OxHack

Next Meetings/Opening Times

See oxhack.org

Notable links

* Furniture/equipment donations
* Furniture/equipment wishlist
* Hack the Space!
* Special:AllPages

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Oxford Hackspace - Just Moved In!

We are working on setting up an independent space in Oxford for the hacking needs of our diverse, creative and talented maker community. Our goal is to have permanent space(s) to make, break and repair our creations, learn new skills, inspire and get inspired in the company of like-minded people. Oxford Hackspace has recently moved into a studio at OVADA on Osney Lane. We're currently working hard to set it up and equip it as a great project workshop. The studio is currently open for some time most days (see oxhack.org). Members and visitors are welcome to drop in at any time when we're open to work on their projects. Wherever your interest lies, this is a space to do it. You're always welcome to do your own thing or take part in workshops. The more diverse our group, the more stuff you learn. Come introduce yourself to the community on the mailing list! Your ideas and enthusiasm are sure to be met with excitement here.

Current status

The Short Version: July 11th: OxHack signed for a space Unfortunately, heavy rain on July 23rd caused more flooding, and further development of the space (e.g. installing furniture, electronics) should be put on hold until this can be fully resolved. We currently have power, wifi, and tables to work at. We're considering how to set up the space.

The Long Version:

• We have been meeting at OARC every Thursday evening from 7-11pm for nearly a year.
  
• November 2012: Began negotiations with OVADA about establishing a space in their warehouse
  
• March 7th, 2013: First trustees meeting between the two organizations
  
• March 14th: OVADA open evening for Oxhack members to view the building
  
• March 21st: Oxhack formally founded, constitution adopted, banking agreed, trustees elected, subscriptions amount agreed, collections started
  
• April 3rd: Second OVADA-Oxhack trustees meeting
  
• April 6-7 & 13-14: Oxhack members spent 4 days with OVADA members building studios, tearing up floors, putting in walls, etc.
  
• April 20th: Bank account established, Oxhack cards issued to bank signatories
  
• May: Month's wait while we and OVADA trustees sort roof leaks, replace wiring, internet cabling etc.
  
• May 9th: Oxhack confirmation to OVADA that we will take the studio.
  
• May 28th: Oxhack request to OVADA to start formal contract talks this week. They replied that they are working on setting this up. In the mean time we have permission to decorate the space.
  
• June 4th: Inquiry from Oxhack as to OVADA's progress.
  
• June 8th: Informal meeting between Oxhack trustees and OVADA head trustee at OVADA. A lot of progress--nearly there now!
  
• June 13th: Informal discussion between Oxhack coordinator and OVADA head trustee at theirs. To be followed-up on.
  
• June 20th: We now have a licence in hand, and we are negotiating terms. A final meeting (hopefully) is to happen shortly.
  
• ASAP in June: Our move-in date, as agreed previously with OVADA trustees.
  
• July 11th: We moved into our studio!
• July 23rd: During heavy rain the guttering overflowed, sending rain over the internal roof, into our space, and somewhat into the neighbouring space. There was water pooling on our space's roof, and flowing into the space. There is some concern over safety of the socket by the guttering downpipe, so will need to be checked.

Our Interests

Here are some of the things our members are currently interested in:

Crafting - carpentry, embroidery, fabric dyeing, sewing, weaving, welding

Visual Art - drawing, photography, light shows, installations

Physical Computing - motors, sensors, lighting, electro-mechanical interfaces, microcontrollers, robotics

Programming - games, phone apps, demoscene

Electronics - data logging, home automation, soldering

Sciences - NHS hackdays, biohacking, bio-computing, chemistry, high-altitude ballooning

Open Source - software, hardware, mechanical design, ethos, open collaboration, open science, open data

...and way too much more!

Things we're doing right now

• Quadcopter - learning how to build stuff that can fly and be hacked
• Panoramic camera gimbal - fully automated and to be open source
• The Nuisance - a plasma ball thing that plays with you
• Heater - A computer based heating system for our space
• Sensor networks: river levels, air quality, possible crowdsourcing of data.

Join Us

• Join the mailing list to follow our progress and introduce yourself: https://groups.google.com/group/oxford-hackspace
• Join us in our IRC "chatroom": channel name #oxford-hack-space on the freenode network. You can use the Freenode web interface to find us.
• Find us on Google+
• Meet us in person: We're at our studio space in OVADA most days of the week and Thursday from 7pm is our social night. See http://oxhack.org/ for our opening times and for directions: http://www.ovada.org.uk/contact/