Volunteering

There are loads of ways to volunteer at Nottingham Hackspace, from small events and tasks, to entire teams and large scale projects. See below for the various ways you can help. Nottingham Hackspace only exists because of volunteers: There are no staff, and no one is paid for the things they do, including the trustees. Members (and sometimes non-members) put in a huge amount of time every month to ensure the smooth running the Hackspace. The things listed below represent a number of different approaches to volunteering, some of which will probably suit you better than others. They fall into roughtly four areas:

• Teams: Self-organising groups of hackspace members who look after specific areas, and have monthly budgets to spend on them.

• Events: Drop-in events organised around specific collective tasks.

• Tasks: Small, non-disruptive things that repeat and you can do by yourself.

• Projects: Specific bits of infrastructure done by ad hoc teams. Scale varies greatly.

Teams

The hackspace has a number of small, self-governing teams that maintain particular areas. Some are well established with strong processes, and some are only just forming. So far, they are:

Tools

The tools group is starting to look at all our tools to see what further tools we need, and what may need replacing. If you would like to help, contact Joe or email: tools@nottinghack.org.uk

Consumables

The consumables groups look after all those things in the space that we need again and again, from toilet roll to stanley knife blades. Email: consumables@nottinghack.org.uk

Communications

The communications group look after our outward facing presence, such as our website, newsletter, twitter and facebook. More details can be found at Group:Communications, or email newsletter@nottinghack.org.uk

Software

A small group of programmers develops bespoke software for running the hackspace. From Gatekeeper to Snackspace and HMS, the hackspace wouldn't run without this level of automation. There's plenty more to do. Email: software@nottinghack.org.uk

Membership

The membership team look after member admin duties, from running HMS and answering questions of new and prospective members, to conducting tours during Open Nights. Email: membership@nottinghack.org.uk

Safety

The safety team page is at Safety_Team. Please do get involved via the mailing list.

Events

Events are a great way to volunteer if you're just looking to do something occasionally.

Open Night

Happens every Wednesday from 18:30, and we always need members to welcome visitors, talk to them and give hackspace tours. Giving a tour is easy.

Hack the Space

A day of tidying, tweaking and revising the space to be more organised and work in better ways for everyone. It takes place on the first Sunday of every month, from 11:00 on.

Members Meetings

On the first Wednesday of every month, members meet to discuss and vote on any issues arising for the space. Each meeting also needs someone to chair and someone to take minutes.

Public Events

From hackspace open days to mini maker faires, we sometimes have a hackspace presence at various events. Members are generally welcome (and needed!) to demonstrate projects and answer questions form the public.

Tasks

There are many small tasks you can do at the hackspace to help.

• Tidy a workbench
• Put some tools away
• Charge some drill batteries
• Run or empty the dishwasher
• Sweep something up
• Sort or take some rubbish out (see Waste and Recycling Initiative)
• Clean a loo (see Cleaning the hackspace)
• Sweep and mop studio floor
• Empty rubbish bins, replace binliners
• Change towels (workshop, kitchen, bathroom)
• Launder towels
• Hoover blue room and member's storage
• Sweep and mop kitchen floor
• Wiping down the kitchen counters and surfaces
• Organising the kitchen cupboards
• Clearing out the fridge and pantry of expired food
• Hoover workshop
• Sweep electronics bench
• Clean toilets
• Tidy blue room
• Tidy studio
• Tidy comfy area

Projects

All of the examples below are completed projects, picked from many that have taken place. Generally, they were initially raised at members meetings, though sometimes you might also see projects emerge from the Google Group. All were led on a project basis, with ad hoc teams of interested people existing for the duration of them.

• Plumbing in the wet area.
• Building the spray booth.
• Wiring the space with CAT 5.
• Building shelves.
• Sorting through occasional large donations.
• Building the dusty area.
• Flooring the metalworking area.
• Additional workshop lighting.
• Getting a 3D printer up and running.

Discussions of projects and potential projects often pop up on the mailing list. A small number of people can achieve quite a lot once they've got the budget and the remit to do something.