[SIGCIS-Members] Gabrielle Coleman’s Piece in the Atlantic

[William McMillan]

I haven't read or watched this stuff, but I'll dive in with a comment anyway, especially in regard to your comment, Paul. 

There were two early uses of the word hacker that I recall. One designates a technically-savvy person who breaks into systems for sport, the general thrill of destruction and disruption, and/or profit. The other applies to a programmer who produces low-quality code in a quick and dirty manner, either because of time pressure or lack of skill (like a hack writer of sensational fiction). (I've also heard the term used by a surgeon in remarking on the skills of other surgeons, but that's a different subject...) 

Paul, I guess I'm missing something in your (and Kay's) use of hacker as synonymous with user, the latter being a very broad class of people with skills ranging from beginner to expert , and including non-programmers. 

- Bill 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Ceruzzi" <CeruzziP at si.edu> 
To: "Erik P. Rau" <erau at drexel.edu>, "sigcis" <members at sigcis.org> 
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2010 7:42:49 PM 
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Gabrielle Coleman’s Piece in the Atlantic 

Thanks Erik for posting this. 

I must say, however, that the Atlantic article is a little creepy. Personally I don't think there is a distinction between hackers and users (or "luzers") of a computer. I think even Alan Kay said that. 

Best 

Paul Ceruzzi 



________________________________________ 
From: members-bounces at sigcis.org [members-bounces at sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Erik P. Rau [erau at drexel.edu] 
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2010 4:55 PM 
To: sigcis 
Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Gabrielle Coleman’s Piece in the Atlantic 

Hey, everyone. 

You may have heard Gabrielle Coleman (anthropologist of hackers) on PBS’s Here and Now program this morning. She summarizes here course at NYU in a recent (21.Sept) article in the Atlantic: 

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/09/the-anthropology-of-hackers/63308/ 

The interview is here: 

http://www.hereandnow.org/2010/11/30/hackers 

She also has an interview on Vimeo: 

http://vimeo.com/7122412 

She’s interested in more than hacking culture qua hackers’ meanings, but also work culture, ethics, etc. She’s fairly philosophically grounded in the existential pleasures and work environments of hacking. (“internet as playground and factory”). Sounded fairly meaty. One might ask whether hackers are representative of the internet’s denizens (the answer is no, of course), and what they can tell us about the culture of the internet more generally. 

-- 
Erik P. Rau, Ph.D. 
Assistant Teaching Professor of History 
Department of History and Politics 
MacAlister Hall 3025 
Drexel University 
3141 Chestnut Street 
Philadelphia, PA 19104-2875 
USA 
+215.895.0992 (tel) 
+215.895.6614 (fax) 
erau at drexel.edu 
http://www.drexel.edu/coas/histpol/Rau.asp 

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