Hi Folks,
Consensus seems to be that this should be less agenda and more a suggested list of talking points, so here’s what we have.
See you all in a bit 
Ian
Oldham Meeting 2017-10-12
Code of Conduct
This code of conduct applies to your behaviour on all Hackspace Foundation communication channels, and any events that we run:
- Our association is inclusive; do not engage in homophobic, racist, transphobic, ableist, xenophobic, sexist, or otherwise exclusionary behaviour. Do not make exclusionary jokes, even “ironically”.
- Don’t harass people. Physical contact or sexual attention without enthusiastic consent is harassment, or if taken to its extreme, abuse. Wearing revealing clothes or flirting are not necessarily consent. If you’re asked to stop, do so. If you’re not sure the person is happy with what you are doing, ask.
- Aggression and elitism are unwelcome – knowledge is not a competition.
- We’d rather you ask about gender than assume, and if you get it wrong, apologise. Mistakes happen, however you should always use the person’s preferred pronouns when addressing or discussing them.
- People’s private lives are their own. Do not share details about others that they have not explicitly made public. This includes, but is not limited to, sexuality, gender, medical conditions, housing, relationship or financial status.
- Although alcoholic drinks are allowed, there is no expectation or pressure to drink alcohol or conversely not to drink alcohol. However, those who are obviously intoxicated will be asked to leave.
- Discussion of how to make our association more inclusive is welcome. Claims that this “has gone too far” aren’t.
Breaches of the Code of Conduct are handled as per the Consequences of Bad Behaviour document. If you have any concerns about someone’s behaviour please let us know either in person, or by emailing contact@hackspace.org.uk.
Whilst copied here for reference, the authorative version of this code of conduct can be found at https://github.com/UKHackspaceFoundation/foundation/blob/master/codeOfConduct.md
Definition of a Hackspace
Proposer: Andrés Muñiz-Piniella
The foundation website states the following:
The UK Hackspace Foundation considers an organisation a Hackspace, and thus eligible to join as a Member Space, if it:
- is member owned/operated,
- is an unincorporated or incorporated association,
- If incorporated, then it must be a not-for-profit / non-profit
- is based in the UK, Republic of Ireland, or Crown Dependencies,
- has a primary object of providing a shared workspace to its members,
- has a bank account,
- has ten or more members,
- has a democratically elected board of at least 3 directors,
- conducts its business by allowing each member over 16 one vote,
- fosters a tolerent and inclusive community (see Code of Conduct),
- encourages engagement with, and opening to, the public,
- describes itself, or its activities, as a Hack(er)space (not necessary in the name or title of the group/business),
- supporting of ‘STEAM’ (Science, Technology, Engineerings, Arts, Mathematics)
- Conformance to these criteria is judged by the Foundation’s board
Examples of organisations that would not meet this criteria include spaces that are: solely used as a rentable, accessible workshop with paid access mainly a private club, group or clique (with the exception of membership being a gateway to regular access)
Opening to membership
Proposer: Damian Axford
Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll make the meeting… but I’d like to see a plan that gets us through to having actual formal members of the UKHSF. As it stands, we have an incorporated company and funds to invest, but no members to structure our decision making or manage said investments.
Benefits of membership
Proposer: Andrés Muñiz-Piniella
See also: https://www.hackspace.org.uk/foundation/benefits.md
Confirmed benefits:
Pre-negotiated Hackspace insurance policy (liability and contents)
Help and moral support from other spaces who’ve been there/done that
Case studies of what’s worked, or not, at other spaces (e.g. access control, accounting)
Reference designs for common systems (e.g. access control, member management)
Are there other benefits we would like to offer?
Discounts we should be seeking?
Licensing Foundation Resources
Proposer: Andrés Muñiz-Piniella
See Licence for Hackspace Foundation resources
The Hackspace Foundation Resources are currently under a creative commons non commercial licence. The non commercial aspect of this licence has generated some discussion.
Is this an acceptable licence? Should we change to something else?
Teams
Proposer: Andrés Muñiz-Piniella
See: "Teams" we'll need, and should start planning for
At some point teams are formed and I have seen lots of progress so it is definitely a good call. Should we create more? What are those teams?
- Communications (Incoming email / Twitter / Facebook / Pidgeon / Fax)
- Web (The website, building new tools such as the map and find-a-space things)
- Outreach - stands at Maikerfaire etc
- Support team - including conflict resolution
Should we be attempting to preempt the teams we need or simply allow them to form and fold organically as needed?
Trade Marks
Proposer: Andrés Muñiz-Piniella
See Trademarking
Should the foundation seek to trademark the term ‘hackspace’?
General consensus was that unless we were willing to then seek to police the usage of the term legally which would be a costly and time consuming effort, there is little point in attempting to pursue this.
Community discussions
Proposer: Andrés Muñiz-Piniella
Handling community a Hackspace Discussion, discussion, and discussion. Amongst other particular examples from spaces and how to brain storm solutions to improve collaboration.
In my Humble Opinion, the latter (Handling community) is the most important one, but can only be discussed after the first topic (define hackspace) is ironed out. All the other items can work as consequence of these two at a later date online.