Hacker Sociality
Tue, Feb 27
We have thus far explored various social and technical aspects of the history of hacking. We went through the early experiences of students and computer enthusiasts in research laboratories that were privileged enough to have access to mainframe and minicomputers. We discussed the experience of creating games and gaming devices, repurposing hardware, and circulating the fruits of the labor of various hacker communities. Along the way we encounter the magic of the BBS scene with its textfiles, programs, and games... and we saw how things got complicated for some folks who started to deal with wire fraud, but also how some of the key figures in the hacker community got injusticed, caught up in a space of total panic concerning hacking in a legal vaccum. We discussed the busts and crackdowns of the 1980s and 1990s while covering the first attempts to legally frame "computer crime." One thing we did not discuss was the experience of hacker sociality through its spaces of socialization... and this is the object of this week with online spaces and hacker conventions!
This class, in particular, will discuss the case of Internet Relay Chat and its importance for the international hacker community as a space of socialization that used to be occupied by physical labs or the BBS from the 1960s to the 1980s. We will introduce the IRC protocol and discuss the role that it plays in the understanding and usage of technology by hackers, but also how they conceive of and push back against certain definitions of "digital innovation." With the help of two colleagues in hackers studies, we will discuss the "cycles" of appropriation, reappropriation, and refusal of digital technologies by hackers and companies (that capitalize on hacker tools and techniques).
At the end of this class, you should be able to:
- Situate the history of IRC in relation to previous technologies for sociability in the hacker community
- Analyze the cycles of use, appropriation, and refusal of technology among hackers
- Discuss the implications of the IRC case for the analysis of the business of Internet platforms today
You can find the slides for the class here.
Read This:
We will read a chapter six of a recent book, "Resistence to the current: the dialectics of hacking" (2022) by Johan Söderberg and Maxigas. You can find the reading on this link.
Do This:
Movie Viewing
Watch the 1995 crime thriller Hackers. You can access the film through the Swank platform provided by the Hesburgh Libraries. If you are logged into your Notre Dame account through your browser, click here to watch the film. This week's writing reflection will prompt you to think about this film in a creative way.
Writing Reflection 03
See the instructions posted on the assignment's page.
This writing reflection is due on 3/5 at 5pm.
Once you have completed the readings, fill out the following quiz. It is based on both the readings for this week's classes. If you can't see it, try this direct link.