We’d like to extend a warm welcome to Hollaback! Melbourne, who have recently moved into the space to focus on ending street harassment. Hollaback! is creating a crowd-sourced initiative to end street harassment by calling out the harassers on their behaviour. Learn more at http://melbourne.ihollaback.org/

Upcoming meetups / events 

Thurs Feb 20th – Better Careers Collective – a new meetup focusing on how to channel your potential into new career directions, or your current career path, putting you in the driver seat and on your way to a brighter future. Details on their Meetup.com page.

Sat Feb 22nd – Social Coding with GIT & OpenTechSchool – enter the world of social coding with Git and GitHub! In this course we’ll introduce you to Git, a popular tool for storing and sharing the source code to your programs (or even other files.) It’s a tool that keeps a copy of your files, but not just one copy. It keeps track of every version of every file in a repository. Details on their official Meetup.com page.

Thurs Feb 27th – ExpressionEngine Australia – dedicated to the ExpressionEngine CMS platform – more information is available on their official Meetup.com page.

Sat March 8th – Valhalla Social Cinema presents their epic 24hr sci-fi movie marathon again in 2014 – presented in 2K and back with an almighty vengeance. Boasting some of the best, new sci-fi alongside old favourites not seen on big screens in decades. Sci-fi marathon fans spoke; we listened. The Terminator? Check. Australian sci-fi? Got that too. In all, it’s sixty years of eclectic science-fiction. TICKETS SELLING FAST! GET SOME.

Keep up to date on all events on our calendar.

-Nick

Electron Workshop Women’s Grant: The Electron Workshop Women’s Grant application deadline is now closed! Thank you to all those who applied. We will advise our decision via email by the end of April. Good luck!

RHoK (Random Hacks of Kindness) Showcase Evening This week RHoK scheduled a showcase evening to show people what they have been working on over the past months, an evening that featured Sean Herron from NASA, a passionate member of the RHoK.  For more info on this RHoK check out http://www.rhok.org/

Free Co-working Fridays: Coworking at the Electron Workshop on Fridays continues to be free & open to those who have not yet had the opportunity to work in the space. Email jeanette [-at-] electron workshop dot com dot au if you’re interested in visiting for the day. Fridays at Electron Workshop are a great opportunity to come and meet new people. This month we had a coworking pop-up by Melbourne Jelly!

New Workshop Hosts & Members: We are excited to announce our new Workshop hosts – developers Hamish and Frank of Melbourne Made!  Hamish and Frank are the latest to join the Electron Workshop community.  “Fresh from the delivery of Australia’s first biodiversity social network, Bowerbird.org.au, Melbourne Made specialise in the rapid development of socially networked websites and companion Apps.”

In addition to welcoming Hamish and Frank, we are also pleased to introduce Luke Woodhill of Digital Empire to the Electron Workshop – “Digital Empire focuses on developing digital business. Digital Empire has a portfolio of digital businesses under management and also works with other organisations to develop their business further via the digital channel.”  Welcome Luke!

Join Us! Looking for a fresh and inspiring work environment? We currently have casual and permanent desks available – for more info on how to become a member of our growing community, check out http://www.electronworkshop.com.au/join/

Afterwork Drinks on open coworking Friday, May 3rd.  Join us for afterwork drinks on from 5:30pm, before cofounder Nick Jaffe, sets off on his three-month sailing voyage across the Pacific Ocean.

Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram for the latest pictures and updates on events@electronworkshop

Always keep up to date with our dedicated events calendar.

More from me soon!

-Jeanette

Electron Workshop’s Women’s Grant: To celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8th, we launched our Women’s Workshop Grant! We’re passionate about supporting women in technology, so we’ve introduced a grant dedicated to helping with the sometimes difficult step of starting your own business or going freelance. Application deadline – April 15. Spread the word! http://www.electronworkshop.com.au/grants/

Free Co-working Fridays: Coworking at the Electron Workshop on Fridays continues to be free & open to those who have not yet had the opportunity to work in the space. Email jeanette [-at-] electron workshop dot com dot au if you’re interested in visiting for the day. Fridays at Electron Workshop is a great place to come and meet new people: This month we had a coworking pop-up run by The Fetch team!

Free desk? Become a Workshop host: In exchange for free 24×7 access to Electron Workshop, we’re looking for our first space host – more details on the jobs page.

Join Us! Looking for a fresh and inspiring work environment? We currently have casual and permanent desks available – for more info on how to become a member of our growing community, check out http://www.electronworkshop.com.au/join/

Upcoming events

Cryptoparty + EFA + Electron Workshop Collaboration – THIS THURSDAY 21st of MARCH: Our first Cryptoparty / EFA collaboration is happening this month, featuring special guests Jon Lawrence and Andrew Pam to give an introduction on EFA and speak on issues concerning encryption and their campaign against data retention.

OpenTechSchool: Websites with Python Flask: We are excited to welcome back the Melbourne branch of OpenTechSchool for its second workshop. Have you ever wanted to learn how to develop websites in Python? Now is the time to start with the OTS Websites with Python Flask workshop. More info.

Kate Kendall of The Fetch: Kate Kendall, founder and CEO of TheFetch.com, is hosting her sought after two-hour workshop on community strategy and building at the Electron Workshop this week – not surprisingly, this event is unfortunately sold out!Electron Workshop is now on Instagram! Follow us for the latest pictures and updates on events @electronworkshop

Electron Workshop in the Press:  Chief economist of St George Bank and journalist, Besa Deda, recently wrote an insightful article on the burgeoning coworking movement in The Australian, describing the unique environment at the Electron Workshop and mentioning co-founder Martin Gleeson. Deda writes, “The co-working movement is growing fast, having roughly doubled in size each year since 2006. In fact, it is estimated that more than 2000 co-working spaces have opened across the world, including nearly 800 in the US, a 250 per cent increase since 2010!”

Free Co-working Fridays: Coworking at the Electron Workshop on Fridays continues to be free and open to those who have not yet had the opportunity to work in the space. Send an email to jeanette at electronworkshop dot com dot au if you’re interested in visiting for the day. We’re working on some interesting ideas to make Fridays more than just another day at your desk… Watch this space!

Hello Jeanette!

Don’t forget our free coworking Fridays: Coworking at the Electron Workshop on Fridays continues to be free and open to those who have not yet had the opportunity to work out of the space. Send through an email to nick@electronworkshop.com.au if you’re interested in visiting for the day.

Events

Cryptoparty: Electron Workshop continues to support Cryptoparty – last months Saturday evening meetup was another success with over 50 privacy concerned attendees. This month we’re running a weekday meetup on Wednesday the 28th of November. Please RSVP via the official wiki, located on the Cryptoparty website.

Fixed.org.au Shown’n’Shine: Electron Workshop will be packed up and turned into a bicycle Shown’n’Shine for the first day of summer, on Dec 1st from 4pm to 9pm. Enter your own bike and be in the run for a ton of prizes from lots of a list of great supporters, or visit (free entry) to peruse shiny bikes and boutique stalls. Ride over and we’ll even park your bike, valet style! More info on the official Facebook page.

Drupalchix: A monthly meetup for the hidden women of Drupal! More information on their meetup.com page.

Podcasting Melbourne: Daryl Cook’s Melbourne Podcasters meetup continues to run on the third Tuesday of each month – as always, more info is available on the events area of our site.

Always keep up to date with future events on our dedicated events calendar.

New members: We’d like to welcome Dan & Stu from Digital Pigeon to the Electron Workshop – they’re a fully featured file delivery service, providing a fast and secure way to send large files to your clients, colleagues and friends. We’d also like to welcome Mat from Bitpiggy Platform, a provider of APIs and services aimed at developers, including Bitcoin payment options.

In the press: After running Cryptoparty last Saturday (more info below), The Age journalists Henrietta Cook & Craig Butt put together a great article featuring the Electron Workshop, which ran on The Age website frontpage on Sunday. StartupSmart also wrote a piece on the Flexicar/Electron Workshop collaboration last Friday.

Free coworking Fridays: Coworking at the Electron Workshop on Fridays continues to be free and open to those who have not yet had the opportunity to work out of the space. Send through an email to martin@electronworkshop.com.au if you’re interested in visiting for the day.

Events

Cryptoparty: From Twitter hash tag to global movement – Electron Workshop successfully hosted Melbourne’s first Cryptoparty this weekend past, with over 70 people in attendance. “What’s a CryptoParty” you ask? CryptoParties are gatherings of individuals interested in personal privacy, with a desire to learn how to use the most basic cryptographic applications, and the fundamental concepts of their operation. CryptoParties are free to attend, public, and are commercially non-aligned. The next Cryptoparty is slated to be held again at the Electron Workshop on the 27th of October. You must RSVP via the official wiki, located on the Cryptoparty website.

Hackduino: Unfortunately Hackduino didn’t run this month – organiser Mark Butt has been too busy being awesome at Springrocket – he has however promised to run Hackduino in late October! Take a look at some photos of previous Hackduino events, and get registered!

Podcasting Melbourne: Daryl Cook’s Melbourne Podcasters meetup continues to run on the third Tuesday of each month – as always, more info is available on the events area of our site.

Electron Yoga: Karinella Petronella, a Norwegian guest yoga teacher visited the Electron Workshop this month, and ran a successful class in the space, before returning to far north Oslo last week. Hopefully the group will continue to be run with local teacher Meredith, of Popupyoga North Melbourne – keep up to date via the Meetup.com page or on our own calendar for any future events.

Always keep up to date with future events on our dedicated events calendar.

Introducing the [sounding]board: Sounds kind of like board, right? Not really. We're exceptionally fortunate and excited to introduce Luke Grange and Inge van der Poel, who have both taken up advisory roles with us here at the Electron Workshop. Luke & Inge are assisting as independent thinkers, in helping guide the philosophy, future, and practical nature of the Electron Workshop coworking space. You can learn more about Luke & Inge and the purpose of the [sounding]board here.

Partnering with Flexicar: We're happy to announce our partnership with Flexicar, which has resulted in our ability to offer all Electron Workshop members the best carsharing rates possible. As carsharing is the road equivalent to coworking, it seemed like a perfect partnership! Electron Workshop members are able to carshare at $9.45/hour or $55/day.

Free coworking Fridays: Coworking at the Electron Workshop on Fridays continues to be free and open to those who have not yet had the opportunity to work out of the space. Send through an email to nick __ at __ electronworkshop dot com dot au if you're interested in visiting for the day.

Events

Intro to Hackduino: The success of Mark Butt's Hackduino event last month at the Electron Workshop has spurred on future events, including next weeks Intro to Hackduino, designed for those interested in learning more about electronics and the power of the Arduino development platform. This event is filling up fast, and designed for those who have zero Arduino experience.  Photos of the last Hackduino event are here – register here!

WordPress with Chris Burgess: Last month Chris Burgess of WPSupport.com.au came into the Electron Workshop and ran two free WordPress seminars – he'll be running more events out of the space soon – photos of the event are here.

Podcasting Melbourne: Daryl Cook's Melbourne Podcasters meetup continues to run on the third Tuesday of each month – as always, more info is available on the events area of our site, located here.

Always keep up to date with future events on our dedicated events calendar.

Nick & Marty