Hackerspaces

An unexpected stop in my tour around Dutch hackerspaces two weekends ago. I was in Utrecht, we joined for beer&pizza with the HARfm team. Utrecht is also the home of Randomdata, a group of hackers looking for a space. Recently, however, they have signed the lease for a space and so after pizza, we scheduled a little visit to their brand new hackerspace!

A 10-minute walk from the center brought us to the doorstep, where Giga (Toool Eindhoven) had a quick look at the lock. Picking it was not required though, as Fish__ rapidly produced the key and led us through a hallway into the entrance of the hackerspace. Not much later, we had the first lockpicking workshop in the space with some old locks found in this former storage room.

There was much else to be found. Very hip seventies bathroom tiles for example. Or a large bucket full of plaster. Some interesting chemicals (a now forbidden drainage cleaning agent). Or a box full of fruit bowls. Well, it was clear: a lot of cleaning up was still required.

The space is not large, but a great start for Randomdata (currently 7 members). It has plumbing and 380V. Planned are a large U-shaped workbench in one end of the room, and a lounge-like zone at the other end. A toilet and a small kitchen will be placed in the entry hall. The ceiling has some interesting cables and ducts, which they plan to keep and extend. Figuring out what it all is or was should keep even the most avid puzzle-freak busy for days.

Official opening of the space is expected soon, as the space has been cleared of all debris and is now ready to be fitted with work-surfaces, tools and what-have-you. Looking forward to my next visit to Utrecht!

Elevator phone in the MAD building

When I started with the idea that it would be good to have a hackerspace in my hometown, Den Haag, I wanted to look at other Dutch hackerspaces for inspiration. Now, there aren’t that many that I knew of but hackerspaces.org lists a few. So after filtering out the ‘dead’ projects and sending out some emails, I took my trustworthy old Volvo 850 to head out to the first stop on this little tour of Dutch hackerspaces: Eindhoven! Joining me there: Tla.

MAD designates itself ‘center for emergent art’. In one of the enthousiastic emails I received from the director of the center, René Paré, I was told that MAD is in the first place a ‘creative research lab’. That is all very well, but when we started talking about what MAD is about, it turned out that they are quite a bunch of hackers! Taking new technology and finding alternative uses or implementations thereof is what drives MAD.

MAD is housed in a building on the former industrial complex that once housed the Philips factories where (among other goods) bulb lights were manufactored. An inspiring area, with lots of beautiful industrial heritage. Inside the building, MAD occupies a largish office unit. There, we find literature. Many books, booklets, leaflets, flyers, papers and what have you. There is also a basic set of tools available, as well as numerous computers.

Although their focus is currently primarily on art, MAD would like to get in touch with their technological roots to a greater extent. By organising workshops that are about, among others, electronics for example. To give artists more creative building blocks. And to educate on the subject of technology.

MAD is already very well networked into the creative scene, but less well-rooted in the hacker-scene. Ample opportunity for collaboration with other Dutch hackerspaces, and we promised to stay in touch and share ideas for workshops. I am sure we will meet again, at T-Dose for example, or in October on the high tech camping: an unconference bringing design and technology closer together.

Although perhaps not a hackerspace in the common interpretation of the definition (if there is such a beast), I quite enjoyed our visit. Next stop in my tour around Dutch hackerspaces: Alkmaar, where we find Projekt072. I’m curious what I will find there!

“Why isn’t there a hackerspace in Den Haag?”. A question frequently overheard during Hacking at Random (HAR2009), the recent hacker camp in The Netherlands. And a good question as well.

Well, the answer now is: because you did not join Revelation Space yet!

There are quite a lot of hackers (which, for purposes of this article I characterize as intelligent people with a critical point of view on
the status quo) in The Netherlands. This fact is evident in the masses of Dutch people that visit hacker conferences, the fact that for a
country as small as ours there is a large number of IT security firms and the realized potential of the four-yearly Dutch hacker camps (HAR2009 being the latest of these).

Now, I do not know much about the history of the CCC, but I do know this club provides structure to the German hacker community. Something that has been lacking in the Dutch hacker community, rooted in the anarchistic Amsterdam eighties. Without something like the CCC, that for all its flaws gives the scene identity and a sense of belonging, the Dutch hackers are a loosely bound community. Hackerspaces might be able to add this structure to the Dutch hacker community, as has happened in Germany and the US already.

Anyway, back to Den Haag, international city of peace and justice. And, on a larger scope, the city-county Haaglanden: Zoetermeer (IT city pur-sang), Delft (home of one of our most well known technical universities), Voorburg, Rijswijk and more. It is only fitting that this region gets a hackerspace, where we can meet, collaborate and come up with great projects.

Not only does such a hackerspace have an inward function, it should also be a center of outreach. A source of education for the masses on how technology touches our lives, and how everyone should be critical.

To make this possible, we need you! Under the name ‘Revelation Space’, a group of hackers from the region are trying to make it happen. Set up the underlying structure, rent a space, decorate it, come up with nice projects and whatever else is involved.

I appeal not only to the hard-core kernel hackers that are out there, geeks who stay up late at night to wrestle through encryption protocols for fun and profit, but also to the artistic among us that play with technology or the social hackers that dive deep into the human mind and find tricks to exploit its design. In other words: hackers of all persuasions are invited to join!

If you are interested, make sure to head over to the RevSpace wiki, join the mailing list or join us on IRC. I hope to be able to say ‘hi’ to many of you in the near future!

Koen Martens (gmc)
gmc@har2009.org
http://wordpress.metro.cx/

Well, sadly the SCUB (Social Center Under the Bridge) got evicted. But the SLUG (Squatters Linux Users Group) managed to find a new space already.

This time on Ceintuurbaan 215 (Amsterdam ofcourse) . It’s a bit smaller, but certainly more cozy. It’s again a shared space, with a small corner for the computers.  Besides  computers there is again a voku, a bikeworkshop, screenprinting gear, and possibly other stuff.

Generally the people come together on friday after 19.00, but keep an eye open on http://squat.net/slug for other events and workshops.

Some pictures: