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Comment by lampe3 | Hacker News Reader

I'm part of the CCC in Hamburg

We will move to stockholm and I'm thinking of creating one :)

Good luck. In countries like Germany or Norway there is a culture of hacker organisations sustaining themselves financially via their members.

This culture doesn't exist in Sweden, and the spaces and organisations that aren't subsidised by government funds or universities all disappear after a few years.

(Source: Lived in all three countries, was active in such organisations in all three countries)

Oh, there are tons of hackerspaces in Sweden. Its just that they are either tied to universities, startup clusters or for kids.

I guess you were simply not in contact with the right people.

You're saying exactly the same thing as me: There are very few independent hacker spaces (in most cities, none), unlike in Germany and Norway where that is the norm.

Maybe this is a naive question since I’ve never been involved in a hacker/computer club but why is a dedicated space required? Does the club usually purchase hardware/equipment that needs to be stored? I suppose I always assumed the members brought their own equipment to meetings.

You know, the more I think about it, I’m not really sure I have any idea what a computer club actually is and does...

It's a good question and not easy to answer in general as there a lot of different types of hackerspaces.

Some hackerspaces are more a kind of makerspace and provide expensive, large or complicated hardware like industrial laser cutters, 3D printers, embroidery machines and (electronics) workshops with soldering irons, electronic parts etc.

Other hackerspaces are focusing more on the social side and offer a space to hang out, meet and discuss with beverages (I guess mostly mate and beer). There can be talks, workshops or competitions (like CTFs) and so on.

Also providing services to the public, like repair cafes and holiday programs for kids can be a way to further engage in society to share technical knowledge.

hackerspaces.org has also extensive explanations on theory of hackerspaces: https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/Theory

It's a space to hang out and meet people, where you can talk about and tinker with technology.

Only socializing online is just not the same.

CCC isn't a hacker space as I understand the term. CCC is a club of security experts. hacker spaces are communal spaces where you can tinker with peers using provided tools.

The CCC is both. It's a club of computer- and technology-interested d people. Most cities have some rented space that doubles as a hacker and tinker space. It really depends on the members in each city what the specific location looks like.

That there is also a branch of very public security experts is... Incidental, I'd say.

> CCC is a club of security experts

No. It happens that a lot of members are security experts but it is far far broader than that.

The CCC is a very decentralized organization. A lot of hacker spaces are in fact operated by local subdivisions or are completely independent organizations but with a lot of overlap in membership.

In general the CCC likes define itself more by those who share its values and less by the legal entity with that name.

In Germany the CCC has a lot of physical clubs where people hang out. They have some specialised equipment, but are from my limited experience more social spaces for cohacking, giving talks, etc. There's also the chaos communication congress, with is a big hacker festival/conference (by the same group of people), run by I think the same org, and I've never fully understood how one navigates the identical acronyms...

Typically, the Chaos Communication Congress is referred to by its number and the abbreviation C3. So it's 36C3 for the last regular installment.

Neither is right. CCC also has security experts as members, which sometimes comment publicly. In general however, it is the parent organization for local hacker spaces (though it is possible to be member on only local or only CCC level). And many local spaces are also called ccc-xy. Wnd their interests.

Chaos Computer Club also means there are actual physical club rooms where members can meet.

> Its just that they are either tied to universities, startup clusters or for kids.

…or lacking members. He wrote, glancing around the empty room

Because of COVID?

Currently, I suppose, but no; it’s been “active” since about 2010.

As a Norwegian I would love some pointers to the Norwegian hacker spaces. I am vaguely familiar with some, but it would be nice with some more info.

I'm mostly familiar with the Oslo scene, which has Hackeriet[0] (of which I'm still a member) with more of a CCC-style crowd and Bitraf[1] which has a lot of physical equipment for "makers" and has a much larger space. Hackeriet's IRC channel is also quite nice (though usually in Norwegian and/or svorsk).

There's a few other organisations, notably Teknologihuset[2] which has some communities organising regular events and NUUG[3] which doesn't have a physical space but moves around and is generally a good community to get in contact with.

Note that NUUG have members all throughout Norway, and also an active (Norwegian) IRC channel, which may be a good place to ask about other towns as my knowledge of those is either outdated or non-existing!

Ses på IRC! :)

[0]: https://hackeriet.no [1]: https://bitraf.no/ [2]: https://www.teknologihuset.no/ [3]: https://nuug.no

Have you tried the Hackerspaces wiki? https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/Norway

Check out https://www.blivande.com/ Burners, artists and (I think) hackers doing stuff together in Stockholm. (I'm not in sthlm but part of the Scandinavian burning scene)

What does burner mean here?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_Man

Wow, I didn't expect that to be a thing people identify with so strongly in Stockholm of all places.

Looks amazing! I will

Do you know if CCC supports regional chapters?

Yes, they're called Erfa-Kreise: https://www.ccc.de/en/club/erfas

They're all in German-speaking countries.

In Germany there are various "local subsidiaries", mainly in or around larger cities. They are also often somewhat tied/connected with local hackerspaces and whatnot.

I would join in a heartbeat!

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