Blacksburg Hackerspace

This is a page for the planning of a hackerspace in Blacksburg.

Name

The following names have been suggested for the hackerspace (feel free to add to this list!):

• Hacksburg
• Blacksburg Lab for Innovative Tinkering (BLIT)
• Blacksburg Lab for Objects (BLOb)
• Blacksburg Object Fabrication Hackerspace (BOFH)

Affiliation

Many interested parties have expressed interest in *not* being affiliated with Virginia Tech, as some planned activities may conflict with university policy. Many hackerspaces have become 501c3 non-profits, but this requires a significant amount of paperwork.

Potential Funding Sources

• Member dues - Ideally, we would be able to pay all monthly infrastructure expenses without external support
• Kickstarter - Potentially useful for raising startup funds
• Student Engineers' Council - The SEC allocates a sizable budget, but accepting any VT funding may come with strings attached.
  • Correction: The Student Engineers' Council earns its money from the career fair and the funds are disbursed through its student leadership (with a faculty advisor). The only strings attached are spelled out in Articles X and XI in the Bylaws. Tapping into Virginia Tech student activities fee money is a different story, with different stipulations attached.
• Corporate sponsorship

One idea proposed was to have the hackerspace unaffiliated with Virginia Tech and sell both individual and group memberships. A separate, SEC-funded RSO could then buy group memberships for its members and/or engineering students.

Desirable Infrastructure Features

• Proximity to campus/Blacksburg Transit lines
• Low cost
• Fast (symmetric) internet connection, i.e. not NTC
  • Biz Net Technologies
• High-power service panels (220V? 20A?)
• Noise tolerance
• Ventilation
• Floor space
• Kitchen? (Some hackerspaces have found this useful)

Links

• Facebook group
• IRC: #hacksburg on freenode
• Documentation on starting a hackerspace
• Hacksburg Wiki