Following on from the Startup weekend, an informal steering committee was formed. The committee decided to purchase a shipping container to build a mobile maker space. A workshop was advertised on social media for the Townsville community to have input into the design and use of the space: what activities (and equipment for these activities) people would like to do in the space.
Twenty-two people attended the workshop at James Cook University in February 2016, which started with introductions from people and their interests. A mix of people from the university, city council, robotics club and individuals with an interest in electronics, hacking and creating participated in the workshop.
We Skype called Mick Byrne from The Edge who talked to us about the lessons staff at The Edge have learned from setting up a hacker/maker space. He said that it was important to build momentum around the space and programs: stimulate conversations, create opportunities for experimentation, identify and create opportunities for what people want to get out of the space, develop skills and tools that people can easily access, experiment and create with. We asked Mick about purchasing a laser cutter for the space and he said that it was a tool that has never had ‘down time’, but that it is important, for safety reasons, to buy good quality models (e.g. Trotech), which cost around $50,000. We discussed the possibility of setting up a sponsorship deal and reducing the costs. Mick also briefly discussed The Edge’s business model: the public is only charged for materials when attending workshops and for the induction of using the equipment and learning safety procedures. He said that they aim to foster community ownership of the space through regular activities (i.e. ‘Hack The Evening’) that are consistent and include a mix of structured and unstructured activities to connect with the community and solve problems as a community.
The Edge’s laser cutter
We had a group discussion about issues in general to consider for establishing the space such as on-going costs for servicing equipment, engaging people who have established routines of creating and making in their homes on their own, succession of leadership roles and leaders and creating an environment that encourages risk taking and making mistakes.
Lists of activities/ideas, desired outcomes and skills people said they could share for MIXHAUS (that were generated from a survey started during the Start Up weekend survey) were posted on the walls and people added items and ticked the items they favored the most .
The items that got the most ticks during the workshop for desired activities/outcomes were: photography, new digital technology, interactive new media art, graphic design, performance installations/participatory art, 3D printing art -virtual reality, computer developed programming, app and web development, software development, digital privacy, open source data mining and programming -home automation, data aggregations and prototypes (Aduino and sensors), robotic applications , cross-generational engagement, exciting social situations, building a creative community, collaboration with people across sectors/disciplines, an idea factory, jobs (from ideas), self-help workshops (e.g. fix and reuse items), having a regular informal ‘Hackey Hour’ (like The Edge’s ‘Hack The Evening’). It is clearly a space that people hope to come together with others to learn and achieve a lot of exciting things!
The main skills people said that they could share were photoshop, electronic, software development, web creation and programming, mobile application, ICT, event, business (promotion, marketing) and management skills.
A word cloud of what people want to do at MIXHAUS- the biggest words got the most ticks by participants
Ally Lankester
digitville 