“TechShop is a fully-equipped open-access workshop and creative environment that lets you drop in any time and work on your own projects at your own pace. It is like a health club with tools and equipment instead of exercise equipment…or a Kinko’s for geeks. ”
This sounds a lot like what I envisioned for HacDC, except we add on the proviso that projects are oriented towards public benefit purposes. Can we pursue both goals? Discuss!
Of course we will work on both, public benefit and exploratory electronic geekery are intertwined, aren’t they? hehe.
I think pursuing both goals of working on our own projects as well as benefiting the public is completely possible.
Since we aren’t really geared for mass production, the only way to benefit the public would be to open the project plans and provide adequate documentation so that the end-product can be (re)produced as easily as possible.
If we provide the equipment and tools, for a reasonable fee, and give away the completed project plans then others that want to build the product will join HACDC to get access to the equipment and tools; this would be a win-win because HACDC would be able to get revenue to expand (more space, tools, tech) and current/new members would have access to better tools and tech.
However, I think the physical end-product should be owned by the creator; I think this is fair, since most likely the initial creator will have put in the most direct effort, financed the raw materials, and handled the overall project management. Of course, the plans and instructions for creating the end-product would be open and freely available for others to re-create the end product or to re-use and hack.