Election 2021

How to nominate someone

• Fill out the Google form, if that fails email the secretary.
• Nomination_Form

Nominees for Board of Directors

• Confirmation_status_Google_list

Board nominee survey

All members are welcome to add any question they feel are relevant

How long have you been a member of i3?

William Kent (talk)

I first became a full member in November of 2019. I first heard of i3 on an Internet search, and I fell in love at first sight.

Mtfurlan (talk)

Half a decade maybe

flamarca (talk)

Over 3 years.

Rick Cortright (talk)

Several years of membership, but I only became a really active member this year.

Mike Fink (talk)

Eight years and a bit.

Matt Arnold (talk)

It will be 10 years, as of November 22.

Paul Lee (AKA inaudible) (talk)

Exactly four years this month. (My how time flies!)

What is i3?

William Kent (talk)

i3 is a community of passionate people who come together to support each other, both with our projects and with our day-to-day lives. The i3 community helped me endure the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, because even though the space was closed, the people I met there never went away.

flamarca (talk)

i3 is a community of makers where anyone can work on their projects. It also can be a place to be social.

Mike Fink (talk)

i3 is a place and a community, both of which promote and inspire creativity and collaboration.

Matt Arnold (talk)

i3 is an all-volunteer not-for-profit focused on voluntary work, which brings direct value to ourselves, each other, our loved ones, and our immediate community. D.I.Y. means we mostly prefer to increase how much we directly benefit from our own labor, and somewhat decrease our tendency to pay strangers who don't care about us to do labor for us-- or our tendency to get paid to do it for them. There's already no shortage of that elsewhere.

Paul Lee (AKA inaudible) (talk)

i3 is the culmination of probably hundreds of thousands of hours of collaboration and work by countless volunteers, both members and not, over the past decade or so to create a vibrant cooperative community of makers and provide them with the tools they need to “imagine, innovate, and inspire” both the i3 community and the larger world. Physically, it takes the form of a small industrial building in Ferndale full of neat toys to play with run as a non-profit organization completely by its volunteer members. But more importantly it is a community of people who want to learn how things work, how they’re made, what makes them tick, and also to share their knowledge and skills with each other and the outside world.

We don’t often stop and think about it but i3 is one of the “big guys” in the world of makerspaces. As far as anybody can tell, we are the largest and oldest publicly available makerspace in Michigan. I have spent some time at other makerspaces inside and outside of Michigan and when they learn I’m from i3 there is almost a feeling of reverence from them; like they are almost honored to be visited by i3. We have a very special thing here, let’s not take it for granted.

What types of personal projects do you work on?

William Kent (talk)

Cosplay, cosplay, cosplay. I have owned and worn many costumes over my career as a cosplayer. (There are so many that I can’t even guess at a total count.) However, I have never actually completed creating a costume from scratch yet. My interests tend towards armor or masked cosplays that have parts that can be 3D printed.

Mtfurlan (talk)

Electronics and some machining maybe sometimes. Isn't this on most people's userpages?

flamarca (talk)

Mostly automotive/marine, either I am too cheap to buy or it doesn't exist, so I make it. I have worked on other things like cabinetry, party decorations, and electronics.

Mike Fink (talk)

I dabble in a lot of things. Recently I made 3d printed light fixtures to make use of the giant pile of LED tube bulbs that were donated to i3. I do a lot with IoT electronics.

Matt Arnold (talk)

I make board game prototypes. I host meetings for other organizations that I help to run.

Paul Lee (AKA inaudible) (talk)

That’s a good question. For a long time now the projects I’ve worked on at i3 have been to run i3, leaving little time for personal projects. However, when I manage to get a chance, I have a Bluetooth LED music visualizer project I’m working on. So, electronics for one. I’ve also been known to crochet and knit and to teach crochet classes from time to time. I also run the biweekly Stitch ‘n’ Bitch and seem to have inherited the 1st and 3rd Thursday Tabletop Game Night.

What appointments have you held/do you hold now at i3? (previous board, officers, zone coordinators, committee chairs, etc)

You can see history of being on the board, ZoCo, or officer on each person's wiki userpage.

William Kent (talk)

I was a member of the COVID-19 Committee for a brief time during the summer of 2021.

Mtfurlan (talk)

It says this in each person's userpage, why is this a question? I've been board and toolcrib/bike zone for a while.

flamarca (talk)

None

Mike Fink (talk)

I'm presently the laser cutter zone coodordinator. I've served on the board for several years in the past, and I was secretary for a few years.

Matt Arnold (talk)

I've been a Board Director multiple times in the past. I have been Laser Zone Coordinator, Classroom Zone Coordinator, and Member Advocate, a role I originally suggested and championed. I'm currently one of the Virtual Reality Zone Coordinators.

Paul Lee (AKA inaudible) (talk)

It all started right after I joined when I sort of became the “unofficial official Friday night tour guide”. After a few months, I was appointed Vice President of Activities and Classes* (or VPAC teach a class!!!). After a year I was elected to the board in time to start the B-side expansion project, then re-elected in time to deal with covid. As part of the expansion, I am the Kitchen Zone Coordinator* and will be building a kitchen just as soon as my allocated floor space becomes available. Most recently, i3 ran out of Member Advocates so, hearing the call yet again, I volunteered and was duly appointed i3’s most recent Member Advocate*. I have also co-coordinated i3’s presence at the last two Detroit Maker Faires.

*Currently Held Position

What projects have you worked on to improve i3?

William Kent (talk)

None — yet. This is a result of the realities of being a part-time college student with a part-time job. (Also, the length of my commute to and from i3 is quite long. Since I do not drive, I must Uber back and forth, and the cost of doing so adds up quickly.) I have not directly participated in any PotLocks or other dedicated improvement projects to date. However, I have followed the expansion plans closely, especially those for the Sewing zone.

Mtfurlan (talk)

Expansion, been working on the bylaws/standing rules rewrite, probably other stuff.

flamarca (talk)

Nothing notable yet, but with the new bylaw changes, I want to work on getting the automotive zone running smoothly

Mike Fink (talk)

I've been coordinating/doing a lot of the expansion work over the past while. I built our security camera system, and I've built large parts of the IoT/automation system.

Matt Arnold (talk)

I spearheaded and ran the fundraiser which originally purchased our two GK Weike lasers. Last year, I ran the fundraiser for the Oculus Quest. I have also fielded emails to our contact-at address for years. Most of them are from people who don't understand what we are; they only know what they're used to. So they assume we are a business with employees and they can be our customer. My job is to be friendly and helpful, explaining our way of doing things in the hopes that it will be welcoming and attractive to them. Instead of bouncing them off like a "shield", we sort of "funnel" them into becoming one of us. This is culture building work. This an important part of preserving the distinctives that we love about i3.

Paul Lee (AKA inaudible) (talk)

I am currently part of team mural to help decorate the front of the building and also the Kitchen Zone Coordinator soon to direct the building of an awesome i3 kitchen. As a former board member I played a big role in obtaining B-side and starting the expansion project. I played a decent role along with many other dedicated i3 members in making the 72-hour livestream a huge success which put us over our MEDC fundraising goal. I generally schedule and often run PotLock and regularized the scheduling of PotLock to stop the old MO of “When was the last PotLock? We need to do one soon. Oops, we missed it. How about next month?”

What qualities do you look for in a fellow board member?

William Kent (talk)

Being able to count on them being reliable. The i3 Board has a great responsibility to the membership-at-large.

Mtfurlan (talk)

Responding within a reasonable time, following through on stuff, and trying to be consistent and reliable.

flamarca (talk)

Being there for our members, being able to respond all year ASAP when needed.

Mike Fink (talk)

I look for the abilites to hear multiple viewpoints before drawing conclusions, to not enter discussions closed-mindedly, and to keep separate personal opinions and what is best for the space overall.

Matt Arnold (talk)

Working out decisions in emails to be prepared in advance of meetings. Assertiveness. Willingness to have one-on-one phone or chat conversations with each Board director one at a time, giving them uninterrupted attention, rather than a debate in a muddle of voices in a meeting.

Paul Lee (AKA inaudible) (talk)

A love of i3, open-mindedness, and a willingness to serve. The board is often the last line of defense before some needed ball (task) gets dropped entirely so all board members need to be willing to do whatever task it might be that needs to be done but nobody volunteered to do. Also as a board member there are many decisions that need to be made concerning the space and the members, including from time-to-time the worst part of the job, dealing with personal conflicts between members and disciplinary issues. Board members should be able to come to these decisions without prejudice or predetermined answers but need to be open to hear and fairly weigh all arguments to arrive at the decision that’s best for i3 and its members. All of this is an unpaid and usually thankless job and has to be undertaken as a labor of love or you’ll burn out in no time.

What qualities do you have to be a board member?

William Kent (talk)

I’m afraid I’m still working on this one. I will post an answer as soon as I have decided on one.

Mtfurlan (talk)

I try to make stuff better and people keep nominating me so clearly it's working.

flamarca (talk)

Having a flexible schedule works but also the willingness to work on making things better.

Mike Fink (talk)

I try to understand other points of view in differences of opinion and be open-minded going into discussions.

Matt Arnold (talk)

Forward motion. I never call a halt to a process unless I also propose the next step toward overcoming the holdup. I try to add a time to my requests, such as "Please respond by one week from today." Wrapping up a discussion could be as simple as getting the majority of the Board on record saying that the Board will not take action on the discussion. It's not that we need to rush to the conclusion; we just need to focus on the next step, and ask for it within a specific timeframe. The Board is where most volunteer organizations stall most often. You need someone who keeps it moving.

Paul Lee (AKA inaudible) (talk)

I’m a very calm and laid-back person so I tend to be the diplomat, calming frayed nerves and getting people with strongly differing opinions to relax and listen to each other’s point of view. I’m also a realist and tend to dispel people’s dreams of the perfect solution for an ideal world in favor of the harsh reality of what will work in the actual world we live in. I can also double as comic relief in a pinch. 🤪

Why are you interested in being a board member?

William Kent (talk)

I want to give back to the organization that has given so much for me. I am honored to have been nominated for elections to a seat on the Board.

Mtfurlan (talk)

Somebody has to.

flamarca (talk)

I want to be involved more, i3 seems fun.

Mike Fink (talk)

I've enjoyed and found worthwhile my past times serving on the board, and I'd like to see our expansion through for at least the next year.

Matt Arnold (talk)

i3Detroit gives me a venue to do work that is meaningful, creative, fulfilling, engaging, which directly benefits me and the people around me. When I'm working with you there, I can rest assured the only reason you are there working with me, is that you want to be there.

Paul Lee (AKA inaudible) (talk)

Unacknowledged hours of work for often thankless people so i3 can function and keep the lights on for its members? What’s not to love? But seriously, i3 is awesome and if i3 needs me to help shepherd it into its next phase of existence or just needs my help to keep it running for another two years then I’m in.

What is the biggest issue at i3 that you hope to address in the next year, whether you serve on the board or not?

William Kent (talk)

Finishing the expansion. I remember donating to the i3 expansion crowdfunding campaign shortly after I joined, and I want to see the project through to the end.

Mtfurlan (talk)

Consistency and reducing burnout from every single discipline discussion.

flamarca (talk)

Are there any issues? I am willing to address the issue as they come in.

Mike Fink (talk)

I'd like to see our expansion through, from moving zones to creating new ones, and solving all the problems that come up along the way.

Matt Arnold (talk)

Have the expansion fully settled in.

Paul Lee (AKA inaudible) (talk)

I want my damn kitchen. 😉

What are your long-term (5+ years) goals for i3?

William Kent (talk)

Making i3 be the best makerspace it can possibly be. I want i3 to have a large membership, be financially prosperous, and to hold regular events both inside the i3 membership and in the outside community. But above all, I want i3 to be a place that people can look to as an example of a well-run makerspace.

Mtfurlan (talk)

Have readable bylaws, have guidelines for how to do discipline stuff.

Mike Fink (talk)

In 5 years I hope to see us feeling somewhat cramped (like we are now) while fully occupying both A- and B-sides. To do that, our membership will have to grow. By then, I hope we'll also have better documented financial history and credit to be possibly considering a commercial mortgage.

Matt Arnold (talk)

Reinvigorating the office of Member Advocate. I would start back up the quarterly reminders to our membership that we have mediators to address conflict. I would make sure that the next time someone starts a flame war on Slack, a Member Advocate steps in and begins mediation between the parties involved, instead of letting them demotivate the whole community.

Paul Lee (AKA inaudible) (talk)

I would like to get i3 to a place where we are stable enough that we can own our own building. Something large enough to hold i3’s future growth as well as something in better shape than our current building and something that has all the features we could want but lack in the current building, like parking, a truck loading bay, more climate controlled area, a roof that doesn’t leak, etc. I really believe that this is the next major stage in the life of i3.

What makes i3 great? Why did you join/why do you keep coming back?

William Kent (talk)

The community, by far. Everyone here has been extremely supportive and welcoming every time I have interacted with them, even when the rare disagreement crops up.

Mtfurlan (talk)

People.

flamarca (talk)

Power, I dont have the energy requirements to run machines such as a welder, mill, CNC, plasma cutter, lasers.

Mike Fink (talk)

There’s a high concentration of smart, respectful, helpful people with diverse skillsets and experience. Plus all the tools that I could never afford/justify buying on my own, and seeing all the awesome things people do with them that expands my ideas of what I can do.

Matt Arnold (talk)

We don't have a "customer/business" relationship, where the customer says "I paid for my experience-- now provide it for me" and the business employees can't wait to clock out on Friday. We're a community of passionate participants with a shared personal stake.

Paul Lee (AKA inaudible) (talk)

What makes i3 great? Its members. The community of makers we have assembled over the years. The community is why even with the building closed for an extended period due to covid i3 survived and weathered the storm online and will come out even stronger on the other side. Why did I join? Because when I stepped foot in the building for my first tour (thanks Nate) I just felt like I was home. I’ve seen that look on many of my tour victims’ faces as well (y’all know who you are). i3 is so welcoming and just feels like home. Why do I keep coming back? You mean besides the whole home thing? I keep coming back because my friends are here, vast sums of knowledge and experience are here and freely available, and because I just couldn’t imagine not coming back. This past year away from the space because of covid has been so hard but seeing people returning and seeing all the progress being made on B-side are just so encouraging.

What isn't i3 for?

William Kent (talk)

Taking things we provide and not giving anything back. Although, once you become as involved a member as I am, it becomes quite difficult to not give back to the community in some form.

Mtfurlan (talk)

Excess bureaucracy, interpersonal drama, not being excellent, and repeated stupidity.

flamarca (talk)

Being rude, unkind to your fellow human/companion.

Mike Fink (talk)

People who are inconsiderate and closed-minded.

Matt Arnold (talk)

We are not employees, who are obligated to provide services to customers in exchange for money. (Businesses may feel free to do things with i3 resources, on their own, but i3 is a 501c(3) nonprofit.) That means if you feel entitled for us to hold your hand every time you should look it up on the wiki, this place is not for you. As a Board member, I will work to ensure that our onboarding process will frustrate your unearned feelings of entitlement to our unpaid labor. Those who are unwilling to DIY at least a little bit, are not part of a DIY space.

Paul Lee (AKA inaudible) (talk)

i3 isn’t for people who want to pay somebody to do everything for them. It isn’t for people who always take and never give. It isn’t for the uncooperative. It isn’t for people not interested in being part of the community. It isn’t for the closed-minded or the bigoted. It isn’t for those who always need their hand held. It isn’t for the dull or the uninquisitive. And it isn’t for axe murderers (we dodged a bullet there).

What will you do if the board or members pass a decision you disagree with? Will you enforce it?

William Kent (talk)

Even if I disagree with a rule that has been passed, the rule must be extremely odious before I would even think about defying it. I am a very rules-abiding person, and should I be elected, would expect that of others. There is a huge difference between not complying with a rule because you believe it is wrong, and flaunting a rule just because you think that it is annoying.

Mtfurlan (talk)

Enforce it

flamarca (talk)

Enforce it, it's democracy I hope, it was voted into by majority. I have no issue with enforcing it.

Mike Fink (talk)

All rules and policies should be enforced with equal weight, regardless of personal agreement. If a significant portion of the membership or board thought something was a good idea, in spite of arguments against, then it likely has merit. Varied enforcement leads to confusion of correct policy and often forces the few who properly enforce the rules to take the unpopular role of strict enforcer. This turns potential conflict with organizational policy into personal conflict which can be far more dangerous for a group like i3.

Mattarnold (talk)

This is unlikely to ever happen, but if I'm not going to enforce something set down by the Board, I would say so during the deliberations about whether to pass the motion. I won't spring it as a surprise when the time comes to enforce it. If I don't want to enforce something which is the express will of the overall membership, I may either abstain, or step down. The group has the right to govern itself the way that it wishes. Participating in a group means accepting that.

Paul Lee (AKA inaudible) (talk)

In my experience, the board has largely acted through consensus making this scenario unlikely. However, if a board I was on passed a motion I was opposed to I would enforce the motion as an official act of the duly elected board of directors of i3, the same as any other official act of the board. With the one (very highly unlikely) caveat that I would refuse to enforce something I believed to be illegal.

What changes do you feel need to be made in i3 policy?

William Kent (talk)

I'm not terribly qualified to speak to this point, so the best answer I can give is that no changes are needed. In my experiences i3 policies have been well-designed and have had no problems.

Mtfurlan (talk)

Not really a change, but the bylaws and standing rules need to be self-consistant and readable. Actual changes is stuff like maybe reducing the board size to five. Less meetings, at the very least down to one member meeting per month, and just super speed the business portions so the social bits can happen and be fun and not mixed in with business.

flamarca (talk)

None really.

Mike Fink (talk)

We still have a lot of bits of institutional knowledge that we haven't managed to document, or can only be found in one particular set of meeting minutes. So not really a change, but I want to see more of this information written down and made more available.

Paul Lee (AKA inaudible) (talk)

I think the bylaws, standing rules, etc. need to be made clear, consistent, and reflective of actual i3 policies and processes. I think the Member Advocate process, the handling of member disputes, and disciplinary process needs to be better defined and documented, especially edge cases. I think the documentation of i3’s policies and processes in general needs to be improved.

It is my experience that our consensus model works best if all people in the decision making group gives feedback in a timely manner. Otherwise, we are left hanging for significant periods waiting to hear if everyone is just silently agreeing or actually hasn't responded yet. Can you commit to responding to direct questions in a reasonable (48-72 hour) time frame?

William Kent (talk)

Always. I try to make a point of responding immediately to any emails or messages sent to me whenever possible.

Mtfurlan (talk)

Sure

flamarca (talk)

Yes.

Mike Fink (talk)

Yes, I try to keep myself very available for slack and email discussions.

Mattarnold (talk)

Yes. See my answer about "forward motion", above.

Paul Lee (AKA inaudible) (talk)

Yes

Will you participate in solving uncomfortable discipline problems, or will you just do nothing and hope they fade away?

We have a really bad history of taking forever because uncomfortable discussions are uncomfortable.

William Kent (talk)

I would advocate for not ignoring any discipline problems that may arise. It is my responsibility as a Board member to handle these cases promptly and fairly, no matter how uncomfortable the issue at hand may be.

Mtfurlan (talk)

I'll continue to try.

flamarca (talk)

Yes, I will paticipate. It's part of the job.

Mike Fink (talk)

I've done so in the past and I'll continue to.

Paul Lee (AKA inaudible) (talk)

This has consistently been a weak point for i3. I think that has been changing or at least worked on lately. I will continue whether as board or as advocate to continue pushing forward.

Being on the Board does present its challenges. Can you describe a project (whether for personal, work or school) that for its completion, depended on being committed, finding solutions and working through it during its most challenging parts? What had you learned from that experience?

Mtfurlan (talk)

The expansion has been such *fun*.

Mike Fink (talk)

In my last term on the board, there was a complicated disciplinary matter that I felt needed resolution. It took a lot of effort to push forward discussion on the matter and to find a point of mutual agreement that the whole board could work from.

Mattarnold (talk)

Too many to list, in a large number of nonprofit organizations. Answering this would take much longer than the allotted space. Suffice it to say that serving on the Board of i3Detroit multiple times in the past certainly brought numerous such experiences.

Paul Lee (AKA inaudible) (talk)

Three words: organizing Maker Faire (twice). It was a challenge, everything went wrong, but in the end everybody pulled together and it all just worked (mostly). I learned (yet again) that i3 is awesome.

Are you comfortable committing to a 2-year term?

Mtfurlan (talk)

Isn't this answered by accepting the nomination?

flamarca (talk)

Yes.

Mike Fink (talk)

Yes.

Matt Arnold (talk)

Yes.

Paul Lee (AKA inaudible) (talk)

Yes