091 Labs

Our Open Day is fast approaching!

It’s this Saturday from 11am until 5pm and our members are bringing in a bunch of projects to show off.

Afterwards, we’ll also be hosting a hackathon from 6pm until 10pm. The idea behind that is to provide the time and space for people to work on an interesting project as a group. It can be electronic, art, craft, or programming-based to name a few!

And after all that, we’ll head out to an as-yet-to-be-chosen pub to chill out.

All are welcome to attend as little or as much as they choose!

On Saturday, March 24th, 091 Labs will be throwing its doors open to the public for their first Open Day of 2012 from 11am until 5pm. All are welcome to attend!

We’ll be showing off the Labs and projects that our members are involved in and building. Have a look at our 3D printer, MAME arcade cabinet or sewing machine. Have a discussion over photography, the best kit for home brewing, or why Linux is still clearly better than Windows. Learn to solder. Meet our boardgamers, take part in a game of Street Fighter or test out our cardboard armour!

We’ll be hosting a hackathon from 6pm until 10pm for those who want to come build, make or program something as part of a group. Electronics, crafting, programming, whatever!

091 Labs is the Makerspace for Galway city. Makerspaces are also known as Hackerspaces, and are a type of community-operated workshop or hobbyspace – a physical place where people can meet and work on personal or group projects and share common interests, often in computers, technology, science, light engineering and crafting.

If any person or group is interested in taking part, bringing something along or helping out at the Open Day, contact info@091labs.com to have a chat with us!

Hi all

091 Labs will finally be signing the lease on the new Space this coming Wednesday. Our new address will be 091 Labs, 1st Floor, Tyrone House, Eyre Square, Galway!

We’ve got the keys, are eager to get moved in and need your help!

We’re looking for some willing volunteers who have big vehicles to aid us in transporting all our gear to the new Space over the course of this coming week and we’ll need a few people to help lift the gear up the stairs once it gets dropped at the door too.

So if you’re free to help on Wednesday evening (August 3rd) from around 6pm, drop an email to padraic@091labs.com or tweet @091labs with the tag #moving or Facebook or however! We’d love to hear from ye!

And if you aren’t free on Wednesday but are around earlier or later in the week, still drop us a shout as we’ll make sure to arrange something =)

Cheers,

PTL

Hello, world.

A lot of discussion has gone on behind the scenes in recent days and weeks regarding the current homeless circumstances of 091 Labs. Some of the discussion has been heated. Laconic quips have been made. Properties have been researched and prospective landlords have been contacted in and around Galway City. The outlook right now is pretty good: We’re close to securing a property in the city centre and negotiations have begun about the letting of the property to 091 Labs. More than that it really isn’t my place to say.

We’ve started to move our books, furniture, electronics and bookish electronic furniture from Exchange House into temporary storage around the city and county. Almost all of the small pieces were moved yesterday afternoon. More is to go in coming days.

And yes, many weeks of summer still lie ahead of us, but inevitably September is going to come and a fresh batch of mundane…first year college students will arrive in Galway. Just like we did in 2010, classes are in tentative planning to be held for them: Electronics, programming, Linux, computer maintenance.

We’re not dead (yet).

This weekend the awesome MindField, Festival of Ideas, is happening in Dublin, and there is going to be a real live hackerspace tent as part of it! All the hackerspaces of Ireland are uniting to provide 2.5 days of geeky goodness, so if you ever wanted a chance to taste what hackers are all about, this is it!

As well as events, there will be friendly hackers eager to show you what they are working on, and there’ll be a number of kits, micro controllers and components for sale. 091Labs are bringing an NFC project, LivingThings, so if you have a Nexus phone, be sure to test its NFC functionality on objects in the tent!

It’s free to wander in and about, and only some of the workshops require payment for kits, so no excuse not to visit! Looking forward to seeing you there!

Friday 29th April

6–7.30 pm
The Icelandic Modern Media Initiative
A presentation by Smari McCarthy (www.immi.is).

7.45–9.45 pm
Workshop: DIY BIO
With Cathal Garvey (Nexus Hackerspace, Cork).

Saturday 30th April

12–2 pm
Workshop/Presentations: The Joys of 3D Printing
Hosted by Christian Kortenhorst (Tog.ie) with Cathal Garvey (Nexus Cork), Barry O’Donovan (theknittingclub.net/).

2–3.30 pm
OPEN EVERYTHING!
A presentation by Michel Bauwens (philosopher, P2P Foundation).

3.30-6.30 pm
Workshop: Crazy LED-Eyed Monsters
Crafting, Storytelling and Electronics. Hosted by Ellen Dudley (091 Labs, Galway), and Tina and Alan from Missy Bonkers.

8–9.30 pm
Sharing Trust; Sharing Power
How the Starfish Outlives the Spider with Raffael Kemenczy.

All Day
MindField People Hunt
Interactive iPhone game to discover and talk to interesting people at MindField and win prizes! Keep up to date with leaderboard on screens in HackerSpace. Download free from iTunes: MindField (powered by CrowdScanner, and part of 091Labs).

Sunday 1st May

12–2 pm
Workshop: Introduction to Arduino
With Rob Fitzsimons (TOG).

2–4 pm
Workshop: Strategies for a Sustainable Society
Hosted by Raffael Kemenczy.

4–6 pm
The Instant City: Let’s Make A Place Together
Led by geographer Patricia Wood (York University, Toronto), artist and animator Maeve Clancy and others (TBC).