Member Manual

Last Edited: 03/17/2017

Welcome

Welcome to the Pumping Station: One, Chicago's premiere hackerspace. We do woodworking, software, metalworking, art, crafts, electronics, chemistry, power wheel racing, TARDIS building, green technology, nanotechnology, tinkering, dismantling of robots, assembling of robots, music, biotechnology, CNC, and the many ways all those subjects (and more) intersect and collaborate.

Quick List of things to do as a new member

Important Documents

• Read the Bylaws
• Read the Membership Agreement
• Read our Policies

Things to do

• Sign the waiver
• Join the mailing lists
• Come to Member Meetings to see whats going on and meet other members
• Build something awesome
• Join a class and learn something new
• Start a class and inspire someon
• Edit the Wiki
• Ask Questions!

Your Role (as a Member)

As a member of Pumping Station: One, you aren't just buying shared use of a workshop, you're joining a community of people who love learning and making things, and sharing their knowledge with others. That learning and sharing ethos is what makes a hackerspace great, so embrace it to the greatest extent that you can.

This hackerspace belongs to and is controlled by its members, so by joining up, It's your hackerspace. If you see something wrong or broken, fix it. (or if you don't know how, bring it to the attention of someone who does and offer to help; you'll learn something!) If you want something to work differently, make it happen (the board, area hosts, and other long time members can usually be of help here). You as a member are allowed to be at the space any time! Talk to a board member to get your keycode, fob, or key. We'll work out which one you get.

Meetings

Every Tuesday night at 8pm we have an open house. You probably attended one of these before you became a member. Everyone is encouraged to come on Tuesday nights to see what other people are working on and share ideas. It's always full of activity and lots of fun.

Before the open house, we have a meeting of our Board of Directors. It's mostly about facility maintenance, paying bills, and whatever other issues we're dealing with at the moment. If you don't want to attend but want to stay in the loop, you can read the meeting minutes.

Orientation Program

You're required to go to the PS1 Orientation class within 3 months of joining if you haven't already! Please see Orientation Program Policy.

At your first meeting

The first time you attend a meeting, be sure to do a couple things:

• Sign a waiver - VERY IMPORTANT everyone who walks in the door must sign a waiver, including guests.
• Introduce yourself at the meeting.
• Get a tour - an official tour leader should be announced during the meeting.

Voting

Most decisions are made by a vote of the full members. Here's how voting works:

• Full members may propose votes.
• Only full members in good standing may vote.
• As a required step, the vote proposal is run past the board of directors for proper wording, etc. - this helps prevent people from disagreeing with your proposal because it's written poorly.
• The proposing member places the item before the membership (BOTH on mailing list and during a meeting) at least 7 days prior to a meeting.
• During this period, people may read and discuss the proposal, and offer their own counter-proposals.
• At the next scheduled meeting, the proposal and any counter proposals are voted on.

Board of Directors

Pumping Station: One is a direct democracy of its full members, but most of the heavy lifting is delegated to the board of directors . They pay the bills and coordinate things behind the scenes. If you have any questions, you can talk to one of them during a meeting or email them at [email protected].

Facility Operations

The people primarily responsible for the various shops in the hackerspace are the . They are volunteers who maintain their areas and frequently certify people on their area's tools.

Power Tools

YOU NEED TO BE CERTIFIED BEFORE YOU CAN USE ANY POWERTOOLS! A list of certified members is listed by each power tool or on the item's Equipment page.

If you break a tool, the WORST thing you can do is to make it look like it's not broken and leave before anyone notices. Someone could literally be killed. What you should do, in order of preference, is:

• fix it, if you are capable
• put a "broken" sign on it if you can't fix it,
• tell the mailing list what is broken about the tool and figure out how to fix it.

We understand that accidents happen, and you will not be called out or derided for a simple accident. You may have to be re-certified on the tool before you can use it again.

Workshops/Classes

Most workshops and classes are done on a per-interest basis. Some of them are more regular than others, like Circuit Hacking Wednesdays.

read more: Classes

Interested in Learning?

Feel free to come by any of the advertised events on the calendar. Some workshops require you to be a member or to pay a parts fee. Read the fine print. If there's some class you'd like taught please ask around the membership to see if there are others interested and if anyone can teach the class or if we need to call in a professional.

Interested in Teaching?

1. Pick a topic
2. Gauge interest from the membership
3. Pick a date
4. Talk to a Board member to get your event put on the calendar or email info @ pumpingstationone.org for help