# Makers, Hackers, and Haunters



## Franki Stein (Apr 26, 2011)

Sounds like a cool place! Sadly, my town doesn't have a HeatSync-type group, and no haunter's group either.. but hey, we have Pizza Church, does that count? Lol! Great post!


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## JustJimAZ (Jul 26, 2010)

Pizza CHurch? Possibly that's a place to find some high school and college nerds to start your own group, so maybe it does!


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## Franki Stein (Apr 26, 2011)

Ah, if only.. In reality it's more likely a place to find ex-cons and people just there for the free food.


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## JustJimAZ (Jul 26, 2010)

I see. In Portage?
Having a haunt group and / or hackerspace is a huge benefit to the members. I bet there are people who would also be interested.


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## Franki Stein (Apr 26, 2011)

So I say ex-cons and you automatically think Portage. Are you sure you're not from here?? lol


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## JustJimAZ (Jul 26, 2010)

Google searches is where I started. "Hackerspace" and "Maker group" are useful terms. For example, "Hackerspace Wisconsin" gave me:
http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/Wisconsin

While looking for one near me, I actually ended up pursuing a lot of dead ends, but found some names on defunct sites that I could reach out to, and eventually one of them led to me discovering HeatSync Labs in my area. It is actually INSIDE a second hackerspace called Gangplank. 

Also, there are Maker Faires around the country. The people vending at and sponsoring these faires know of many of the groups. 

There is also this:

http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/List_of_Hacker_Spaces

I don't know how accurate it is, but it's a place to start!


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## randomr8 (Oct 22, 2009)

I gave a talk at DEFCON in August about Haunters as makers. DEFCON is one of the preeminent Hacker Cons. It was very well received. Set up props in the Hardware Hacking Village and made some new friends. I knew I was in the right place when one guy that runs it was giving an opening speech and referenced bluckys.


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## JustJimAZ (Jul 26, 2010)

randomr8;bt1870 said:


> I gave a talk at DEFCON in August about Haunters as makers. DEFCON is one of the preeminent Hacker Cons. It was very well received. Set up props in the Hardware Hacking Village and made some new friends. I knew I was in the right place when one guy that runs it was giving an opening speech and referenced bluckys.


Sounds great! There are so many more "cons" than I was aware of. In phoenix just last weekend there was one I would have loved to participate in, but I only heard about it late Saturday evening. I am thrilled the makers were receptive to your haunter talk.


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