Hackerspace.sg Organisation Shutdown
I came aware of the HSG Organisation Shutdown since I watch the hackerspace.sg repo.
The sad news was later announced on the hackerspace.sg mailing list.
I've been reflecting on it whilst looking through some old pictures on Flickr.
Space at Bussorah Street 2012-2014
- Incredible location - nightlife, tourists, great for food/tea
- Met a bunch of fantastic people
- Enthused me to stay in Singapore whilst visiting from Malaysia
- Great social atmosphere where we would often go to eat together at Beach Road Hawker centre
- Quiet room called "The Zone"
- On the second floor
- Ground floor was a great place to hang out and even have a drink
I set up a raspberry Pi powered Web cam there: http://cam.hackerspace.sg/#2013-10-18
Space on King George's Avenue 2014-2020
The camera was moved http://cam.hackerspace.sg/#2014-12-18
Lavender is actually a pretty good area, but not nearly as lively as the previous location in Kampung Glam.
- Dark claustrophobic space with poor ventilation
- Not terribly easy to find
- Fourth floor: Up a couple flights of steps making it difficult to bump into people
I stopped visiting around 2016, and I cancelled my membership on 6 December 2017. This probably is more to do with the fact that I had become a father than anything else. No time to hang out with my peers aka the geeks!
However I do feel despite people's best efforts, some things did go wrong.
As a co-working space, it lacked proper "front desk" management. Some people were really abusing the space imho. The feeling of the KGB space became uncomfortable for me at least, due to some people there I didn't like. Hey, it could be me(!)
Thank you
Just want to say thank you to people who founded and especially the people who ran the space for so long.
It was quite a respectable run!
The future of "hackerspaces" in Singapore
Despite the incredible growth of co-working spaces in just about every corner of downtown Singapore, nothing quite comes close to the feeling of the original Hackerspace on Bussorah Street for me.
COVID-19 might be attributed to closure of Hackerspace.sg, but I'm thinking there needs to be central accessible place for nerds to meet up and exchange ideas, more than ever.
Future proposals
Paying members should be listed and shown whether they are in good standing. In my mind we were lacking a good membership system, though I'll be the first to admit I've not made an effort to fix it.
The paid up members ideally would make decisions in an asynchronous / online manner. No need for frustrating synchronous plenums at the space as I moaned about before.
Without naming (real) names, there needs to be a way of basically kicking abusive people out, as decided by paying members. Perhaps if you have three complaints you are barred for a year? Something forgiving. AFAIK there is no clear policy here.
To keep the place fresh and clean, it would be good if the space could physically move every two years. Unless it's in Kampung Glam. ;)
To conclude, I think there is a need for a Hackerspace in Singapore. I think we need a "shutdown" so we can "rise like a phoenix from the ashes". haha