Attracting Makers and Hackers

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rhizza
 
Posts: 16
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2014 2:43 pm

Attracting Makers and Hackers

Post by rhizza »

I am working on growing the maker/hacker community in my city (Baton Rouge, LA) called make.br. And I was looking for some input on a specific idea I had to build interest and attract people to the cause. I feel like there are plenty of people out there, it's just a matter of awareness and of course some patience.

First to establish my current and planned efforts in community growth:
  • Established a meetup
  • Established a Facebook presence and working on growing it through "organic" social methods and even modestly-funded campaigns
  • Planning to reach out to area colleges, but need to figure out which members of the faculty to approach, and how (suspect guidance is out there for this)
  • Planning to reach out to relevant municipal organizations: Technology Park, Economic Development, community recreation system, etc.
Now for my idea that I've been musing on, what I'm looking for input on in terms of guidance and suggestions: I'm considering creating projects that could be placed in strategic parts of town (like businesses and hangouts) where I think potential makers would frequent. I'm thinking of modest installations, that are unobtrusive, but attention getting. Something that would pull someone close enough to read a few sentences about make.br. Maybe along with a QR code that linked you to the meetup page.

I'm comfortable with basic circuits, and I'm a professional programmer. I have built a handful of personal projects in the past with EL wire, sound, and I'm currently having a blast with NeoPixels. To elaborate on my electronics comfort level I'd say that I'm open to anything that requires soldering, but would prefer to avoid SMT and small tricky bits, but I do understand that several components that use tricky packages often have breakouts I could use. I wouldn't be comfortable right now building a voltage rectifier or an OpAmp, and I wouldn't know that I should use one unless a sketch called for it, in which case, no problem. I have several books on electronics that I'm reading when I'm not hacking or working on the community. I have lot's of components and materials including: a slew of sensors, resistors/caps/diodes, a few IC's (with sockets), switches, PCB's/headers/heat-shrink-tubing/etc. I'm also open to purchase what I don't already have, especially more LED's =)

So to summarize: Do you think this approach of using actual projects would be a wise use of the time that could be spent elsewhere to build up the make.br community? If so, I'd love to hear any ideas you have about projects, rest assured that beyond follow-ups to clarify the nature of your suggestions, you are not unwittingly offering yourself up as tech support for its implementation.

Cheers,
Rhett

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rhizza
 
Posts: 16
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2014 2:43 pm

Re: Attracting Makers and Hackers

Post by rhizza »

Serendipity! I just learned that a Mini Maker Faire is in the works for next month! That's a perfect opportunity and will keep me busy in the meantime! Having our first meetup tomorrow. It might just be 2-4 makers, but it's a start =)

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