Coffeehouses and 'Hackerspaces'

by Dilshan Boange

'Meeting up for a coffee' in today's urban Sri Lankan context is more social than interpersonal; and perhaps more valued for the merits of the 'statement' than the actual interactions. The space of a coffeehouse is viewed today as one that is more of exclusivity than inclusivity.

Ironically, the inception of coffeehouses in England was for greater public inclusivity in discussions between the learned and those that needed knowledge empowerment. Coffeehouses were 'levellers' of the rigid social order which needless to say meant aspects of political and economic interests were key in determining how society was set in place.

Coffeehouses were pivotal to the English 'enlightenment'. Great thinkers such as John Locke contributed towards more liberal political expression amongst the English people to whom information was controlled tightly by the State.

Knowledge

The popularity of coffeehouses gained momentum as places where knowledge was exchanged ungrudgingly and not commoditised to the extent that King Charles II had tried to suppress the establishments declaring them 'places where the disaffected met, and spread scandalous reports concerning the conduct of his Majesty and his Ministers.'

Information is power no doubt, and the free exchange of information, ideas and knowledge for empowerment and awareness generation has come a long way from the coffeehouses of Europe to the present day when at the turn of a switch, the click of a mouse and press of a button, split second access to pools of virtually unending information can be cached for our digestion.

In a manner of speaking, the Worldwide Web, the cyber realm, has become a borderless coffeehouse in the likeness of what the European coffeehouses of old (and not the ones of present Colombo) purposed.

Award winning journalist Heather Brooke a dual citizen of UK and USA who has campaigned extensively for citizen's right to information speaks of a new potent 'space' that carries the goals and vision of the coffee houses of olden Europe, of course comparatively enlarged manifold in their scope, in her book The Revolution will be Digitised.

The term 'Hackerspace' may not carry tones of familiarity with many Sri Lankans who are layman to the subject of IT and Computer Sciences. But surely the 'techys' and the techno savvy younger generation would be knowledgeable and conversant on the matter although there seems not much discussion on the topic in mainstream media.

In the second chapter of her book, Brooke narrates her research on Hackerspaces in USA, which are gathering spaces that provide facilities such as computers, power tools, electronic equipment and house libraries, archives of both digital and hardcopy material to facilitate and foster free learning and experimentation; the free flow of ideas and unhindered discussions; with the prime objective being a 'space' for putting ideas into actions, to develop new inventions and realise creations brewing in the heads of would be inventors, artists.

The scope isn't restricted to science and technology. Art is a great part of the work of the imaginative utopians who have developed such fraternal 'hangouts' in parts of America and Europe, which rely on private funding and donations either as monetary or in kind.

Habitués who occupy these spaces either work alone or work collaboratively on projects ranging from mural painting to computer software development to even experimental space exploration technology. Brooke's reportage brings to light remarkable outcomes from these congregational acts of creative people with ideas to exchange and an itching to bring them from concept to reality.

Some Hackerspaces are housed within institutions of higher education like universities; a prime example is BUILDS (Boston University Information Lab and Design Space). Although carrying an official label as a 'research centre' in effect it has every functional aspect of a Hackerspace.

Some smaller ones may operate on private space and limited to a small scale work. Some may be well patronised and supported and holding the legal status of non-profit organisations like Noisebridge in San Francisco which even developed its own space exploration program by sending weather balloon probes up to 70,000 in the sky to collect data with the aid of GPS smart phones and digital cameras.

Brookes speaks of how one of the primary outlooks of hackers is to break boundaries and reach new ground, levels, when it comes to information and invention.

Reinvention

It becomes about reinvention as much as invention since to construct one must as times deconstruct what may exist. There lie the dangers of the hackers to the existing system and status quo. Yet according to Brookes some of the most remarkable cyber age inventions have been 'hacker creations' including Facebook! In her book she speaks to Jacob Appelbaum the founder of Noisebridge who was dogged by the US authorities for his association with the Wikileaks controversy and the man who was at the centre of it Julian Assange.

Applebaum in his discussions with the journo explains how he wanted initially to start a place where hacks could spend time without having to spend money as the case would be in a coffee shop.

Through Noisebridge, Applebaum's vision had been to build a space where a 'viable alternative' could be achieved to make 'things come true'; an environment which in his words reported by Brookes would be 'magical'.

The seemingly endless potential to knowledge sharing and idea exchanges of a Hackerspace can build paths to devise means to overcome barriers of conventional methods in the use of technology.

These places in such light can be seen as hotbeds for envisioning the future in a very creative and imaginative vein.

Dynamic outfits

However, the question remains, as Brookes brings out, in her conversation with Appelbaum, if Hackerspaces such as Noisebridge (being one of the more well funded and dynamic outfits) can 'scale up to a government'? The scepticism on the part of the journo may seem a negativism, but in every sense it appears nothing short of rationalism.

Although the ideals of a radically liberal society where information and knowledge would flow freely and market driven power politics would not be the order of the day to stifle people from thinking and acting to realise newer possibilities to living a more fulfilling life of freedom may pulsate as realisable realities among the likes of Applebaum, one must wonder to what extents can Hackerspace ideology really prevail in terms of becoming 'government' for people?

The digital age has no doubt afforded countless people access to information and knowledge through communication channels and tools that would have been pure science fiction a hundred years ago. And seeing what collectives like Noisebridge have achieved Appelbaum responds to Brooke's question as a 'failure of imagination' if people were to think projects such as Noisebridge may not succeed in becoming a viable alternative system for people. Hackerspaces no doubt will be places that the digital age has fostered through the ever increasing accessibility to borderless communication between people restricted by geography. But despite all the ingenuity and innovation that Hackerspaces may offer the world how far a utopia can be realised through them is very much at present left to the imagination, at best.