Makership

Makership - a hackerspace scholarship to make something great!

This is the unofficial makership wiki page. It is a work in progress to describe what a makership is and what criteria should be used to judge the proposal merits.

First let's make it clear that LVL1 tries first and foremost to be a completely free resource for the public at large. We host many events that are open to anyone at no cost whatsoever. This discussion only applies to the rights and responsibilities of those wanting a full membership.

Membership costs meeting financial needs

The LVL1 membership has had many discussions on the best approach to reach out and extend membership to those with financial need. LVL1 is a hackerspace that relies on member dues to meet the recurring costs of rent, utilities, insurance and various other costs. Although the dues are low and comparable to a cable TV subscription, we recognize that for many aspiring makers/hackers it is still out of reach. Proposals of reduced rates for special cases, while obvious, do not seem like an ideal solution to this problem. Here are some of the reasons:

1. Reduced membership rates for students. While this seems obvious, it is not an ideal solution. Who's to say a student could afford the reduced rate as well? What about the financial needs of potential members that chose to take their education into their own hands? What about those who have completed school, but are are also in need of finances?
2. Reduced membership rates for lesser membership rights. Again, there's no reason to say this reduced rate would be affordable either. It also creates a 2nd-tier membership and inherent inequality. All members should be held in equal standing.
3. Reduced membership rates for hackerspace duties One more time, there's no reason to say this reduced rate would be affordable either. All of the membership should share in the more menial tasks of hackerspace upkeep. Again, it's a matter of equal standing. Plus, no member wants to be designated as taskmaster to make sure these duties are being fulfilled.

The ideal solution should meet the entire financial needs of a maker/hacker without making them a 2nd class member. Enter the 'makership'...

What is a makership?

A makership is a year's worth of membership dues and other resources, based on financial need and a solid project proposal. We want to put the focus on making. A makership is open to anyone with a good plan to engineer a project they've been dreaming about. It could be electronics, software, a project for the social good or (hopefully) a project we haven't imagined. We want to be surprised by creativity. We want LVL1 to be the place where these things are *made*. But wait there's more! Recognizing that financial needs extend beyond membership dues, we want to finance the project as well.

The fundraising for this makership approach is completely independent of LVL1's finances. We'll take donations from whomever is willing to donate. It may take us 3 months to raise the funds, or 3 days. And we'll make as many makerships available as the donations will allow.

LVL1 Makership Fellows Receive the Following

• 12 months of membership dues starting the month that the makership is awarded (equivalent to $600)
• Extra $400 to finance the project. This can be used for tools, parts, prototyping and workshops. It should be used for whatever is needed to get the project done!
• Letter of reference (maybe we could pair up a LVL1 member with each makership fellow who wants one, so that they have someone familiar enough with his/her work to be able to provide a letter of reference)

Application Materials

1. Personal Statement
   1. Tell us a little about yourself, including
      1. Why are you fascinated by your research area?
      2. What personal and individual strengths do you have that make you a qualified applicant?
      3. What are all of your applicable previous experiences, if any?
2. Financial Need
   1. Convince the judges that you could not reasonably pay for this yourself - I personally feel the word-choice is awkward (Grace). What about this instead?: "Tell us how receiving the LVL1 makership, in particular, will contribute towards your goals as a maker?"
3. Project Proposal
   1. A overview of what you want to do with your time and resources
4. Project Timeline
   1. Create a project plan with several milestones, including estimates for
      1. How long will it take to get to milestones in your project.
      2. Methods for determining if you've achieved a milestone (could be as simply as demonstrating the project to the LVL1 members, and getting sign-off)
      3. How long will it take to finish the project; you don't have to take an entire year, but you should strive to have a finished project by the end of 12 months

Review Criteria

It's not the intent for a makership application to receive a high rating across all review criteria, so makerships are awarded based on a weighted scorecard.

1. Financial Need
   1. How significant a financial impact does the LVL1 makership have on this applicant? After all, this is a need-based makership.
2. Makership Merit
   1. How important is the proposed activity to advancing knowledge and understanding within its own field or across different fields?
   2. How well qualified is the applicant to conduct the project? (If appropriate, the reviewer will comment on the quality of prior work.)
   3. To what extent does the proposed activity suggest and explore creative, original, or potentially transformative concepts?
   4. How well conceived and organized is the proposed activity?
   5. Is there sufficient access to resources?
3. Social Good
   1. Why does the world need this
   2. To what extent will it enhance the infrastructure for research and education, such as facilities, instrumentation, networks, and partnerships?
   3. Will the results be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific and technological understanding?
4. The Hacker Ethic
   1. Sharing
   2. Openness
   3. Decentralization
   4. Free access to computers
   5. World Improvement
5. Coolness Factor
   1. Is it cool (important because one of the few rules of LVL1 is to Have Fun)

Reference: NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program http://www.nsfgrfp.org/

Sample Scorecard

I'll bring a copy to the LVL1 meeting tonight (Grace, 8/31/2010)