[ELECTRON] The Electron Club's Fifth Birthday.

[Andrew Back]

Hello,

So, I meant to send an e-mail about this before now... I was at a talk
recently where the London Hackspace guys told the story of how they set up
the first hackerspace in the UK, and how it arrived here via NYC's Resistor
and Noisebridge in San Francisco. Of course, this is a slightly incorrect
account of history and Glasgow's Electron Club pre-dates the aforementioned
US spaces by almost two years.

I can't remember precisely when EC as a group was born, but the domain will
celebrate its 5th birthday in 3 days time on 29th June. We then held our
first open day in August 2006:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/newmediascotland/227119299/in/set-72157594219905386/

(we had far less junk! But we also didn't have the lovely shelves that Bob
built...)

The EC can also be proud at the fact that it has had female members from day
one. This is something that other spaces in the UK have struggled with. The
ratio of male to female might not be ideal (I have no idea what it is these
days), but it appears that this has been much better than the average. Also
noteworthy is the fact that it has been a hackerspace in the true sense,
i.e. based on the European model, and not just somewhere that is a place for
techies and those with an interest in technology for its own sake; it has
strived to be inclusive and to support those whose interest is driven out of
use in some very particular context, in fostering social progress and in art
etc. More than just a good thing, these factors have very likely been
critical to its success, and almost certainly will be moving forward.

Anyway, this got me to wondering if there were plans for a fifth birthday
party?

Cheers,

Andrew

PS. Glasgow may well boast having had the UK's first hackerspace (if you
don't count Access Space in Sheffield) back in 2004. With thanks to, IIRC
Kenny Duffus and other ScotLUG folks, who helped get this off the ground.

-- 
Andrew Back
a at smokebelch.org