Definitions

What is Sudo Room? Engage on the Hackerspaces.org wiki!

What is a Hacker Space? You can read Wikipedia or Hackerspaces.org for some ideas, but the complexity comes from that pesky word “Hacker.” It doesn’t mean “thief” or “terrorist” though it is often used that way in popular media. In fact, here’s an excellent definition from the Hacker ‘Jargon’ file.

But let’s also explain by example:

Young people are Hackers.

• When kids on myspace learn HTML, then eventually create their own websites, they are hacking web technology. The experiential approach with an ethic of borrowing, tweaking, and improving is a form of hacking practice. But also as learners–young folks constantly discover new and novel approaches to concepts and problems we can easily recognize as bold and creative! That’s hacking, and it doesn’t stop as we get older. 😉

Food Not Bombs volunteers are Hackers.

• Why? Because Food Not Bombs, with little infrastructure, but a whole lot of donated time and love, is able to deliver, successfully, tons of food to hungry people across the country and around the world. The infrastructure required to deliver food to vulnerable populations can be extremely costly, be it from government, not-for-profits, or otherwise. Food Not Bombs chapters approach the problem of hunger creatively and do not take “impossible” for an answer. In the end, it works! It simply works.

The Alameda County Computer Resource Center (ACCRC) is a group of Hackers.

• With a slogan like “Obsolescence is Just a Lack of Imagination” and a charitable mission to both narrow the digital divide and close the loop on technological waste, ACCRC leverages creative thinking to tackle arguably the most critical issue of our time: changing perceptions and culture concerning the global environment and consumption.

Members of the Electric Embers worker cooperative are Hackers.

• As co-owners of their company, they not only fairly compensate each other, democratically govern the business, and invest their profits into open source software projects and organizations striving for sustainability, but they make it all publicly transparent. The boldness it takes to recognize the value, rather than the liability, of open information about their business is a demonstration of creativity which is a cornerstone to the hacker mentality.