thesis paper - abstract
Introduction
Just ten years ago, the term hacker was a predominantly negative term. People thought of hackers as security breachers, eager to steal information to benefit their own good at the expense of others. As technology has become more intertwined in our everyday activities, the term hacking has shed its negative connotation and taken a more positive spin. While hacking is still about breaching, it is no longer about exploiting. Rather, it is about exploration and understanding, and many times, recreating and innovation.
The Meaning of Hacking
The term hackers was first used by students in MIT and other campuses in the 1960’s and 70’s. At that time it was used to describe students who had the mastery to push mainframe computers and programs to the limit. In the 1980’s, after a series of security breaks into government and corporate mainframes, the media began to focus on one of many activities that hacking encompassed: breaking into other people’s computers. This labeled hackers as dangerous and malicious people, a definition that many self-proclaimed hackers resented and disagreed. In 2002, Richard Stallman, the most famous computer hacker in our generation, refuted this misunderstanding when he simply described hacking as “exploring the limit of what is possible, in the spirit of playful cleverness”.
A New Arts and Craft
In Stallman’s definition, hacking is a process that involves gaining knowledge of a subject matter, utilizing that knowledge for play and creativity, pushing the boundary of its intended use. These principals have been most recently applied to electronic devices and gadgets, where a plethora of websites, books, and instructions about hacking have appeared within the last couple of years. They teach people anything for how to make their iPhones work with other carries to ways to bluejack unsolicited message. Technical knowledge has become so widespread and easy to access, hacking has become the new arts and crafts movement of the 21st century.
Looking Under the Hood and Beyond
Just like most hackers, my thesis is shaped by the desire to understand and explore: to understand how personal technology devices work and explore ways to give them new forms. An integral part of my project is looking under the hood of these gadgets so that their functionality can be hijacked, manipulated, and redefined. The form I seek to express is combining physical interaction, expression, and play with digital functionality. These devices and hacks are driven by my nostalgia of toys and concepts seen in anime and cartoons, my (weird) sense of humor, as well as the desire to understand the potential of the objects I carry around daily.
Never Void the Warranty
Most of the skills I acquired that made this project possible were not learned from secret underground publications or specialized workshops. Rather, the knowledge I used can be obtained in bookstores and on the Internet. However, despite hacking knowledge being more widely available than ever, applying them to commercial products is still an arduous and time-consuming task. Most of the hacks I did came through extensive trial and error. I cherish the day when I would get not just a user’s manual for my next gadget, but also the schematics of all its components and circuit board. Most importantly, I hope the warranty would never get voided, even after taking the gadget apart.