Jeff Lindsay and David Weekly present on the history of the Hacker Dojo: its evolution from SuperHappyDevHouse into a 100+ member non-profit community center with 8000+ square feet of space in Mountain View, CA. The context of the hackerspaces movement is given as well as a look into future plans for the Dojo. This talk was delivered at the December 10th meeting of PenLUG, in Redwood City, CA.

1. Origins, Context, & Future Jeff Lindsay + David Weekly PenLUG, December 10, 2009

2. Origins (2005) LGLan + SuperHappyFunHouse + Movie Night => ….???

3. SHDH #1 7pm – 7am: “Dusk Till Dawn”. A dozen geeks in my living room, drinking beer and Red Bull. PBwiki 1.0! “Take off your shoes…!”

4. SHDH @ SHFH (2005-2006) “That was fun, let’s make this a regular thing!”

6. Always post-mortem.

8. DHX (whoops)

9. Donations, dinner, sponsorship

10. Tables + chairs

12. Accidental Franchising (2006-2008) CocoaDevHouse (London) SuperHappyDevClub (Cambridge, UK) Cologne DevHouse (Germany) SuperHappyDevFlat (Zurich) SuperHappyGrow-OpDevHouse (Vancouver) SHDH Aotearoa (New Zealand) PhoenixDevHouse DevHouse Boston DevHouse Pittsburgh Milwaukee DevHouse

13. Deliberate Franchising (2008-2009) BarCamp was well franchised: steal that idea! Mexico Trips (2008) DevHouse Hermosillo Mexico City DevHouse Hackspedition! (2009) => Obregon, Morelos, Guadalejara, Queretaro, Tijuana, Monterrey, Guanajuato….

14. The Tipping Point >350 Coders ALL DAY.

15. “Let’s Make This Permanent.”

16. Dojo Timeline Winter 2000: Hacker Dojo v0.1 – 950 Pershing, San Jose, CA. Spring 2001: Wooden “Hacker Dojo” sign etched. January 31, 2009: SHDH #30 Pitch Feburary 1: wiki set up February 23: mailing list, property search March 10: first group meeting March 30: space review, including 140A April 6: legal review April 21: property review May 5: Bylaws+ Directors=> Incorporated! July 28: LEASE SIGNED! August 12: FIRST MEETING IN DOJO August 23: Open House September 17: Expansion into 140B October 16: Mercury News Cover Story! December: Fox News Coverage

17. Bumps Lease signing took forever. Difficult to decide on legal structure. Chicken & Egg w/space & membership! City Zoning Issues

18. Present Day 110+ members, 50+ staff, 100% volunteer Cash-flow positive, 501c6 corporation. Fortnightly staff meetings. >8000 square feet of space! Several events a week Fresh bread and coffee Open “almost” 24/7 Amazing changes every day (sign-in system!)

19. Context: Gather Smart People Greek Agora Roman Fora “College” (Community, guild, society) Medieval Councils French Salons Enlightenment Societies Freemasons? Homebrew CC Chaos Computer Club Hackerspaces

20. Short-Term Future Explicit Franchising “How To Start a Dojo” Kit Processes, software, forms, templates, tips! Community Mark™ LOTS of Locations SF, Mid-Peninsula, East Bay, North Bay Mexico City, Los Angeles, Portland Better integration w/Hackerspacescommunity

21. Longer-Term Future A global network of peer educators. A society of thinkers. A mesh of “colleges”. Learning != school.

22. Progressively Meta How do we throw a DevHouse? How do we enable communities like DevHouse to be created and thrive? (Dojo) How do we enable the creation of environments that can create communities like DevHouses? (Dojo Franchise)

23. How to Help Join the mailing list! Drop By! (140a S Whisman, Mountain View) Become a member ($100/mo) Sign up for staff! Teach a class! Host an event! Give feedback! Spread the word!

24. @dweekly @progrium