
Hackers and Heroes: Rise of the CCC and Hackerspaces - mariuz
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/12/hackers-and-heroes-rise-of-ccc-and-hackerspaces/
======
privong
> How would one even try to organize this chaos?

> You want to know how I think the Germans would do it? An annual conference
> first, and then incorporate an organization to handle the coordination:
> you’ll be surprised how much focus and teamwork pulling off a large annual
> conference will build. An annual event gives groups a deadline to work
> toward, and I don’t need to tell you how important that is. And an annual
> conference gets people physically together and having fun, and that
> absolutely shouldn’t be underrated.

What about Maker Faire, HOPE, DEF CON, etc.? I haven't been to those (or to a
CCC Congress), so I don't know if there's a difference or what that difference
is. Maybe someone who has can comment?

~~~
ThePhysicist
I haven't been to any of the other conferences mentioned above but I attended
CCC four times so far (twice as a speaker).

For me, one the most striking and pleasant things of the CCC is that it's
organized ENTIRELY by volunteers and financed by entrance/membership fees (as
far as I know) so there is NOT ONE commercial sponsor to be found. I really
really value this highly because today there are almost no places left that
commerce/business hasn't invaded yet (most IT conferences feel like marketing
events of FB/Google/Microsoft/...)

I haven't seen many (any?) conferences / congresses of this scale that are
organized like this (the Burning man might be an example of a similar event,
not sure how they finance it though).

And of course the people are amazing and very friendly, and it's a safe space
to really be yourself. Also, they really try everything they can to make
everyone feel at home, there's even an entire floor dedicated to children
(with projects, games, workshops, theather, ...) and one day dedicated
especially to young hackers. Where else can you find this kind of stuff?

~~~
nly
Their video recording and streaming efforts are also world frickin class. They
put commercially sponsored venues to shame in this category alone.

Source: been twice, watched live this year, downloaded all the talks in HD a
few days after it ended.

~~~
voltagex_
I was pretty much living on German time during the conference, despite
watching it from Australia. Even on a fairly pathetic connection I was able to
stream the SD streams during the day, and the HD streams during the night. I
was even able to fall back to audio-only via _Skype_ for about an hour when
they had technical issues at the start of the streaming.

World frickin' class, indeed.

------
k__
I like the ideas, but I don't like the culture.

A big hackerspace is around my corner, but I just can't be there for long.

Too much awkward males, too much chauvinism, too much image cultivation.

~~~
alvern
In uni I participated in a 20+ person hackerspace in Australia. It was great,
you had tons of space to set up your project, event nights were a group of
loosely allied friends, and there were never more than 5 people using the
space at any time.

When I came back to the states I joined the local 100+ member space and
absolutely hated it. Met some really cool people but the majority were a bunch
of jerks who either couldn't give you the time of day or just wanted to do
things the hard way.

Maybe the idea of a hackerspace should be like 3.2 bars were in 20th century
midwest. One in every neighborhood that served the values and needs of a small
core group.

~~~
voltagex_
Would you be willing to share which area you were in while in Australia?

~~~
alvern
It was the Artifactory in Perth

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profeta
i followed HaD religiously until they went big. Nowadays all you see is
article after article on how to flash leds with arduinos :(

they should really slow down content churning. Before i would check it twice a
day and often find no new content. just closed the tab and moved on, to come
back tomorrow. Now every time i load the page there is new content, but often
i just find ridiculous and shallow. At the time i removed them from my reading
list it was mostly kickstarter projects.

~~~
Everhusk
Same here, I stopped visiting Hackaday right around when they rolled out the
new layout. Luckily Hacker News filled the void quite nicely :)

~~~
profeta
if you just want the old layout, append /blog/ to the url. i did on my last
days reading the site.

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trashfuck
I'm moving to NYC February 1st with forty bucks and ruby (not rails) know-how.
I'm 21 and ready to start sculpting my life with my own hands so i figured I'd
just go.

Does anybody know if there are hackerspaces that are looking for industrious
people like me? As long as i can code for a few hours a day i could help cook
and clean and stuff and once i get a job i could contribute back to the space
with money.

I know this isn't the best place to ask but it's on topic and i don't really
know where else to ask and find out.

This was a cool article, i had no idea how much history there is behind these
groups and its especially encouraging knowing that with enough willpower,
these groups can be self sufficient and autonomous.

~~~
voltagex_
I'd recommend getting a different username on HN.

That aside, you just need to check the rules of the hackerspace. Many will
frown upon using the hackerspace as a co-working space.

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biafra
Regarding the BTX-Hack I have to mention this panel 30 years after:
[https://media.ccc.de/v/30JahreBTXHack#video&t=2322](https://media.ccc.de/v/30JahreBTXHack#video&t=2322)
Unfortunately in german.

After seeing this it is quite clear to me, that this was not so much a
computer hack but more of a media hack where the CCC made use of the german
media very well. Don't get me wrong I appreciate what the CCC has done the
last 33 years, but hearing about this first hand from people that were there
was a bit of a dent in my glorified picture of the events.

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biafra
Since the logo is not explained (properly). It is a pun on the the
"Kabelfernsehen" (cable tv) logo of the time. It looked like this:
[http://www.bilder-hochladen.net/files/bbmo-2n.gif](http://www.bilder-
hochladen.net/files/bbmo-2n.gif) This is not the original. I could not find a
better picture. As I remember it the cables were running down straight on the
right side. Instead of having the knot.

------
benbou09
The story of the CCC was told in a very good book:
[http://flux.hackerspaces.org/2011/08/31/hackerspaces-the-
beg...](http://flux.hackerspaces.org/2011/08/31/hackerspaces-the-beginning-
the-book/)

