A lot of folks have been asking – what’s KWartzlab? It’s Waterloo Region’s non-profit answer to cooperative, grassroots innovation. It’s also a physical location of 1600sf in Kitchener’s former Boemer Box location on Duke Street. For a modest membership, you can partake of tools, materials, space, collaboration and work – so your inventive dreams can become reality.

From http://kwartzlab.ca: “A hackerspace is a physical location where like-minded people get together in a cooperative environment to pool their knowledge, experience, and physical resources with a goal to bringing into reality the projects about which they’ve been dreaming. The sky is the limit, almost literally: projects range from building hardware to building art, from restoring antique equipment to putting electronic blinking eyes in a crocheted doll. Put simply, members get together at the space to make stuff, to work on personal projects or bigger collaborative ones.”

I favour a simpler explanation: hackerspaces are the social fusion of technology and art.

Hackerspaces aren’t new, but they do tend to spring up in communities which have reached a critical mass for technology and creative minds, like Mountain View, Atlanta, Toronto and New York. Kudos to the folks with the vision to get together, ask why this community doesn’t have a hackerspace, and for making it happen.

On October 1, 2009, KWartzlab hosted its grand opening. The place was packed with hackers, geeks, well-wishers, and people who just wanted to see what was going on. The place is modest but functional. And it could be better – they’re always looking for tools, materials, and other requirements members can use.

If you have access to some underused assets, consider contributing to the space. KWartzlab has created a handy list you can review here:

http://kwartzlab.ca/mediawiki/index.php/StuffWeNeed  

If you’re interested in learning more, participating in the space, or finding out how you can help out the hackers, visit their website http://kwartzlab.ca and enjoy.