Theory

Theory about hackerspaces comes from and cuts accross various disciplinary, methodological and theoretical traditions. A loose and evolving set of links that reflect the diversity of interest in hackerspaces. Add more!

Topics

• What is a hacker? How is "hacker" different from "maker"/"geek"/"nerd"?
• How is hacking political?
• What is theory? What is a definition? Why is this important to hackers?
• Micro (individual) to macro (collective) hacking
• Organization: How to start and upkeep hackspaces (from a community & infrastructure perspective)?
• Critical theory and cultures of hackerspaces: What are the intersections between hackerspaces and shared culture (F/OSS, hacker culture, etc.)? How do they relate to larger political and economic issues?
• Learning: How can the activities in hackerspaces be seen as learning?
• ###

< 30 minutes

• "Hacking the Spaces" by Johannes Grenzfurthner/Frank Apunkt Schneider http://www.monochrom.at/hacking-the-spaces/
  • See also: Rewriting Hacking the Spaces, Spanish translation, French translation
• (Appropedia) Appropriate technology
• Autistici Manifesto
• Hackerspaces defined on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackerspace
• The Hacker Ethic defined on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_ethic
• "Hacker, Makers and Teachers," a series of blog posts looking at collective identity, community, and peer learning in hackerspaces by Andrew Schrock http://andrewrschrock.wordpress.com/tag/hackerspaces/
• Kostakis et al. examine the production and governance mechanisms of hackerspaces.
• Silvia Lindtner focuses on "shanzhai" production in a Chinese context
• Maxigas wrote about the history of hackerspaces and hacklabs
• Johan Söderberg has written extensively about the politics behind the free software and open hardware movements
• Andrew Schrock on learning & shared culture UCLA's InterActions journal
• Denisa Kera on DIYbio and hackerspaces in Asia
• CHT: drafts on revolutionary communist hackbases: What? and Why?
• [...]

> 30 minutes : Books, Link Lists, Communities

• There's a dedicated mailing-list on that topic: http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/theory
• Critical making
  • Matt Ratto's critical making lab at the University of Toronto lab article
  • Garnet Hertz' critical making book (art)
  • Carl DiSalvo's work on adversarial design (design approach)
• Beth Kolko runs a program called "hackademia"
• CHT: "Common Ground": ideation and intersubjectivity; biosphere, anthropocene, nature/culture; techno-commons and techno-autonomy
• [...]

(Dead links)

• Scientific (more or less) approach to Hackerspaces by Jarkko Moilanen http://blog.ossoil.com/category/hackerspace/
• "Respect the Past, Examine the Present, Build the Future" by Nick Farr http://hackerspaces.org/blog/2009/08/25/respect-the-past-examine-the-present-build-the-future/
• "The Rights and Obligations of Hackerspace Members" by Nick Farr http://hackerspaces.org/blog/2009/08/19/rights-and-obligations-of-hackerspace-members/
• Jentery Sayers tinker-centric pedagogies
• (video) Mitch Altman: The Hackerspace Movement - http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Mitch-Altman-at-TEDxBrussels
• (video) Dale Dougherty: We are makers - http://www.ted.com/talks/dale_dougherty_we_are_makers.html
• "Exploring 'hackerspaces' as new contexts for informal learning" (prospectus) by David Raison http://david.raison.lu/hackerspaces_online.pdf
• Rafi Santo's hacker literacies video article

See Also

• Design Patterns
• HackingResearch
• Documentation