Hi! I just wanted to write a quick email to introduce myself, my name's Em and I'm a PhD researcher in the UK investigating gender issues in the maker movement. I'm also a former hackerspace trustee and Mini Maker Faire producer in the UK. You may have already heard from Michael that I'm going to be visiting Metalab to conduct some fieldwork as part of my PhD. The aim of the project is to spend some time in a few different hacker/makerspaces finding out what kind of power dynamics are at play between humans in the spaces and between humans and machines, and how different dynamics develop in different workshops. I'm planning to pop in tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon and Monday and Tuesday evening, if you are happy to participate then I would love to speak to you about your experiences at Metalab and just generally hang out and see how people use the space. I look forward to meeting some of you over the next few days! Regards, Em _____________________________ Emma O'Sullivan Department of Science and Technology Studies University College London http://freakatoms.co.uk/ @freakatoms