not the priority, the nickname is common (even if cracking is not very common in Noisebridge). Gender relationships are not self-evident: in Noisebridge many men are rather contemptuous of women but the community reacts strongly and condemns these words and actions.
Institutional mimicry: name and logo maintain community thinking as well as a newsletter: Zip.
Communication rites: celebrations, conferences, events, meetings to present activities enhance the feeling of belonging.
Noisebridge is a human body structured by rules. Every year, the members elect a 5-member board, but the fact remains that Noisebridge is part of an anarchist tradition. The only claimed function rule is “Be excellent to each other”
An anarchist heritage: consensus (as opposed to voting) is a legacy of both the Californian counterculture of the 1960s and the German libertarian tradition of the 1970s. Becoming a member involves a double sponsorship and a rite of passage, and a membership fee.
Get together, introduce yourself: every Tuesday evening at 8 pm the community has an appointment with itself. The meeting is open to anyone who wants to attend: member, regular, visiting visitor, simply curious. A meeting secretary is appointed, who takes the notes, as well as a president who always introduces Noisebridge, its objectives and its mode of operation and recalls the rules. Then everyone introduces themselves in turn and explains what they are doing. After that, the meeting takes place according to an unchangeable agenda.
Virtues, paradoxes and contradictions of anarchist regulation: consensus is the rule for recruiting new members and making important decisions. The advantage is to avoid majorities playing with minorities, but the trade-off is costly: the time spent in meetings can drag on forever. But this principle has never been questioned. This is managed through animation techniques, the role of the moderator, the practice of round the table and the distribution of speech. Other advantages: once a decision is made by consensus, you never go back, and consensus is a factor of social ties.
But that does not avoid tensions. Three paradoxes emerge:
The lack of correlation between the time to discuss and the importance of the question The link between individual responsibility and collective regulation: a decision taken by consensus requires everyone to be the guarantor, which is not always self-evident Doocracy or the power granted to those who put their ideas into action: how to reconcile the principle of consensus and this incentive to do as one pleases?
At the end of 2011 - beginning of 2012, a small group of homeless people regularly frequented the premises, which annoyed some hackers. The community is quickly equipped with new rules:
The space is not open to anyoneSleeping in Noisebridge is not allowed. The use of the kitchen is limited to genuine food hacking practices
Homeless people stop frequenting Noisebridge, but the episode highlights the structural tension between “pure” computer scientists on the one hand and political activists on the other.
A revealing incident occurs when the police are called in to deport a person who does not want to leave the premises. Weekly meetings will be needed to manage the conflict.
The limits of the do-ocratic bazaar: the main idea is that power belongs to those who do, but not to a centralized authority, but that is not enough: without rules there is no collective life
Several other traits characterize consensus management at Noisebridge:
Anger is never appropriate The existence of multiple rulesAs united as it is, the group cannot resolve all conflicts by itself: there are thus internal hierarchies for mediation (recourse to old people)
Other hackerspaces don't work the same way: they're closer to a classic model.
A selection of articles to extend the reflection, discover other points of view and make your ideas grow.
