Protospace began as a discussion in the very early months of 2009. Very quickly, regular meetings were being held at a local facility. From there the group put together a membership structure and leased their own space in the summer of 2009. That space now serves as a meeting place, social area, workshop, and general home base for Calgary's techies, geeks, artists, tech groupies, and DIY minded individuals.
We’re a non-profit organization/team based out of Calgary, Alberta.
Our purpose is to support the ongoing projects of our members. Our members include anyone interested in working on projects with the purpose of making things, breaking things, learning and teaching.
Protospace is designed around collective ownership, not only of the space but of the tools, resources, and infrastructure within the space.
Membership
Visitors are welcome to drop by at any of our regular meetings. However, unrestricted access to the space, voting rights, an account on the network, etc. are only available to "official" members.
There is an inherent trust in handing over keys to the space, and access to the equipment and property contained there. Therefore, membership is by invite only at this time. However, regular visitors to the weekly meetings will quickly become known and are likely to find a "sponsor member".
- fill out top third of the form
- put the form in the binder
- each administrative meeting, there is a standing agenda item to read the applicants out of the binder
- a month passes, during which the applicant gets 2 sponsors to sign their form
- after this month, the applicant is approved by the general membership. at that point they fill out the bottom
third of the form. It is perfectly acceptable to postpone the approval until the next meeting (or the next, etc) . - the new member gives the Treasurer their dues, and the Secretary the form
During the month, anyone can look in the binder at the names. If an existing member has a problem with one of the applicants, they should take time during that month to try and resolve the problem. They may ask another member to be a proxy for them to either help resolve the problem (preferred) or to voice their objection at the approval meeting.