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Start a computer club in the place that you live (2023)

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Re: Start a computer club in the place that you live (2023)

#71

Post by hermitcrab »

rjsw wrote: post #58
hermitcrab wrote: post #43

I would quite happily volunteer some of my time to help interested kids with computer programming. I recently looked around and none of my local school (here in the UK) seem to have after school programming clubs. I am a bit put off by all the organizational and safe guarding issues that would come with starting something.

The safeguarding stuff is required for sports coaching too and is run well in the UK from my experience.

Yes, I had a DBS check before and it wasn't an issue. But I wonder how onerous safeguarding policies are. Also I would be wary of being in a room with a pupil without another adult present. Even the slightest accusation, where you are completely innocent, could make your life hell.

Re: Start a computer club in the place that you live (2023)

#72

Post by pkdpic »

isoprophlex wrote: post #29
pkdpic wrote: post #18

> the recurse center social rules foster collaboration and psychological safety, consider using them > No well-actually’s > No feigned surprise > No backseat driving > No subtle -isms There seems to be something really magical about the Recurse Center social rules. Or maybe their admissions process. Or both. I did a batch a couple years ago and I was stunned at how fun and drama-free people are there. I've heard occa…

How do they make that work, you think? Could you say a bit more? One weirdo can severely mess up group dynamics, which is deadly for a small nascent club-type thing. What if you have someone join who's ferociously intelligent, and not outright evil but just inherently socially maladjusted? You just kick em out if they can't help themselves to continuous "well actually"s, even though they mean well? That in itself mig…

In talking about how they manage to keep it so drama / toxicity free with other alums all we can ever really do is speculate. But people being asked to leave seems to be very rare so we've often concluded it must be in the admissions process. Admissions interviews sound like they are very different experiences for different people but I know that in mine at least there were moments where I could have responded with toxic behavior but didn't. At the very least it seems like any pair programming interview gives ample opportunities to accidentally violate those rules so they might be naturally selecting folks who already organically follow those rules rather than having to artificially conform to them. All speculative though who knows.

Anyway to actually answer your question I think that unfortunately asking people to leave is the mechanism by which they enforce those rules after a few attempts to course correct. I believe I heard stories about that happening but didn't witness it personally and it seemed clear that they weren't interested in broadcasting those instances to the larger community.

Re: Start a computer club in the place that you live (2023)

#74

Post by fn-mote »

hermitcrab wrote: post #71
rjsw wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The safeguarding stuff is required for sports coaching too and is run well in the UK from my experience.

Yes, I had a DBS check before and it wasn't an issue. But I wonder how onerous safeguarding policies are. Also I would be wary of being in a room with a pupil without another adult present. Even the slightest accusation, where you are completely innocent, could make your life hell.

> I would be wary of being in a room with a pupil without another adult present

I think a far greater danger is your club becoming a dumping ground for parents wanting free childcare.

But yeah, running a club solo is not likely to be sustainable if you’re not (somehow) connected to the location that you are running it. At least with two people there’s a fallback. A lot of clubs don’t have this, though, so don’t let “perfect be the enemy of good”.

Re: Start a computer club in the place that you live (2023)

#79

Post by qhiliq »

linsomniac wrote: post #67

Around Colorado we call them Hacking Society, and the easiest way we've found to get space has been at coffee shops, though over the years some businesses have opened space for us at times. Considering we've been getting together 3 times a month for nearly a quarter century, you'd think we'd have had more time to update the webpage. https://www.hackingsociety.org/

Thanks for sharing about this! Do you happen to know if the Boulder meetup time and location are still accurate? I tried subscribing to the mailing list but the email bounced.

Re: Start a computer club in the place that you live (2023)

#80

Post by MrVandemar »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #62
MrVandemar wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A firearm is a tool. Do you think firearm ownership and usage is free from politics? Do you think a gun club is free from politics?

> Do you think firearm ownership and usage is free from politics? Of course not. > Do you think a gun club is free from politics? That depends. Is it a "let's talk everything about guns"? Is it a "let's go to a shooting range and shoot guns" club? There's a place for people to discuss things, there's a place for people to do things together, and neither might be a good place for people willing to be political in the…

> Is it a "let's talk everything about guns"? Is it a "let's go to a shooting range and shoot guns" club?

I know of no club where the purpose is merely to talk about guns. Gun clubs are typically organised shooting ranges. In Australia, if you own a firearm, I believe you are legally required to belong to one, and have some kind of minimum attendence per year.

And yes, they discuss politics, and they veer strongly towards conspiricy paranoia.

I expect it's the same in the US, especially with its NRA stranglehold the culture there.

I'm not sure if you're aware of the Port Arthur massacre in the 1990s in Tasmania. Probably small beer if you're from the US with it's weekly atrocities. The PM at the time instituted a mandatory gun buy-back/hand-in/confiscation scheme to reduce the number of firearms in the community, which was broadly seen as a Good Thing (by people who don't own firearms. ie. the majority of the population).

Talk in the gun-club is that the massacre was conspiricy perpetuated by the Gubmint in order to bring in tighter gun control laws, confiscate firearms, etc.

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