Category: Advocacy

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Irish Hackerspaces Week

Following on from last years successful events we are happy to participate in Irish Hackerspaces Week 2011 from Saturday the 20th of August to Sunday the 28th of August. The week offers Ireland’s hackerspaces and makerspaces the opportunity to promote their regular activities and resources, along with special events.

Time Table of Events in TOG

Saturday 20th

11:00 to late : Synchronous Hackathon

19:00 to 20:30 : Hacker Quiz

20:30 to late : Open Soical Night

Sunday 21st

11:00 to late : Synchronous Hackathon

12:00 to 14:30 : Basic Soldering Workshop

15:00 to 17:30 : Mini Mood Light Soldering Workshop

Monday 22nd

19:00 to 22:00 : Electronics and Micro controller Group Night

19:00 to 21:00 : Breadboard Projects

Tuesday 23rd

19:00 to 22:00 : Crafting Night

Wednesday 24th

19:00 to 22:00 : Computing/Networking/Programming Group Night

Thursday 25th

19:00 to 21:00 : Night of Lightning Talks

Topics: making your first open-source contribution, 3D printing, implanted magnets, lock picking overview, CCC/R0ket badge

Friday 26th

19:00 to ? : Beginners Capture The Flag Event

Saturday 27th

11:00 to 14:00 : Pinhole Photography Workshop

15:00 to 18:00 : Pinhole Photography Workshop

Sunday 28th

At TOG we are still working on our time table of events which we’ll flesh out for the come days and weeks.

 

If you live somewhere else in Ireland and want to take part but can’t make it to Dublin then you should check out:

Cork: Nexus
Galway: 091 Labs
Limerick: Milk Labs

 

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Hackerspaces and the Formal Education System

Most of us at one time or another have been in the formal education system. Do we have a good experience ? Could it be better ? Can hackerspaces solve the problems?

The Dublin Google Technology User Group(GTUG) will be hosting a panel discussion on this very topic. The panel will be made up of members of our hackerspace ,  educators and employers.  It is set to be a lively thought provoking discussion.

Event Details

Date: Tuesday 26th of July.

Time: 6.30 pm

Location: Google HQ, Barrow St., D4

Sign Up: Here

Cost: Free!!

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June Social, Projects Night and Summer Fund

The beginning of June represents the one year anniversary of TOG moving into Chancery Lane or TOG 2.0. To celebrate we’ll be having a dinner party during the June 4th social night.

So what do you want from a TOG dinner party? Ordinary three course meal; formal four course meal; party food; experimental cooking; BBQ; bring-your-own?

We’ve a reasonably equipped kitchen and BBQ. We expect to meet up in TOG about 2pm for the clean up, shopping, preparation, cooking/baking, with dinner starting about 6-7pm. If you like to attend, cook or bring something comment below. We’ll probably have a small contribution to cover the food costs. BYOB.

Following on from the March event we’ll also be having Projects Night on Saturday. Participants will have a short opportunity to present projects they have worked since the last meeting and any new projects they hope to work on over the next three months. We expect this meeting to run from about 8pm to 9pm.

Somewhat related to the Projects Night we are announcing our Summer Fund. Over the three summer months this fund will provide approximately €120 per month for a group project(s). The exact criteria hasn’t been set yet. But it will likely involves a lump sum being give to a project to buy parts/materials for a project which involves/stimulates group activity in the space. Project suggestions and participation from non-members is welcomed.

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MindField

MindField – International Festival of Ideas
Merrion Square, Dublin – April 29th to May 1st

TOG and the other Irish hackerspaces 091 Labs, Hackerspace Belfast, Hackerspace Cork and miLK Labs have been invited to run our own Hackerspace Tent during MindField.

The Hackerspace Tent will be manned throughout the weekend by hackers and makers showing off projects, providing opportunities to learn new skills and be creative.

We’re still working on the schedule of events and activities so we’ll be adding more information to this post.

The large predefined events are now on the MindField Hackerspace Event page. And we are coordinating activities between the spaces on the follow wiki page.

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Dublin 8 is Great!

Last Saturday, four TOG members participated in Dublin 8 is Great!‘s Pop Up Party by running tables on creating electronic bracelets and basic soldering.

The party was organised by local teens with support from mentors, volunteers, and staff from The Computer Clubhouse, to thank the local kids for helping during the Big Clean earlier in the day. Even though the weather was wet they all seemed to have had a great time and even accidentally met President Mary McAleese.

From the Clubhouse website:

The Computer Clubhouse provides a creative and safe after-school learning environment for young people from under-served communities in the south west inner city area of Dublin.

It’s almost a hackerspace for kids. We were very impressed with everybody involved and we hope to be able to participate and collaborate on events in the future.

Cheryl also provides lots more information on her blog. We took some photos after the kids went home for the evening because we were too busy to get any earlier.
Cheryl and Meg working on some homework.

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The Renovation of TOG 2.0

August 1st was the two month anniversary of us receiving the keys to our new space on Chancery Lane. During these two months we’ve undertaken a huge amount of work renovating the building, making it habitable and suitable for our members and visitors. Below is a series of videos we’ve recorded since getting the keys which hopefully provide an idea of the work we’ve undertaken.

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