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Technical Collective fka Basement

Working Group Name
Technical Collective fka Basement

Contact Information
[signal group Iink redacted]

Date Charter Ratified
XX/XX/2025

Connection Statement
The Technical Collective aims to explore the practice of autonomy specifically as it relates to technology within the framework of Ridgewood Commons. We hope to provide a space for learning & exploration in the building of self-sustaining practices for the greater community at-large as well as within our own group. Relevant pursuits include digital security practice and training, physical repair, personal making and manufacturing, alternatives to big tech, and general anti-commercial community software.

Our priorities are physical safety of anyone using shared tools, general accessibility of the space to the community at large, and safety of communal tools.

Powers & Rights
We are largely based in the back section of the basement at 585 Woodward, with some infrastructure on the first floor wall and rooftop. We have conducted meetings in the main space, offsite, and in the basement.

We require stable electricity, good ventilation, and adequate lighting to conduct personal manufacturing workshops and trainings. We need some personal storage space for medium/long-term projects, and at least 3 benchtops for personal manufacturing tools. We need some wall space upstairs to help share events, trainings, and how to get and stay in touch. We need roof access to maintain the radio infrastructure. We also require safe pathways for moving through the basement space, which means that groups using other parts of the basement must not block or clutter important walkways. 

We are empowered to aquire and remove communal tools, to use the space at large for workshops, to layout and rearrage the tech collective sections of the basement space, to decide on internal knowledge sharing process and tools, and to propose decisions on the usage structure of the collective space.

Responsibilities & Liability
We are responsible for keeping the basement space clean and functional, and informing the users of the space the danger of the tools in the space.

We are responsible for oversight, maintenance, and skillshare for use of communal tools, as well as organizing and hosting public workshops.

We are responsible for steering the community on technical topics towards autonomy and self-actualization. There is a potential liability here in making harmful recommendations, or outdated recommendations becoming harmful.

Our liability also includes the safety of people in the space, including air quality, and collective tool safety. 

Everyone who uses the space must understand that certain tools (power saws, wood burning, etc.) pose potential safety hazards, and these tools must not be operated by anyone who hasn't been trained or otherwise met the requirements (ie. signing waivers, etc.) for using them. It is our responsibility to communicate with other working groups so that everyone in the space can be informed about the procedures in place for regulating access to these tools and educating others about their risks. Our exact procedure for regulating access and informing the broader Ridgewood Commons community about the safety risks associated with particular tools in the space is not yet fully specified. We will amend this charter with details on this point in the future. For the time being, we request that nobody outside of our WG use any tools in the basement without consulting us first. This includes: table saw and other power tools, hand saws, soldering iron, wood burner, laser cutter, coffee roaster, 3D printers, etc..

When proposing a decision that merits outside deliberation, we consider the health or safety risk of people using it, whether it poses a significant personal liability to leaseholders, if it conflicts with landlord requests, impedes a working group from advancing its goals, or violates core moral principles of ridgewood commons.

We share basement space with woodworkers, coffee roasters, and screen printers. We share wall space with food distribution. We share the floor/ceiling and ventilation with the gym. As such, we need to make sure we have good communications with all those mentioned to avoid conflicts of usage, and uphold expectations of cleanliness.

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