The One Rule of Noisebridge is to be excellent to each other . We get a lot more specific in our anti-harassment policy , but there are a whole load of other social norms which keep Noisebridge a safe and happy place to work and learn. Noisebridge’s Vision attempts to avoid hard-and-fast rules. Many of these are guidelines, and rightly so. In the past, we’ve noticed that certain actions and behaviors are good for the space and other actions cause problems . This page exists to help you determine whether something you’re considering is a good idea, and to help you work things out when reasonable people disagree. Although we work together and attempt to ensure that this page reflects what we collectively think, it’s not our formal consensus .
- Noisebridge is a place for hacking, hackers, and learning to hack.
- Noisebridge should be welcoming to those who visit, and a safe place to learn and work.
- Noisebridge operates by do-ocracy and consensus.
- The Noisebridge Vision describes what we are for, and what we are about.
- You do not need to be a member to hack at Noisebridge or to participate in the community here.
- Members can come and use Noisebridge at any time.
- It’s often easy to find someone on IRC or the mailing list .
- You can also try coming to the space and introducing yourself as soon as you get here.
- If you’re coming for a class or other event: don’t sweat it, your teacher or a fellow student is taking responsibility for everyone at the event.
- You should take responsibility for the actions of anyone you invite or let into Noisebridge.
- If you are a regular participant in Noisebridge, you should consider becoming a Philanthropist or Member .
- If you disagree with another person you should try to work out your differences with them.
- If you cannot work out your differences one-on-one, you should consider mediation .
- If someone asks you to leave them alone or to otherwise stop a behavior that is directed toward them, please do so. Continued unwanted behavior directed toward another person is Harassment .
- If someone is acting in a way incompatible with our community standards,you are empowered to ask them to leave Noisebridge immediately.
- You are under no obligation to do ask someone to leave, and absolutely should not confront someone who you think poses a physical danger to you. Please ask for help if you feel you need or want help.
- If someone asks you to leave Noisebridge, you should immediately leave, whether or not you think their request was legitimate or in good faith.
- If someone asks you to leave, you should not return until the conflict has been resolved, hopefully through mediation.
If you would prefer to privately report unacceptable behavior (including violations of our anti-harassment policy ), you can email [email protected] . This email address is monitored by a number of upstanding and trustworthy folks. They’ll handle your request privately if you prefer, and otherwise work to resolve the problem in a way which keeps you safe and protects the community from unacceptable behavior. You may also contact one of the people who have volunteered as a mediator on the Mediation page.
Practice Restorative Communication We practice RestorativeCommunication as a way of communicating our needs to each other in respectful ways. Noisebridge has partnered with the Global Kindness Intitiative (GKI) in an effort to create a community that honors differences while working together to solve potentially difficult and uncomfortable social situations. Personal Confrontation: Is someone bothering you? Talk to them about it — and be excellent while doing so. This is a pretty important step, and it usually has the desired effect. It should not be skipped if at all possible. Get Support: Did that not work? Or are you afraid to approach the other person? Ask someone else around the space who you like and/or trust. Maybe they can come along with you to talk to them, or talk to them as your proxy. Mediation: Did that not work? We have a Mediation page, where people can sign up to act as mediators. You should ask one of the people on it to help you mediate your conflict. They can actively mediate a discussion between you and the person with whom you are having conflict, or, if you prefer, the mediator can talk to that individual as your proxy. Mindfulness towards Escalation: If it seems appropriate, after talking with the original parties, the mediator (and indeed everyone involved) should start to tactfully ask around and find out if this is an isolated conflict or a more generalized problem in the community. Most personal problems at Noisebridge can be resolved through a series of calm one-on-one talks, and almost all of the rest can be solved by a series of mediated discussions. If mediation is unsuccessful, or if what is going on appears to be part of a larger pattern, the mediator may suggest that you bring your problem to a Safe Space Working Group for discussion. See here for more info on deescalation.
Advocate: Discussing personal conflicts at the larger group level is not really considered all that excellent. On the other hand, a small supportive group environment more specifically committed to calm discussion and de-escalationcanhelp defuse a problematic situation. If the parties involved cannot reach a resolution by talking with each other, or with the help of a mediator , the mediator can suggest calling a meeting of the Safe Space Working Group to involve other people to help resolve the conflict. If you try to follow these suggestions, that would be totally excellent.
Before a problem with an individual is brought to the level of calling a meeting of the Safe Space Working Group, someone must step forward to act as an advocate for the individual, even if that individual happens to be widely disliked. It is all too easy for conflict to make people act in ways that they later regret. There are sufficient people around the Space who are willing to act as advocates at the group level (see list of mediator volunteers on the Mediation wiki page).
Reporting Misbehavior[ If you wish to report harassment anonymously or privately, you can send a message to [email protected] (or contact one of the people who have volunteered as a mediator on the Mediation page).
Harassmentincludes
- hurtful or offensive comments
- deliberate intimidation
- stalking
- following
- inappropriate physical contact
- unwelcome sexual attention.
A note on sexual harassment Noisebridge takes sexual harassment seriously and we take women’s voices seriously, because we know that we are more effective as a movement when half of humanity’s talent, knowledge, and experience is not ignored or marginalized. Individuals asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to do so immediately. If someone does not stop when asked and you feel safe appealing to the community at large for help, please email [email protected] and bring it up at the next Tuesday community meeting . On September 24th, 2013, Noisebridge adopted an Anti-Harassment Policy . The policy has a trail period that expires on January 21st, 2014. To participate in the conversation to improve the policy see Anti-Harassment Policy Mutable Markdown . We are a diverse community and thus it is especially important that we listen to, and respect, each others’ boundaries. Additionally, it is our duty as participants of Noisebridge to enforce these standards and put a stop to harassment when we see it occurring. Be aware that an individual who is experiencing harassment may not feel comfortable speaking up—and any individual who is harassing someone is unlikely to respect them enough to be swayed even if they do. It is essential that individuals who witness harassment speak up in defense of those who are experiencing it. If someone at Noisebridge is not being excellent to others, call them out on it. Make it clear that such behavior is unacceptable, and does have consequences in terms of how the rest of the community will view them.
- Talk to people and make friends. Part of the point of Noisebridge is interpersonal interaction, and we want to meet you and learn about whatever cool project you’re working on. It’s amazing how often random discussions between people at Noisebridge have turned into things that show up on the world stage.
- On the other hand, do be sensitive to people’s desire to stop talking and start hacking. If someone starts looking away, returning to their laptop or project, or begins walking away, consider that you might be the Nth person to strike up a conversation with them, and they may want to actually get something done.
- Noisebridge is your hackerspace, not your home . Living here is definitely an anti-pattern , so don’t even try to do this! If money is a problem, have a look at our page of starving hacker resources for ways to get around and crash if you’re short on cash.
- Pull your own weight. We don’t have housekeeping service, so clean up after yourself and put things away when you’re done. In fact, you’re going to get a lot of good karma by tidying up twice the amount of space you use on a regular basis.
- Everything in Noisebridge is hackable. If you don’t want something taken apart and turned into a giant robot the moment your back is turned, leave it on your shelf, or mark it clearly with your name, a way to contact you, the date, and what you’re doing. Even then there are no guarantees — it’s just mildly rude to hack on a labelled thing unannounced, as opposed to positively encouraged.
- If you find yourself having to explain something in the space more than once, you should probably label it.
- If you can’t throw something away in a full garbage can, you should probably empty it.
- If you see someone being awesome or something which is awesome, it’s awesome in turn to sing its praises. Motivation is a rare commodity among us and a compliment here and there can work wonders in terms of creating more of it. We have a Noticeboard of Excellence by the door which is a good place to leave a semi-permanent thankyou.
- People of all ages are welcome at Noisebridge. But, please know that bringing minors to Noisebridge might result in them being exposed to ideas outside of your control. This is worth considering before deciding to bring minors (or anyone) to Noisebridge.
- Bringing pets hasn’t historically been a serious problem, but it not always considered excellent. If you bring a pet to Noisebridge, please ask others in the space if it is OK with them, and please do not stay with your pet if anyone objects.
- Don’t bittorrent from the space, it causes lots of problems for other people trying to use the network. We’ve also gotten DMCA notices about people snarfing copyrighted content using our links, and these notices are very annoying and unexcellent. Please don’t download copyrighted content illegally using our Internet links.
- If you’re going to smoke, smoke downstairs on the sidewalk, away from our doorway. This includes all substances, including tobacco and marijuana. Do not smoke on the fire escape — it affects everyone in the space, plus the ash falls down onto the fruit below, and the fire service gets mad at us.
- Don’t talk about politics or religion in a way that may be considered trolling within the community. If you push peoples’ buttons, it is considered very excellent to consider that you, at least in part, responsible.
- Going on the roof is, except in narrow conditions that you almost certainly aren’t covered by, a violation of our lease agreement. It also causes leaks, and in the past a leak destroyed some irreplaceable artwork belonging to a member. Don’t go up there without talking to someone who knows about the lease details.
- Taking stuff from the space, even very temporarily is a surefire way to cause problems. Taking stuff permanently is definitely unexcellent.
- Please ask before playing music through the public audio systems, especially if people are quietly enjoying the space.
- Try to keep infodumps to new acquaintances to under a few minutes. Many people at Noisebridge are walking libraries on their field of expertise, but people rarely like being fed a textbook through their ears.
- Noisebridge must not be involved in any activities which could affect legislation or political campaigns, with certain limited exemptions. While not illegal, these activities may be grounds for the IRS to revoke our tax exempt status . Talk to the officers of the corporation for guidance if you are unsure whether your proposed activities will be exempt or not.
This is a wiki page for a mediation process to help address interpersonal conflicts in and relating to the Noisebridge community. All relationships take work. This includes community. Community takes work. Occasionally there may be disagreements in any relationship. The Noisebridge Conflict Resolution wiki page contains general guidance for people in the community who are experiencing problems. These suggestions might help someone who is trying to decide if they should seek mediation or not. The first step when there is a disagreement is for the people involved to talk to each other, and, while following Noisebridge’s one rule of being excellent to each other, work out the problem(s) together. This tends to clear up almost all disagreements. If the disagreement can’t be worked out together, all persons involved with the disagreement are encouraged to get together with a mediator. Mediators are people who have volunteered their time to help people who have disagreements, to de-escalate conflict, to seek resolution, and to provide community support and protection for all involved. The ideal mediators should strive to make themselves readily accessible to both conflicting parties, and should also enjoy interacting with others without the need for imposing their own wills over those of the other people involved in the particular conflict. The role of the mediator is to calmly talk with those involved to help clear up the disagreements they have with one another. If those involved agree, the mediator can help schedule an informal get-together with the parties involved (or act as go-between, if that is more appropriate). It is the mediators role to ensure that all involved feel safe, feel heard, and are able to say their peace. No one should feel attacked during the mediation get-together. More details on this are given below (*please see * Specific process for mediators ). In past years, disagreements between people have been resolved through mediation — even when it appeared to all those involved that the situation was intractable. The following people have at some time or another over the last several years volunteered to help mediate conflicts and provide a sounding board and guidance for people who are experiencing troublesome interpersonal interactions.
Mediation: Mediators can actively mediate a discussion between the individuals having conflict, or talk to one individual as a proxy for the other. Mindfulness towards Escalation: If it seems appropriate, after talking with the original parties, the mediator (and indeed everyone involved) should start to tactfully ask around and find out if this is an isolated conflict or a more generalized problem in the community. Most personal problems at Noisebridge can be resolved through a series of calm one-on-one talks, and almost all of the rest can be solved by a series of mediated discussions. If mediation is unsuccessful, or if what is going on appears to be part of a larger pattern, the mediator may suggest calling a meeting of the Safe Space Working Group for discussion. Advocate: Before a problem with an individual is brought to a Safe Space Working Group, someone must step forward to act as an advocate for the individual, even if that individual happens to be widely disliked. It is all too easy for conflict to prod people into acting in ways that they later regret. There are sufficient people around the Space who are willing to act as advocates (see above list of mediator volunteers on this wiki page).
Discussing personal conflicts at the larger group level is not really considered all that excellent. On the other hand, a small supportive group environment more specifically committed to calm discussion and de-escalationcanhelp defuse a problematic situation. Mediation and the Safe Space Working Group are resources available for use when needed. If you try to follow these suggestions, that would be totally excellent.
Specific process for mediatorsFirst, talk to the person(s) who asked you to mediate to find out more about the conflict.
Next step is to either calmly discuss the issue with the second party as a proxy or to enter a calm, mediated discussion between the two individuals in conflict. Mediated discussion between individuals can be casual or very structured, depending on the tenor of the disagreement. One method that works in extreme cases is to sit down with both parties but ask them to only speak to you, not to each other, during the first part of the mediation. This helps each party to feel like their version of events is being heard. After you feel like you have both sides of the story, the conflicting parties should spend some time mirroring each other’s feelings - in a structured way, taking turns restating the other person’s concerns or position in their own words. Only after this point should the conflicting parties move towards actual dialogue. At this point, also, it is important that mediators take some time outside of this process to tactfully ask around and find out if this is an isolated conflict or a more generalized problem in the community. If this mediation is not successful, not embraced by one of the conflicting parties, or is partially successful but the mediator’s research indicates that this may be part of a pattern of behavior, the mediator is encouraged to ensure there is an advocate for everyone involved, and to call for a Safe Space Working Group to discuss the issues.
As a member of Noisebridge you are our ambassadors and advocates to the world, maintainers of our physical and digital infrastructure, and probably pretty cool. Here are some things that you should do.
- DO: Contribute to Noisebridge. Pay your dues to the treasurer at or before the first of the month, every month. If you are unable to pay your dues, please consider searching for sponsorship , or asking the treasurer about starving hacker rates. In addition to dues, help out in other ways!
- DO: Be excellent to everyone. Follow our community standards and anti-harassment policy , and teach others about them.
- DO: Represent Noisebridge. Go out into the world, visit other hackerspaces, make awesome projects, and tell everyone how great Noisebridge is.
- DO: Keep your contact info up to date. This also means ensuring that you wiki user page has the right categories.
Members can leave Noisebridge. If a member wishes to leave, they have to inform the treasurer and secretary .
If a member has not paid their dues for 3 months, and the member has not contacted the Treasurer to make arrangements for payment, their membership shall expire. Once someone is no longer a member of Noisebridge, if that person would like to become a member of Noisebridge again, they will need to go through the entire joining process to become a member again.
Noisebridge also allows members to go on Hiatus if they wish to temporarily suspend their membership. Hiatus may be used when a member will not be involved in Noisebridge for an extended period, such as if they are traveling. To go on hiatus, you merely have to notify the treasurer and secretary . You then don’t pay dues, are not able to block a consensus item, and no longer have 24-hour access to the space. When you want to come back again (i.e. you got the job or returned to the country) you simply start paying dues again. By consensus, Noisebridge may also suspend someone’s membership. During this consensus process the member being considered for suspension is not entitled to block the consensus process. If a member has been suspended, they shall no longer be considered a member of Noisebridge for any purpose, including but not limited to, participation in the consensus process, and 24-hour access to Noisebridge.
Medium Bad Things[ edit ]
As of 2018-04-07 the phones in the space are not functional. -l If you pick up a phone in the space, and dial 311 , you’ll page a bunch of Noisebridgers who will join you. (Use +1 415 494 2858 ext 311 on external phone or mobile).
In Case Of Bad Things[ edit ]
Police: Dial911for emergencies.
- The pay phone in the space is a VoIP phone and does not have 911 service. Call415-553-8090from that phone.
- You may get a faster response when calling from a cell phone or VoIP phone by calling the SF police at415-553-8090. Program that number into your phone. The reason is that non-landline calls may go through a general dispatch center where wait times sometimes exceed 1 hour.
- Fornon-emergencies(noise complaints, questions, etc…), call415-553-0123. Fire: Dial911for emergencies.
- The designated meeting place in case of evacuation is the sidewalk area in front of the Mi Ranchito market.
- Fornon-emergenciescall415-553-0123. San Francisco City Services: (graffiti, street conditions, alley cleaning, utilities, etc):311 Water(flooding): Call the landlord. Minor Medical(< 10 hit points): There’s a first aid kit in the middle of the south side of the classroom wall. Major Medical(>= 10 hit points, shop accident, gunshot wound, etc): Dial911for emergencies. The closest hospital is the level 1 trauma center at San Francisco General Hospital - Emergency . Google thinks there’s a hospital very close by on 18th, but it’s just a drug clinic and does not have emergency services.
Safety Committee[ edit ]
If you’d like to volunteer some time with the Noisebridge Safety Committee, the mailing list is [email protected]. The archives are here.