Halifax Maker Space
| Halifax Maker Space | |
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| Status | planned |
| Country | Canada |
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State or District |
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| City | Halifax |
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Date of founding |
2012/08/06 |
| Last Updated | 2012-11-16 |
| Website | http://halifaxmakerspace.org/ |
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Wiki |
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| Snail mail |
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Number of members |
7 |
| Members | |
| Location | 44° 38' 8" N, 63° 34' 37" W |
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Halifax Makerspace is the name of a planned hackerspace in Halifax, NS.
Contents |
[edit] Current Status
The group is currently working out details on available commercial locations and rates, minimum membership requirements and branding. A marketing push is expected before any significant commitments are made to a permanent location.
[edit] Vision
Halifax Makerspace hopes to start a community workshop in early 2013. This workshop would be a place where anyone could bring their electronic, woodworking, metalworking, or technical projects and work on them in an open, collaborative environment.
This space would ideally be located on the Halifax Peninsula, west of North St. to provide a central location within walking distance of the major commercial district and universities. The city has a student population well exceeding 20,000, and there are about 60,000 people that work within 2 km of
[edit] History
Halifax Makerspace spawned from the now defunct HalifHACKS google group. The original group members had moved on, lost interest, etc. though there was always a lingering interest. As none of the original members remained, no active members had access to the group settings and configuration.
That interest saw a spike in September 2012, and it was decided to have weekly meetings at Uncommon Grounds, a coffee shop in downtown Halifax to keep in touch, to throw around ideas, and to try and get a hackerspace off the ground. Four core members, Adam Cox, Evan d'Entremont, Peter Greathead, and Tristan deBoer attended the majority of these meetings, with various others on an adhoc to regular basis as schedules allowed.
Another group starting a hackerspace, headed in part by Rob Hutten, came across the HalifHACKS group in October 2012. Both groups shared a common vision, so they joined forces. There was one last meeting at Uncommon Grounds, but with the combined groups it was decided to find a better meeting spot to have enough space.
As of the end of October 2012, Halifax Makerspace is meeting at The HUB, a meeting and workshop cooperative on Barrington St. in the Halifax downtown core.
[edit] Name
HalifHACKS was considered a good name on paper. However, it's similar pronunciation to the host city name, it's awkward spelling, and the absence of founding members prompted the group to rename itself.
Several names were put forward, with limited progress being made for weeks. Many of the members wanted to stay away from the term "Hack" for political reasons, believing it to be easier to access government and local funding with a more conservative name. Others within the group wanted to use the word "Hack," or "Hacker" based on the Jargon File definition, believing the "CNN definition" to be wrong.
The group decided it was not worth educating the public on the proper definition of the word "hack," especially at such an early phase. For the sake of simplicity and public relations, "Halifax Makerspace" was chosen. Several other ideas were considered, such as "Citadel Labs" (after the Halifax Citadel, a local landmark) and "Wharfworks" after the city's maritime culture.
