I just added a page to the Wiki for Parking Tickets and related Tags. This includes an explanation of the designer's intent for how they should be used.

This place is a do-ocracy at its core. I heard people talk about it, I discussed it with people, and then I made them. I may not have done it in the best way possible, so John and I, with many others, are interested to see how these can help us all keep the space cleaner, safer, as well as more functional and all-around groovy. I'd like to spread the word about them, and to get feedback about how the descriptions of the tags, or the tags themselves can be improved to address the needs of the membership.

These were original developed as a result of some information sharing between hackerspaces that took place at the recent event in Detroit. Whoever actually brought the idea to the Hack Factory should raise your hand and be recognized, because I, for one, don't know who it was.

We ask that the new tags are honored by all users of the space during the initial trial. If you have feedback about how they are being used, how they could be improved, or if you find them limiting or intimidating badges of unwanted authority, please discuss this with me or any of the shop managers, members of the board, or anyone, really.

Marvelous work, Mr. O! Thanks for taking the initiative and getting these out there.

I've started drafting a blog post on this topic as an introduction, pointing to the wiki for more info. But now I have to go make dinner.

Anyone else is welcome to plug away at it, otherwise i'll finish it up tonight.

I say: Rock on pyro. And Bon apetit. I think this announcement would be best served coming from more than one voice, by which I mean I would prefer not to be the only person trying to craft the initial introductory language in the forums, the wiki AND the blog. That might come across as though this was my idea to begin with, and that's not the case. I am merely an instrument of implementation, attempting to embody the spirit of being excellent to others, and do-ocracy in action.


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=44.906197,-93.294286
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I have to say, this is a perfect implementation and expansion of the whole parking ticket / permit concept.

When Dave B, Steffin, Brandon, Karin and I went to maker faire detroit, we spent a lot of time at :

http://www.i3detroit.com/

We were there for 2 nights, Friday to get some emergency repairs done on our power racer, and Saturday for a most excellent party they had.

We all saw the incredible organizational stuff they had going on.

I think we all said "all of these ideas must be stolen and brought back to tcmaker. At once!"

Brandon , if I remember right, was the one who made the point of getting copies of all their awesome paperwork for us to duplicate.

What you've put together now is nicer, sharper, visually more appealing, broader in scope, and just plain all around better than their already excellent idea.

Bravo!

Some of the other stuff we saw there:

1. They had a shelf that was labeled something like "the graveyard"; stuff that either for sure didn't belong to anyone, or possibly didn't belong to anyone, (i'm not sure but it's a big difference; someone else remember the details?) was put on the shelf, and there was an expiration date. If something was still on the shelf after a month, into the dumpster.

I'd really like some of the other folks to chime in with more of the details of their implementation of this, there was more to it, and it was awesome, effective, and very self organizing.

2. Color coded tool racks and stuff storage.

Chris has started with this in a very nice way; I3 had a whole bunch of different "work areas", complete with workbenches and assorted sets of tools. All the tools for a specific area were color coded with I believe, colored tape on the handle, so that they'd go back to that specific work / storage area at cleanup time.

3. guest book; they had (I believe, for all of this, excuse my alcohol befogged a.d.d. brain) a guest book. If you weren't a member, and you showed up, you signed the guest book. This was in addition to the waiver stuff. Holy targeted contact information resource, batman!

4. key fob access to nice stuff. They had a super duper awesome laser cutter (amongst other large size "nice things"). I believe this device had 2 forms of physical security, i.e. a regular key, possesed only by people with permission, and a dongle. Again, I'm not sure of the details, but it seemed very secure, very doable, and just right for protecting an expensive machine and logging access and amount of time / consumables used.

Again, the other 4 of us who were there, would you chime in with corrections and additions? The parking ticket thing was executed so brilliantly, I'd like to steal the rest of their ideas with as much zeal and panache.

Again, well done!

Riley

Along these lines I had a "flash" of inspiration about labeling materials--stick lumber, sheet stock, etc. I was thinking that plastic surveyors tape could be tied around these material bundles to indicate that they are owned. (A label would still be used to identify the owner.) This provides a quick visual indication that the materials aren't up for grabs but allows them to be stored along with similar materials.

I toss this one to the area managers for consideration.

Rigger


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=44.968978,-93.508811

Very cool idea. I hope it works out in practice.

Upvote for Kevin.

=)

Riley