In this post, I will talk about my long weekend and about a 
cross-over between pubnixes and makerspaces.

We were finally hit by snow here on Sunday, something the kids and 
I have been hoping for for quite some time.  Around 8 inches of 
snow was enough for the kids to play in and for me to make some 
weapons-grade snowballs (neither children nor wildlife were 
harmed, I promise).  And school was cancelled on Monday, so the 
kids got an extra day to enjoy the it all.  We put some mileage on 
the sleds.

On Saturday, the kids and I went out to explore a recent discovery 
in the local area: a makerspace!  And less than 5 miles from home!  
I've heard about makerspaces and hackerspaces, and I've vicariosly 
enjoyed them through stories from others; but this was the first 
time I've visited one in person.  It was great: motors, wires, 
Arduinos, 3D printers, laser cutters, and people to talk with 
about building skills and building projects.  The kids made a few 
quick bristlebots. 

While at the makerspace, I was reminded of some thoughts I had a 
while back about public access Unix systems as virtual 
hackerspaces -- where people have the tools, environment and 
collaborators to learn, build and use cool open source software.  
Since I've been so involved in a number of pubnixes recently, this 
got me thinking...

Why not set up a pubnix that revolves around a local makerspace 
(or hackerspace)?  While it wouldn't need to be strictly limited 
to makerspace members, it could have a physical touchpoint in the 
makerspace.  You could provide getting-started materials on site, 
and let people use the system to discuss their projects or to help 
each other practice coding, using the command line, or tinkering 
with networking concepts.  The asynchronous nature of a command 
line bbs or blogging tool (gopher...?) would lend themselves well 
to the interactions of people in the makerspace.

One easy way to do this would be to take the same model of an 
existing pubnix, a VPS configured and loaded with pubnixy 
software, and simply advertise it at the makerspace.

Another model would be to have an internal-only pubnix; a 
raspberry pi or other computer connected to a off-the-net wireless 
router.  Doing it this way, you could be a little more relaxed 
about the security model and give users even more freedom to 
experiment.  You would probably have to be prepared to wipe and 
reinstall periodically, however, as accidents do happen when 
people are learning.

I am sure a lot of people who frequent makerspaces would also be 
the type that would have interest in pubnixes, so it would be 
interesting to see if this served as an onramp for more people 
into the Small Internet [1].

If you think this is an interesting concept too, keep watching 
because I might propose it to my newfound local makerspace.  I'll 
report back if so.

And if you have experience with makerspaces or hackerspaces, I'd 
love to hear your thoughts about this idea.

I believe there is one example of this already in hashbang.  I'll
try to confirm, but I think I recall that they are associated with a 
fablab, although I don't know the location.

[1] gopher://republic.circumlunar.space/0/~spring/phlog/2019-01-16__The_Small_Internet.txt