Hackergram

http:://hackergram.org - An effort to document and promote functional, sustainable communities

We all have our own version of what हैकरgram is. Some of us, who were forced into learning to write have actually written it up -
Indu’s Version -
“We are HackerGram. We are a community of media, art, technology and sustainability enthusiasts. We believe in the art of doing.
We are hackers in the most primitive sense of the word. We reframe conventional ideas, technology and practices in order to offer alternative solutions to chronic problems. Our name, HackerGram, comes from this powerful narrative of doing. The word gram, which means village in Hindi, is used to describe the functional and self-sufficient nature of the communities.
We are excited by technology and innovation, but recognize that people come first. We believe that innovation is valuable only when it serves people. The solutions we are looking at are in no way final, and will continue to evolve over time. HackerGram is a work in progress.”
Deepta’s Version -
“An initiative to bring people together to pursue their independent goals while building a sustainable community. While we are all dealing with wastage of resources, we thought of starting several places where we can reuse and recycle available resources and reducing our footprints in the process.”
Shu’s Version -
“ Instead of making one shelter we had to travel through 3 destinations for variety of reasons and finally we have arrived in Jatkhedi, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh which should be our long term emergency shelter.
Residents of HackerGram in a relaxed moment
You can read some of the experiences of the people who are living and using HackerGram facilities here: http://hackergram.org/
Key Learning: If you put only people who are dealing with emergency in one location, it is an unstable structure.
Theory: It is important to balance out emergency affected individuals with people who are less under stress
Hypothesis: If the emergency shelter concept is expanded and slightly altered to “community spaces”, this allows other people to be there as well. We are experimenting with building such space.
It is important for these spaces to be as independent of the mainstream structure as possible, to prevent harassment and so forth, when legal measures fail. Therefore we have to make it with green architecture, off the grid etc. We will work on them in future. Doing so also attracts the community of free speech and environment supporters who provide natural protection for people facing emergencies”
Arjun’s Version -
What is हैकरgram?
है – Hai – Hindi word for “Is”, refers to Being
कर – Kar – Hindi word for “Do” refers to Doing
-gram – Something written, drawn or otherwise recorded. (src – http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-gram) ….and it also sounds like the Hindi word for village
So…
हैकरgram is an effort to -
Identify and locate communities committed to becoming both functional and sustainable
Document and share who these communities are being and what they are doing to become sustainable and functional
We do this at http://hackergram.org
”
Nirvikalpa’s Version -
A film that is yet to be completed :) 
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Issues:- Co-working, Hacker&Maker space, community, network, skill/information/idea/opportunity sharing platform, sustainability