In my last post, I had mentioned about a plan for organizing a Hackerspace in Kolkata. Later on, we decided to have a broader approach and build a “Makerspace”, which will cater to a broader range of techizens. The idea is to create a collaborative workspace for geeks and designers where they can work in peace.
The origin
The idea originated in separate discussions with Sayak Sarkar, Bibhas Debnath and Soumya Deb. All of them showed interest in building a space where technical people can work together, share their work and organize mini-confs. The same idea coming from three different people, individually, was a interesting. It meant there are people genuinely willing to do something innovative in Kolkata. It is time to change the general attitude that nothing worthwhile takes place in this city.
The plan
We are planning to get a 1BHK or 2BHK apartment in some prominent location in South Kolkata with good connectivity. If the place is well connected, people will find it easier to reach the place and the Makerspace will have more members.
We want to have a reasonable internet at the venue and decent electricity supply. There will be tables and chairs, obviously, for people to sit and work. We might have a coffee maker to serve that one most vital ingredient of coding and design.
It will be a great place for hackers and designers to hang out and also for serious workers to work in a comfortable atmosphere. It will be a meeting place for creative minds.
Anyone travelling to Kolkata and looking for a space to work in their free time can drop by and do their work.
We plan to keep the venue open 7 days a week, from 10am to 8pm.
The challenge
The biggest challenge is to find the venue. We are looking for rents within Rs. 10,000 monthly in South Kolkata, in localities like Jadavpur, Kasba, Lake Gardens, Rashbehari, Bhowanipore, Park Circus etc… However, a regular rented accommodation will not allow ingress of so many people throughout the day. So we have to take time and find out what is best.
The second challenge is budget. Our funds are pitifully low unless we can manage a funding from some organization. Our initial estimate says we will need a monthly budget of atleast Rs. 20,000/- to keep the establishment running in the first year.
The solution
We are hunting for a venue. We are spreading the news about it. We are getting a good deal of support from Anurag Kumar in this matter.
So far the list of interested people include:
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Sayak Sarkar
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Bibhas Debnath
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Kaustav Das Modak
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Nayanika Chattopadhyay
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Srijib Roy
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Mrinmoy Das
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Sumantro Mukherjee
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Anurag Kumar
All of these people came together in the last Webcamp 3.0. All of them want a place where they can, once again, work in peace.
We might hire furniture for now. If we manage a decent funding, we might buy some.
We also plan to keep a nominal membership fees to cover logistical expenses. Initially, it may be as low as Rs. 500 per month per person.
Our annual expense for the first year is expected to be around Rs. 2.5 lakh. We are trying to get some funding from Mozilla and other FOSS organizations.
Contributions are welcome. So if you are willing to fund or participate in formation of Makerspace, get in touch with any of us.