<br>Hey Knox,<br><br> I'm hoping others from our group will chip in on this conversation as well.<br>In my personal opinion, the best way to start one of these groups is to find out if there is an already existing chapter of the 2600.<br>
2600 and makerslocal aren't affiliated, but the people that are interested in 2600 tend to be interested in hackerspaces.<br>(Hackerspaces being defined as more than just computer hacking, but mechanical hacking, and everyday hacking).<br>
<br>If a 2600 group does not exist, then I would start advertising the idea of a make shop via the internet.<br>I know <a href="http://meetup.com">meetup.com</a> has worked for a lot of startup groups for various interests.<br>
<br>Perhaps one of the best ways to find people interested in a make shop would be to attend one of the local similarly themed conventions.<br>Since there isn't one in Alabama (that I know of) then people from Birmingham would likely make it out to one of the ones in Atlanta or Nashville.<br>
<br>Another great place to advertise are livejournal communities, I believe there's one for Birmingham already in existance that you could post to to raise interest.<br><br><br>How Makers Local 256 started off was in somebody's apartment every weekend. I can't speak from experience, but I believe that worked well when the group was around 5 people. When it grew to 10 suddenly an apartment was way too small. <br>
<br><br>For the Huntsville group, IRC has really helped us stay organized. That being said, our group was already on IRC. <br>I think one of the best benefits of having a channel for your make shop is that the other hackerspaces are also on IRC.<br>
Great place to coordinate between the various places to get ideas and such.<br><br>"Makers Local 205" has not been reserved yet, and if it would help you get name recognition to get people's attention and get involved, feel free to use it. We want as many sister organizations in existance as possible, similarly named or no.<br>
<br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 7:51 PM, Knox Franklin <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:knox.franklin@yahoo.com">knox.franklin@yahoo.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
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I am Knox Franklin and i live in the Birmingham area and i would like to start a hack/makespace here and i am trying to get some info on getting started. I would like to speak with someone offline about how yall got started and such. Thanks Knox<br>
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