Loomio
Wed 17 May 2017 1:05PM

Where shall we meet?

BG Ben Galewsky Public Seen by 359

We already have a space in at Parkland. What additional or alternative spaces are there that we can go to that will grow hack culture in CU? Let's see where this takes us!

BG

Ben Galewsky Wed 17 May 2017 1:14PM

I will start things off with my resistance to a space that requires driving from the CU core. I think there are many of us who have patterned our lives around not using a car and being "loco-voracious". For me, downtown Champaign is about the edge of where I am willing to go routinely.

JC

Jason Cerezo Fri 19 May 2017 12:49AM

I don't think it would be terrible to see how things work out in Research Park. It's not a permanent commitment and it could realistically be easier for more people.

SH

Sanford Hess Fri 19 May 2017 5:56PM

I am in favor of trying the Research Park space. I think it will be easier to draw new people there because it's got cachet and people know where it is. Getting people to come to Parkland has been more difficult, and giving them instructions to find it has been painful.

GS

Gordon Speagle Fri 19 May 2017 6:44PM

Independent Media Center? I am still not in favor of Research Park for the reasons i brought up last week, so i won't belabor that point.

SH

Sanford Hess Sat 20 May 2017 12:43PM

Gordon - that was one of the spaces we brainstormed. It has a few knocks as an option:
1) There's a monthly meeting on Tuesdays, so one week per month we'd have to make other plans. (http://www.ucimc.org/calendar)
2) Cost is not free. Assuming we're members, it's $45/hr for two rooms (and no price is listed for rooms beyond 2...) So let's assume it's $90/week. While it's good to support the IMC, that's a lot of $$ to raise. (http://www.ucimc.org/our_center)

MC

Matt Cho Sat 20 May 2017 10:07PM

im just gonna assume any location will come with its bag of pros/cons so my suggestion is for multiple locations/hosted on different days of the week - for instance parkland tues, ew wed, and perhaps the library/imc/adult ed/etc on thurs. a distributed hack night model could address (1) those that might have a conflict with a certain day of the week (such as a tues or wed), (2) those that require a particular location out of accessibility/convenience (which is what this sounds like some of this is boiling down to), (3) growing the hack night audience (which i am for and agree ew along with other locations can help with). a future scenario could be several locationally distributed hack nights a week that allows the flexibility to hop around each one and then a big one where we can all get together at one location once a month. and if this helps, i am willing to manage or stay at the parkland location since i have a personal interest in hack culture on this side of the "fringe".

MC

Matt Cho Sat 20 May 2017 11:26PM

sorry, i reframed the topic because i think it was leading the discussion to one versus another after seeing some of the responses.

BG

Ben Galewsky Sun 21 May 2017 4:51AM

Reframing is good!

GS

Gordon Speagle Sun 21 May 2017 2:26PM

I can dig the distributed model, rectifies the either/or issue between research park and parkland. Tuesdays at Parkland have been working well for me, so I will help Matt whatever capacity he needs to keep that site going. And I can always provide rides to anyone who is having issues getting to a certain location.

BG

Ben Galewsky Sun 21 May 2017 4:22PM

While I share Matt's optimistic view of the future of civic tech in our area I would worry about diluting our efforts this early in the process. It takes a lot of organizational energy to bring our group together and the power of the community comes from collaboration between diverse membership.

I fear that at this point in our life-cycle, multiple hack nights would weaken the movement.

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