[Noisebridge-discuss] What is a hack? What is hacking? Who are hackers?

[Sai Emrys]

On Thu, Dec 24, 2009 at 3:42 AM, aestetix aestetix <aestetix at gmail.com> wrote:
> Without delving into a huge essay, there are two books I *highly*
> recommend on this subject:

I've read them. I know what we mean by "hacker". Give me some credit. :-P

My point is that people outside the hacker community do *not*, and in
fact have a highly negative and inaccurate association with it.

And they aren't going to read some pro-hacker books or anything else
like that. It's a struggle every single time just to get 'em to
understand our meaning of the term - one that detracts from being able
to simply have a conversation about how awesome it is to have a
hacker/maker space. (I've had essentially the same experience as Rubin
when trying to explain to non-hackers what a hacker space is.)

I know, *we* all like the term. It's traditional for us, it's part of
our culture, etc.

But when talking to others, I don't think it's necessarily the best
approach to convey the message.

- Sai