History shows why geeks will never, ever, ever... get along (original) (raw)

The Competing Values of Hackers: The Culture Profile that Spawned the Computer Revolution

In this paper we describe the hacker culture by analyzing 25 years of communication on one of the oldest and most renowned hacker websites. For this purpose, we utilize a previously documented text analysis technique [14] which provides an efficient and effective method of producing a quick overview of values underlying any written text. The technique allows for the creation of culture profiles of texts based on the competing values framework [2]. The article contributes to understanding an important but overlooked hotbed of creativity—the hacker community. It provides examples of how hackers—by playing with technology—produce often unintended innovations. Furthermore, the article demonstrates the usefulness of semi-automated text analyses for the purpose of understanding the values and assumptions that are expressed in documents. We highlight the value of the technique in analyzing large volumes of empirical data and assessing cultures of communities, organizations, or other units of analysis.

How to make a “Hackintosh”. A journey into the “consumerization” of hacking practices and culture

In this article it is argued that, in the last few years, hacking practices consisting in the modification and subversion of digital devices are undergoing a process of popularization, and hacking-related cultural references and discourses are growing in terms of visibility among new segments of the population, including not only software experts and computer “geeks”, but also amateurs, laypersons and non-experts. To explain this idea, the article focuses on the emerging practice of the creation of a “Hackintosh”, that consists into the modification of a non-Apple computer in order to be able to be used with an Apple operating system. Then I will consider more closely one specific articulation of the Hackintosh practice: the creation of a so-called “MacBook Nano”, a low-cost netbook transformed to an Apple run software. It is precisely around this particular modification that the hackintosh practice has spread through new cultural representations and new ways of circulation of technical skills required, showing that the heterogeneous realm of hacking is today undergoing a change influenced by discourses and representations typical of different social spheres and especially of the cultural environment where ordinary people appropriate, consume, use and readapts products in their everyday lives. The story of the Hackintosh is theoretically and discussed by adopting a “Practice Theory” perspective, thus looking at the process by which hacking objects, skills and cultures are increasingly influenced by cultural elements and discursive strategies belonging to the realm of consumer practices. Keywords: Hacking, consumption, hackintosh, “consumerization”, Practice theory

Press Start: The Fight for User Rights

Geek subculture is an examinable snapshot of how society changes, evolves and grows. Technology and media have always been under examination however, it is not just these items that need to be examined but also the cultural groups involved in their use and the social issues surrounding them. Due to the ubiquity of technology, the advancement of networks and their commercialization, geeks have now found themselves at the forefront of modern culture. What started out as a few kids playing around with newly acquired technologies and its associated applications soon evolved into a sweeping, socializing force adopted by society. As issues of power, privilege, consumerism and privacy are being highlighted by the effects of technology and making waves of change in society, the subculture known as geeks have found themselves in Western society’s focus. As the developers, programmers and early adopters/advocates, they are now viewed as the experts regarding these technologies and as such society will be looking to them for guidance in relation to these important societal issues. This social upheaval presents geeks the opportunity to evaluate their positions and take a leadership role with regards to social change as opposed to being a marginalized and a behind the scenes minority as they once were in such issues. Ultimately it is the authors of programs and their implementations, not the applications and technologies themselves which are important and influential and as such, by being the primary authors, geeks will eventually have the opportunity to play a prominent part in re-defining the identity of a nation.

Abstract Hacktivism: The making of a hacker culture

2006

In recent years, designers, activists and businesspeople have started to navigate their social worlds on the basis of concepts derived from the world of computers and new media technologies. According to Otto von Busch and Karl Palmås, this represents a fundamental cultural shift. The conceptual models of modern social thought, as well as the ones emanating from the 1968 revolts, are being usurped by a new worldview. Using thinkers such as Michel Serres, Gilles Deleuze and Manuel DeLanda as a point of departure, the authors expand upon the idea that everyday technologies are profoundly interconnected with dominant modes of thought. In the nineteenth century, the motor replaced the clockwork as the universal model of knowledge. In a similar vein, new media technologies are currently replacing the motor as the dominant 'conceptual technology' of contemporary social thought. This development, von Busch and Palmås argue, has yielded new ways of construing politics, activism and innovation. The authors embark on different routes to explore this shift. Otto von Busch relates the practice of hacking to phenomena such as shopdropping, craftivism, fan fiction, liberation theology, and Spanish social movement YOMANGO. Karl Palmås examines how publications like Adbusters Magazine, as well as business theorists, have adopted a computer-inspired worldview, linking this development to the dot.com boom of the late 1990s. Hence, the text is written for designers and activists, as well as for the general reader interested in cultural studies.