f{"id":25890,"date":"2023-04-11T11:45:59","date_gmt":"2023-04-11T18:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=25890"},"modified":"2023-04-11T11:46:01","modified_gmt":"2023-04-11T18:46:01","slug":"noisebridge-the-last-free-space-in-san-francisco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/04\/11\/noisebridge-the-last-free-space-in-san-francisco\/","title":{"rendered":"Noisebridge: \u2018The last free space in San Francisco\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by\u00a0WILL JARRETT<\/a><\/strong> APRIL 10, 2023 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/ — Outside the Noisebridge warehouse at 272 Capp St.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Another volunteer, Nicole, was helping train a new generation of teachers to use the machine, which is used for slicing up whatever materials members need for their experiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe laser cutter can cut and engrave many things,\u201d said Nicole. \u201cYou can do wood, acrylic, cardboard. You can engrave your tortillas or chocolate.\u201d She paused. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t taste that great, but it\u2019s beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The laser cutter is arguably Noisebridge\u2019s fanciest piece of kit, but it is a small part of the gadget-and-tool ecosystem that the collective has at its disposal. Founded in 2007, Noisebridge is credited as being just the third \u201chackerspace\u201d to ever emerge in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the term \u201chacker\u201d might conjure up thoughts of nefarious programmers, here it means people who want to create things for themselves using woodwork, electronics, fabrics, writing, music \u2014 and, yes, code.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Noisebridge allows anyone to use its tools (with some training, in the case of potentially dangerous machines like the laser cutter) to make art and engineering projects. Many members volunteer to host classes and workshops. And the nonprofit\u2019s two-story warehouse is packed to the gills with examples of their handiwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In pride of place sits a retro-style arcade machine that was a collaboration between several branches of Noisebridge. People with woodworking expertise built the frame; others cut and shaped the plastic buttons; electricians built the circuits and wired everything up; and coders hooked the cabinet up to streaming platform Twitch, so that the games could be shared in realtime. The cabinet, called NGALAC<\/a>, won an award from the Bay Area Maker Faire<\/a> in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere in the building, projects abound. One group is investigating how to turn brain activity into \u201c multiplayer mind-control games<\/a>.\u201d Another is generating designs using artificial intelligence and then turning the patterns into quilts. In the sewing room, a hand-built miniature piano sits alongside a stern handwritten note to stop would-be scavengers: \u201cDO NOT HACK.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
*This arcade machine was built from scratch by members of the collective.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n* $\"\"$
This miniature piano was built by designer and engineer Emeline Brul\u00e9.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Software engineer Sniezko first got involved with Noisebridge a decade ago, when she decided to learn how to build circuits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
Dana Sniezko leading a tour of the Noisebridge warehouse. New visitors are typically taken on a tour before being unleashed on the equipment.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy day job has always been in software and programming, but I find the idea of manipulating the real world to be so much more exciting and full of promise and peril,\u201d said Sniezko. \u201cSo I found a community that had a lot of people who were willing to teach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After dropping out of the nonprofit for a few years, Sniezko returned when the pandemic left her longing for in-person community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Noisebridge moved from its Mission Street address in 2020. The old warehouse was so close to the new location at 272 Capp St. that members moved their stuff from one to the other by pushing them across a plank laid between the two buildings\u2019 windows. Sniezko pitched in to get everything set up in the new building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, she teaches a class on circuitry every Monday: \u201cI\u2019ve kind of gone full circle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The price of free space<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Although there are plenty of exceptions to the rule, visitors to Noisebridge tend to be on the younger, techier side. The collective has seen more and more people coming through their doors over the past six months, a phenomenon some members put down to the recent slew of layoffs in the tech sphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s become more interesting for us, because these people have a little more free time,\u201d Nicole laughed. But wider changes in the tech landscape have also hit the non-profit\u2019s coffers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe problem is with tech layoffs, we\u2019ve had people who just stopped their membership dues,\u201d said Emeline Brul\u00e9, the Noisebridge treasurer. \u201cThat\u2019s a very visible thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As it turns out, running a collaborative space for free is an expensive affair. Brul\u00e9 said that the monthly rent for 272 Capp St. is almost $10,000. Equipment is often grabbed second-hand or broken before being fixed up by members, but even so, it comes with expenses. The aforementioned laser, for instance, was donated to the group but cost thousands in shipping. Add utilities and insurance into the mix and Noisebridge costs some $12,000 to run each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Membership fees and donations, all of which are optional, except for nominal fees to book classes, bring in around $7,000 to $8,000 each month. Right now, Brul\u00e9 said, the deficit is being made up by a huge anonymous Bitcoin donation they received a few years ago, which they sold in 2021 for some $300,000. But if the current situation continues, the non-profit will run out of money within three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brul\u00e9 said that during one memorable Noisebridge meeting, one member described the warehouse as \u201cthe last free space in San Francisco.\u201d Keeping it that way in the future will mean raising more funds, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lots of ideas are being considered for filling the coffers. More classes are springing up and a wider range of activities are growing under Noisebridge\u2019s roof, which could lead to more members. The group has acquired a potter\u2019s wheel and a kiln, so a ceramics guild may be on the horizon. And, for several months, the San Francisco Writers Workshop has been meeting in the building\u2019s sewing room every Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
Dana Sniezko (left), Emeline Brul\u00e9 (center), and Orion (right).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
Members of the San Francisco Writers Workshop teamed up with other groups in Noisebridge to make bookmarks for a fundraiser last week.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA lot of our writers do sci-fi and do world-building,\u201d said Olga Zilberbourg, a coordinator for the workshop. \u201cIt might take a little bit of time to merge the groups but we are starting to have some cross-pollination.\u201d Zilberbourg said that the writers had been making the most of the expertise at Noisebridge and have been experimenting with making things like bookmarks for fundraisers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bigger events, like a revived version of the Maker Faire<\/a>, might also be part of the funding picture, as could government grants or revamping member benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Managing without managers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Noisebridge has no formal leaders or managers, so making decisions is not a simple process. But being in an anarchist collective doesn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t any rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Members try to abide by three main tenets: Do-ocracy<\/a>, meaning people should proactively do things to make the group better; Consensus<\/a>, where members try to find unanimous agreement for thornier problems that should not be decided unilaterally; and Excellence<\/a>, meaning that everyone who is a part of the organization should be \u201cexcellent\u201d to one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to most members, this system has typically worked quite well. But at various points over the past decade, Noisebridge has seen incidents where the space has been exploited and, on occasion, individuals have described \u201ctoxicity\u201d toward women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe run what is effectively a public workshop,\u201d said Sniezko. \u201cSo, I think a lot of the problems in the broader world make their way into the space. I think that this space is far from perfect, but it has grown and it has improved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One issue that Noisebridge has grappled with is people living and sleeping in the warehouse. There is now a rule against napping at 272 Capp St. (See: the case of Ronald, a homeless coder<\/a> who now stays on Albion Street after he spent 10 months living illicitly in Noisebridge.) For similar reasons, visitors and members are also not allowed to cook meals there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are not equipped to be a living space,\u201d said Sniezko, adding that she feels empathy for the people without somewhere to stay, and always tries to connect them with resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John, a frequent visitor to Noisebridge, said that there had been problematic incidents, but not more than you might face in the wider world. He said that Noisebridge\u2019s \u201cAsked To Leave\u201d policy<\/a>, which states that anyone in the space can ask anyone else to leave and that the request is expected to be honored, has been helpful for de-escalating conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And with more people visiting the space each evening, several members said, Noisebridge is an increasingly welcoming space. Brul\u00e9 said that five children of members were frequent guests there, and the organization is much more diverse than when it began as an often-white, often-male collection of coders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s exciting to be at this point where we have more momentum,\u201d Sniezko smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
*More details about Noisebridge\u2019s classes and events can be found on <\/em>*its website<\/em><\/a>*.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n*
*$\"\"$* A workspace on the second floor of 272 Capp Street.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"Avatar$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
WILL JARRETT<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Will@MissionLocal.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
DATA REPORTER. Will was born in the UK and studied English at Oxford University. After a few years in publishing, he absconded to the USA where he studied data journalism in New York. Will has strong views on healthcare, the environment, and the Oxford comma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by\u00a0WILL JARRETT APRIL 10, 2023 (MissionLocal.org) Members of Noisebridge alongside their logo and informal motto, \u201cBe Excellent.\u201d Seven-month-old Orion, bottom-right, is the collective\u2019s youngest member. \u201cAnd this,\u201d said volunteer Dana Sniezko with a flourish, \u201cis where we keep the laser.\u201d We were in a warehouse at 18th and Capp streets,… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[399],"class_list":["post-25890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-noisebridge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25890\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Outside the Noisebridge warehouse at 272 Capp St.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Another volunteer, Nicole, was helping train a new generation of teachers to use the machine, which is used for slicing up whatever materials members need for their experiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe laser cutter can cut and engrave many things,\u201d said Nicole. \u201cYou can do wood, acrylic, cardboard. You can engrave your tortillas or chocolate.\u201d She paused. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t taste that great, but it\u2019s beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The laser cutter is arguably Noisebridge\u2019s fanciest piece of kit, but it is a small part of the gadget-and-tool ecosystem that the collective has at its disposal. Founded in 2007, Noisebridge is credited as being just the third \u201chackerspace\u201d to ever emerge in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the term \u201chacker\u201d might conjure up thoughts of nefarious programmers, here it means people who want to create things for themselves using woodwork, electronics, fabrics, writing, music \u2014 and, yes, code.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Noisebridge allows anyone to use its tools (with some training, in the case of potentially dangerous machines like the laser cutter) to make art and engineering projects. Many members volunteer to host classes and workshops. And the nonprofit\u2019s two-story warehouse is packed to the gills with examples of their handiwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In pride of place sits a retro-style arcade machine that was a collaboration between several branches of Noisebridge. People with woodworking expertise built the frame; others cut and shaped the plastic buttons; electricians built the circuits and wired everything up; and coders hooked the cabinet up to streaming platform Twitch, so that the games could be shared in realtime. The cabinet, called NGALAC<\/a>, won an award from the Bay Area Maker Faire<\/a> in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere in the building, projects abound. One group is investigating how to turn brain activity into \u201c multiplayer mind-control games<\/a>.\u201d Another is generating designs using artificial intelligence and then turning the patterns into quilts. In the sewing room, a hand-built miniature piano sits alongside a stern handwritten note to stop would-be scavengers: \u201cDO NOT HACK.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
*This arcade machine was built from scratch by members of the collective.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n* $\"\"$
This miniature piano was built by designer and engineer Emeline Brul\u00e9.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Software engineer Sniezko first got involved with Noisebridge a decade ago, when she decided to learn how to build circuits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
Dana Sniezko leading a tour of the Noisebridge warehouse. New visitors are typically taken on a tour before being unleashed on the equipment.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy day job has always been in software and programming, but I find the idea of manipulating the real world to be so much more exciting and full of promise and peril,\u201d said Sniezko. \u201cSo I found a community that had a lot of people who were willing to teach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After dropping out of the nonprofit for a few years, Sniezko returned when the pandemic left her longing for in-person community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Noisebridge moved from its Mission Street address in 2020. The old warehouse was so close to the new location at 272 Capp St. that members moved their stuff from one to the other by pushing them across a plank laid between the two buildings\u2019 windows. Sniezko pitched in to get everything set up in the new building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, she teaches a class on circuitry every Monday: \u201cI\u2019ve kind of gone full circle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The price of free space<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Although there are plenty of exceptions to the rule, visitors to Noisebridge tend to be on the younger, techier side. The collective has seen more and more people coming through their doors over the past six months, a phenomenon some members put down to the recent slew of layoffs in the tech sphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s become more interesting for us, because these people have a little more free time,\u201d Nicole laughed. But wider changes in the tech landscape have also hit the non-profit\u2019s coffers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe problem is with tech layoffs, we\u2019ve had people who just stopped their membership dues,\u201d said Emeline Brul\u00e9, the Noisebridge treasurer. \u201cThat\u2019s a very visible thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As it turns out, running a collaborative space for free is an expensive affair. Brul\u00e9 said that the monthly rent for 272 Capp St. is almost $10,000. Equipment is often grabbed second-hand or broken before being fixed up by members, but even so, it comes with expenses. The aforementioned laser, for instance, was donated to the group but cost thousands in shipping. Add utilities and insurance into the mix and Noisebridge costs some $12,000 to run each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Membership fees and donations, all of which are optional, except for nominal fees to book classes, bring in around $7,000 to $8,000 each month. Right now, Brul\u00e9 said, the deficit is being made up by a huge anonymous Bitcoin donation they received a few years ago, which they sold in 2021 for some $300,000. But if the current situation continues, the non-profit will run out of money within three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brul\u00e9 said that during one memorable Noisebridge meeting, one member described the warehouse as \u201cthe last free space in San Francisco.\u201d Keeping it that way in the future will mean raising more funds, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lots of ideas are being considered for filling the coffers. More classes are springing up and a wider range of activities are growing under Noisebridge\u2019s roof, which could lead to more members. The group has acquired a potter\u2019s wheel and a kiln, so a ceramics guild may be on the horizon. And, for several months, the San Francisco Writers Workshop has been meeting in the building\u2019s sewing room every Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
Dana Sniezko (left), Emeline Brul\u00e9 (center), and Orion (right).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
Members of the San Francisco Writers Workshop teamed up with other groups in Noisebridge to make bookmarks for a fundraiser last week.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA lot of our writers do sci-fi and do world-building,\u201d said Olga Zilberbourg, a coordinator for the workshop. \u201cIt might take a little bit of time to merge the groups but we are starting to have some cross-pollination.\u201d Zilberbourg said that the writers had been making the most of the expertise at Noisebridge and have been experimenting with making things like bookmarks for fundraisers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bigger events, like a revived version of the Maker Faire<\/a>, might also be part of the funding picture, as could government grants or revamping member benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Managing without managers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Noisebridge has no formal leaders or managers, so making decisions is not a simple process. But being in an anarchist collective doesn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t any rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Members try to abide by three main tenets: Do-ocracy<\/a>, meaning people should proactively do things to make the group better; Consensus<\/a>, where members try to find unanimous agreement for thornier problems that should not be decided unilaterally; and Excellence<\/a>, meaning that everyone who is a part of the organization should be \u201cexcellent\u201d to one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to most members, this system has typically worked quite well. But at various points over the past decade, Noisebridge has seen incidents where the space has been exploited and, on occasion, individuals have described \u201ctoxicity\u201d toward women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe run what is effectively a public workshop,\u201d said Sniezko. \u201cSo, I think a lot of the problems in the broader world make their way into the space. I think that this space is far from perfect, but it has grown and it has improved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One issue that Noisebridge has grappled with is people living and sleeping in the warehouse. There is now a rule against napping at 272 Capp St. (See: the case of Ronald, a homeless coder<\/a> who now stays on Albion Street after he spent 10 months living illicitly in Noisebridge.) For similar reasons, visitors and members are also not allowed to cook meals there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are not equipped to be a living space,\u201d said Sniezko, adding that she feels empathy for the people without somewhere to stay, and always tries to connect them with resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John, a frequent visitor to Noisebridge, said that there had been problematic incidents, but not more than you might face in the wider world. He said that Noisebridge\u2019s \u201cAsked To Leave\u201d policy<\/a>, which states that anyone in the space can ask anyone else to leave and that the request is expected to be honored, has been helpful for de-escalating conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And with more people visiting the space each evening, several members said, Noisebridge is an increasingly welcoming space. Brul\u00e9 said that five children of members were frequent guests there, and the organization is much more diverse than when it began as an often-white, often-male collection of coders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s exciting to be at this point where we have more momentum,\u201d Sniezko smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
*More details about Noisebridge\u2019s classes and events can be found on <\/em>*its website<\/em><\/a>*.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n*
*$\"\"$* A workspace on the second floor of 272 Capp Street.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"Avatar$ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
WILL JARRETT<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Will@MissionLocal.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
DATA REPORTER. Will was born in the UK and studied English at Oxford University. After a few years in publishing, he absconded to the USA where he studied data journalism in New York. Will has strong views on healthcare, the environment, and the Oxford comma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by\u00a0WILL JARRETT APRIL 10, 2023 (MissionLocal.org) Members of Noisebridge alongside their logo and informal motto, \u201cBe Excellent.\u201d Seven-month-old Orion, bottom-right, is the collective\u2019s youngest member. \u201cAnd this,\u201d said volunteer Dana Sniezko with a flourish, \u201cis where we keep the laser.\u201d We were in a warehouse at 18th and Capp streets,… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[399],"class_list":["post-25890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-noisebridge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25890\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}