Press Kit

Noisebridge has been a staple of the San Francisco hacker and technology scene for 10 years. Due to a series of anonymous complaints to the city planning and building inspection departments at the city (we believe with the intent of shutting down Noisebridge), our landlord has decided not to renew our lease, which ends August 2018.

Since Noisebridge first moved into 2169 Mission St., rents have risen considerably in San Francisco. Leases for comparable spaces are anywhere from 300-500% more than Noisebridge is currently paying, which well exceed Noisebridge's current funding sources.

We don't know where Noisebridge will end up, but our community is committed to providing a home for hacking and making in San Francisco. We believe that San Francisco needs a hackerspace that is open to as many people as possible as often as possible. We also strongly believe that the residents and guests of our town deserve a space to pursue their hopes, interests, and ambitions at their own pace in a safe space where lack of funds is no barrier to entry. This is what Noisebridge provides, and has provided for nearly a decade.

To continue this mission, Noisebridge absolutely needs to raise money at a much higher level then it has in the past. We have put a call for fundraising, asking for community members and friends of Noisebridge to become monthly donors.

Press Contacts

Please reach out to us - we'd be happy to answer any questions you have, or setup a time for a phone call or in person interview, or give you a tour of Noisebridge. You're also welcome to come to any of our events.

Official press contact: press@noisebridge.net (TODO - is this still active?)

You can also contact specific Noisebridge community members via their contact info in their bios below.

Please note: Feel free to take photos of Noisebridge, but some of our community members are very privacy concious, so please ask people for permission before photographing them, even if they're in the background of a shot. Usually most people will give permission.

Background on Noisebridge

Noisebridge is a hackerspace for technical-creative projects, doocratically run by everyone. We are a non-profit educational institution intended for public benefit. We have a 5,200 square-foot space located in the heart of San Francisco containing an electronics lab, wood shop, machine/metalworking shop, sewing/crafting supplies, two classrooms, conference area, and library.

We provide infrastructure and collaboration opportunities for anyone interested in programming, hardware, crafts, science, robotics, art, and technology. We teach, we learn, we share. With no leaders, we have one rule: "Be excellent to each other".

Noisebridge was one of the first hackerspaces in the US, along with Hacktory, Hack DC, and NYC Resistor, which all started in 2007, inspired by hackerspaces in Europe, like the Metalab in Vienna and c-base in Berlin.

Noisebridge is as open as possible. Typical "open hours" are from 11:00am-10:00pm, however this varies greatly depending on scheduled events and who is using the space on any given day. New visitors are welcome any time (all ages, all skill levels), as long as someone is in the space and able to answer the door.

Bios

Bios on key people to interview about the space (with 1 paragraph of their story, photo, and contact details)

TODO

• Kyle
• Ruth
• Lizzie
• Victoria
• Darryl
• Jarrod
• Mitch
• J
• Kevin
• Trent
• John Shutt

Projects

- 5 Minutes of Fame (video, live and archived streaming) Noisebridge's monthly series of lightning talks on widely diverse subjects - Flaschen Taschen - Danny's book scanner - Brain Machine (details) creates hallucinations and aids meditation by flashing lights and sound with special goggles

FAQ

Q: What is a hackerspace?

A: Hackerspaces are community-operated physical places, where people share their interest in tinkering with technology, meet and work on their projects, and learn from each other. There are more than 2000 hackerspaces all over the world. (from http://hackerspaces.org)

Q: What is a hacker?

A: TODO

Q: Where does the name Noisebridge come from?

A: A "noise bridge" is a piece of electronic test equipment that injects noise into a system to see how it responds, so you can fix or improve it. Such a device is often used in RF electronics.

Q: What can people do at Noisebridge?

A: Meet techie, arty, and crafty folks, take a class, teach a class, use the power tools and electronic labs, build something out of stuff on the hack shelves, use our library, surf the web, and so on.

Q: What does it mean that Noisebridge is doocratically run?

A: Doing excellent stuff at Noisebridge does not require permission or an official decision.

Do-ocracy - If you want something done, do it, but remember to be excellent to each other when doing so.

Typically when someone wants to do or change something big at Noisebridge, they bring it up at a meeting and it goes through our Consensus Process. If it's a smaller, more mundane thing, there's Do-ocracy. Do-ocracy tends to work just as long as our only rule is followed, to be excellent to each other. If someone nicely asks you to change something back, be nice back and just change it back.

Q: Who is in charge of Noisebridge?

A: No one is. No wait, we all are! Noisebridge is anarchically run, which means no one is in charge. We do have elected board members, but they strictly serve to statisfy the state's requirements for nonprofits. We make official Noisebridge decisions by consensus, which means the willing consent of all of our members. Decisions are typically made at our weekly meetings. You can read more about our Consensus_Process.

Q: How is Noisebridge currently funded?

A: We self-finance entirely through one-time and recurring donations from members and non-members alike, as well as beverage sales and parties. Membership fees are $80 per member/month with a $40 "starving hacker" rate. No one needs to be a member to make full use of Noisebridge though!

Q: What sort of events does Noisebridge host?

A: TODO