The Complex Issue Of Hackspace Donations

More than one member of the Hackaday team has significant involvement in a hackspace, as member, director, or even founder. We talk about hackspaces quite rarely on these pages though, not because we don’t have anything to say on the matter but because even when we write in general terms our fellow members invariably think it’s all about them rather than the hackspace world at large.

For once I’m going to break the silence, and not only talk about hackspaces, but talk about my own hackspace in specific terms. Because, fellow Oxford Hackspace members, this isn’t about you personally though …read more

Continue reading The Complex Issue Of Hackspace Donations

EMF Camp 2016, A Personal Review

If I can offer one piece of advice to the Hackaday readership, it is this: Never, ever, be the sole member of your hackerspace’s board that owns a large station wagon, unless you relish the thought of packing an entire hacker camp village into your vehicle and transporting it halfway across the country in the blazing August heat.

I’ve done my laundry, aired my tent, and just sorted the contents of a brace of Tesco bags into several categories: rubbish, food, camping gear and interesting stuff. As I write this, yesterday was teardown day for Electromagnetic Field 2016, an …read more

Continue reading EMF Camp 2016, A Personal Review

EMF: You Shall Find Us At The Sign Of The Jolly Wrencher

It’s frustrating, the reluctance of some of my fellow hackspace members to put the cordless drill battery back in the charger after use.  As this is being written I’ve just coaxed enough energy from the drill to make a few holes in a piece of PVC pipe that will form part of an improvised flagpole, and upon that pole will hang Hackaday’s Jolly Wrencher flag at this weekend’s EMF Camp. We’re sharing a village with Oxford Hackspace, and as both your Hackaday scribe and an OxHack member the last week has been a little busy.

In theory it’s a simple …read more

Continue reading EMF: You Shall Find Us At The Sign Of The Jolly Wrencher