Hacking Together
Thu, Apr 18
Mitch Altman will join us in-class again today. As we have emphasized throughout this class, hacking is inherently a social endeavor. While hackers spend an inordinate amount of time on the Internet, they still like to gather in physical spaces to interact with each other. One way that happens is through the cons, which we have previously covered. Another way is through the establishment of Hackerspaces: workshops with shared equipment and meeting space for collaborative projects (and just hanging out). Hackerspaces strengthen local communities of hackers, and also attract global collaborators through a growing network of spaces scattered around the world. We have three learning goals for today. By the end of our lecture class, you will:
- Understand the origin of hackerspaces as the intersection of the underground hacking scene of the 1990s and the hobbyist clubs from the early era of personal computing in the 1970s and 1980s.
- See how different organizational structures for hackerspaces support different goals and community structures.
- Gain a sense of how local communities of hackers can pursue more ambitious projects (for fun and profit).
The digital artifact for today is the set of Hackerspace Design Patterns.
The slides for today's lecture are available here.
Read This:
Today's reading is drawn from a presentation by Jens Ohlig and Lars Weiler at the 2007 Chaos Communications Congress on Building a Hacker Space, which introduced the concept of Hackerspace Design Patterns.
Do This:
Writing Reflection 06
See the instructions posted on the assignment's page.
This writing reflection is due on 4/23 at 5pm.