I'm a young student who was paying membership fees at a local hackerspace over the last six months. I feel like I'm almost exactly the type of person you're talking about; I went there and worked on assignments for my C.S. classes as well as solo projects.
One thing I have to say is, I think it's important to encourage interaction. My primary goal of going was to make connections with people. I would go, there would be maybe ten people there, and everyone was plugged in to headphones and I think I actually spoke with people a small hand full of times. The times I did, I approached them and was treated as an intrusion.
Of course, it's very possible I was an intrusion and they wanted to be left alone, or I approached them in the wrong way, who knows?
Anyways, this turned in to a bit of rambling, and I'm not positive I've helped at all, but... Hopefully I did.
I agree with kipsfi completely, if the connecting part of the equation was built into the experience we would see a lot of added value.
I would love to see some kind of skills exchange enter the equation so everyone feels like they can contribute. Hackerbuddy.com tries to do this virtually, but I could see the physical world giving this idea plenty more oomph.
One thing I have to say is, I think it's important to encourage interaction. My primary goal of going was to make connections with people. I would go, there would be maybe ten people there, and everyone was plugged in to headphones and I think I actually spoke with people a small hand full of times. The times I did, I approached them and was treated as an intrusion.
Of course, it's very possible I was an intrusion and they wanted to be left alone, or I approached them in the wrong way, who knows?
Anyways, this turned in to a bit of rambling, and I'm not positive I've helped at all, but... Hopefully I did.