What is Protospace?
Protospace is a Hackerspace, located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Our focus is to provide a physical location, whose purpose is supporting the ongoing projects of its members. Those members include anyone interested in working on projects with the purpose of making things, breaking things, learning and teaching, with the trademark Hacker lean towards high technology and technological complexity. Protospace is designed around collective ownership, not only of the space but of the tools, resources, and infrastructure within the space. Protospace encourages collaboration and sharing of knowledge via team projects, mentoring, and social activities.
But isn’t Hacking illegal?
No. If you are thinking of something illegal, or shady, you’re talking about Crackers. Think of them like the evil twin of a Hacker. You know, The Joker vs Batman. Batman’s good… Just not always polite.
What are a few good examples of Hacking, then?
We all hack on a regular basis. Think of how many ways you can use a paperclip. If any of those ways are not holding paper together, then you have the capacity to hack. If you can take a piece of paper and repurpose it by folding it into a complex origami shape, then you have the capacity to hack.
In other words, one form of hacking is to repurpose everyday things into something new, creative, practical, or beautiful. This type of hacking is generally not any more illegal than using a screwdriver as a hammer. But use that screwdriver as a weapon, and line has been crossed. To hack something can also mean to take something apart and try to put it back together, or to make improvements, or make it work again. Doing this with your own things for your own education is NOT illegal. This activity may be known as “engineering” or even “reverse-engineering”. To do this with things you do not own without permission, however, IS illegal. Cracking something to steal data or money, or to cause bodily harm is illegal and most definitely not encouraged by Protospace.
Hacking is also a “job description” of sorts. IT research and development departments often hire hackers and the like to test or develop new products. In some cases, “Hacker” is part of the job description. While the phrase Hacking has roots in the computer field, the ideals can apply anywhere. The concept of ‘malicious hacking’ (which is called Cracking or Black Hatting) also stems from the computer field and means hacking done to steal data, processing time (called “crunch”), and/or bandwidth (also called pipe). Extending the idea into other fields, malicious hacking may be considered any form of hacking with the intent to steal something or harm others. Malicious hacking is generally illegal or (sometimes more importantly) socially unacceptable, not to mention unethical.
How do I become a Protospace member
- come out to our events and meetings! You’ll need two regular members or Directors to vouch for you, so take the time to come out and get to know people – plus the stuff we get up to is awesome, you’ll want to get in on that as soon as you can.
- we’ll have a membership binder at all our regular meetings, fill out the top third of the membership form, put the form in the new members binder each meeting, there is a standing agenda item to read the applicants out of the binder. A month passes, during which the applicant gets two members to sign their form and sponsor them.
- sometime in that month, membership dues can be given to a Director.