Ask HN: Starting a hackerspace in my city. How to reach local hackers? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Starting a hackerspace in my city. How to reach local hackers?

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I recently founded a hackerspace in my city (Hakierspejs Łódź). We've built a community of a bit over a dozen of people, but I calculated that we need to reach about twenty in order to formally register and be able to rent a place as a formal organisation. Thing is, I feel that we're starting to exhaust our ideas for marketing. How could I find hackers (people passionate about free software) in my city that hadn't found out about the hackerspaces movement yet?

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I think you have still multiple options here. You could contact the FSFE, use the channels they usually on (IRC, Riot/Matrix, Friendica, Mastodon etc.).

Try to contact other hackerspaces (https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/Poland). Mostly they can help out with stuff which could be needed in the long run.

What equipment do you have? 3D Printers, Sewing machines etc? You could make masks. That would be needed and is good publicity.

Make a nice website and emphasize on the benefits of membership (own jabber/slack/whatever account, email, cheaper seminar fees and so on).

What is your focus? Do you a theme (like spaceship or just makerspace?). Concentrate on that. Just ask for help with different stuff. If people see they can contribute to something then i think they will come.

Well just my two cents.

hackers (people passionate about free software)

This is a narrow definition of Hackers limited to specific opinions and values. That's ok if that's the mission of the organization but it's orthogonal to the idea of a hacker space which is about activity not belief an specifically, hacker spaces are about the activity of making and not socio-political goals directly.

Don't misunderstand me. I think free software is an important and powerful idea. But in terms of creation, being around other people who are creative is more important than being around people who match one of my particular opinions and I definitely don't prioritize the degree to which I value free software over the tools and process that facilitate creation. Good luck.

I understand your point - I hesitated while writing this sentence. I just felt like I should underline that it's not the "black hat" hackers we're looking for and that we're not criminals in case this post gets taken out of context. We obviously welcome DYI folks / security-minded people. It's just that FLOSS is our biggest common denominator, which is why I wrote this phrase.

I understand. Maybe “no, no, no, the good kind of hackers” is part of the marketing problem. ‘Maker’ is the current zeitgeist. It also provides more to work towards and that’s helpful for sustaining an organization. Of course some of your current group is likely to rage quit for such a pivot. It’s a question of goals whether it’s the right thing.

But using “hacker” means you will always be boiling the ocean in your marketing.

I’d reach out to other hacker spaces easpecually the closest ones. Maybe they have folks commuting from your area.

Next I’d get on social media and announce. Beyond that get on google maps, etc.

Thanks. About Google Maps - it's a chicken and egg problem. We can't have a venue until we recruit enough folks that believe in the concept enough to pay for it. Which is where I think we are right now.

Maybe local hardware stores would let you post a flyer?

Meetup, Facebook, nextdoor, slack?

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