i3Detroit is “a collaborative environment for people to explore the balance between technology, art and culture” in Ferndale. Aka a hackerspace, “community-operated physical places, where people can meet and work on their projects.”
Hackerspaces have been springing up around the country and the world. While there are computer “hackers” (writing software, not breaking into Pentagon computers) there are also a lot of hardware hackers, people who build both virtual and physical stuff. These places are like collectivist garages where anyone can afford to try out a new idea using shared tools and get help and feedback from like-minded individuals. And now there are officially three such hackerspaces in and around Detroit.
In Detroit proper, Eastern Market specifically, we have OmniCorp Detroit, a collaborative effort co-founded by the one and only Bethany Shorb.
And in Ann Arbor there is All Hands Active.
You can chat up the i3Detroit guys in real-time at their web irc page or join #i3detroit on Freenode.