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One Year of Data Shows the Hacker Community Is Tight-knit and Welcoming

Posted by Soulskill on from the we-have-cake dept.

szczys writes: The Hacker (sometimes called maker) movement holds sharing of ideas at its core. We at Hackaday are in the unique position to look at a huge data set from the last 365 days showing how people share their own work, and how they discover and interact with others. We've made some data visualizations which cover project topic distribution, views throughout year and by hour in the day, interactions between members of this community, and more.

18 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. They use to be called Handy Men. by jellomizer · · Score: 2

    Back in the day. We just had (mostly men) who used tools to make things to improve their lives. The idea of a garage filled with tools, so we could fix and make things use to be common.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re:They use to be called Handy Men. by spire3661 · · Score: 1

      Precisely this. Im 41 years old living in a condo because i cant afford a home. Cant even change my own oil in my carport, have nowhere to store tools, it goes on and on. I hate having to pay monthly for makerspace access but its better than nothing.

      --
      Good-bye
    2. Re:They use to be called Handy Men. by digsbo · · Score: 1

      It doesn't have to be all male. The kinds of things make spaces support are not necessarily only suited to adult male muscle mass. In fact, I'd wager most of it does not.

    3. Re:They use to be called Handy Men. by digsbo · · Score: 2

      WTF? Troll? I am saying that women were just as imaginative as men, but focused on different problem domains. That's trolling? FU, Slashdot SJWs. I am so sick of this bullshit. Apparently noticing men have greater muscle mass on average than women is now sexist.

    4. Re:They use to be called Handy Men. by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Back in the day. We just had (mostly men) who used tools to make things to improve their lives.

      You don't call the things that the women used to perform the crafts which they were permitted to perform "tools"? Knitting needles, sewing implements...

      The idea of a garage filled with tools, so we could fix and make things use to be common.

      Eh. More common than now, but never really common. Most people have some tools, most people never really had a lot of tools. The exceptions are in farming communities, where being a "maker" is part of life. You don't succeed long as a farmer without making tools.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    5. Re:They use to be called Handy Men. by morgauxo · · Score: 1

      It's pretty rare I go to my hackerspace and not see at least one girl. At times some of our most active members have been female!

  2. Personal anecdote by capedgirardeau · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As a very introverted person who almost borders on agoraphobic I found both of the local maker spaces welcoming and comfortable spaces.

    I am also a real nerd/geek sloth who gets excited about things most people do not care one bit about and have no clue about.

    The very first time I saw a meeting at one of the local maker spaces, it was almost life changing. For the first time in my life I saw 50 people who were actually like me. I didn't know other people like me even existed.

    All I can say is: if you think you might have the slightest interest in a maker space or maker community, go check it out, like the article says, I have found them to be the most welcoming and non judgmental community I have ever had the pleasure to be a part of.

    --
    Wax on, wax off baby!
  3. OK, so this is our definition of Hacker now? by geekmux · · Score: 1

    "The Hacker (sometimes called maker)..."

    Woah, OK, hold on a second.

    I know this whole "maker" thing isn't all that new here, but this is what we're now trying to redefine a "hacker" as?

    Boy, I can't wait to see how the media handles this one, since they've done such a great job reporting on all those "hackers" for the last decade or two. Remember according to them, all hackers are inherently criminals.

    1. Re:OK, so this is our definition of Hacker now? by puzzled_decoy · · Score: 2

      Well, no. The spaces where *originally* called "hackspaces" or "hackerspaces."

      However, because of the negative associations the word "hacker" has, the more mainstream name is now "makerspace" or even "createspace."

      Source: was a member, years ago, of a "hackspace," and am a member, now, of a "makerspace."

    2. Re:OK, so this is our definition of Hacker now? by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 1

      However, because of the negative associations the word "hacker" has, the more mainstream name is now "makerspace" or even "createspace."

      I think maker is probably a better term anyway, since people tend to associate hacker with computers/networks/software, and a lot of things makers create are more real-world physical objects. I know most of those objects involve computers & programming, but that is only a part of it. Tinker also works, but sounds more trivial than maker.

      --
      Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
    3. Re:OK, so this is our definition of Hacker now? by Gilgaron · · Score: 1

      I, too, was confused by the post using Hacker as the primary term, the circles of the web I read that are about DIY woodworking, smithing, etc use the term Maker if they are trying to identify with the modern resurgence of interest in such things.

    4. Re:OK, so this is our definition of Hacker now? by idontgno · · Score: 1

      I'd argue the ideal hacker is multi-disciplinary. Certainly, a lot of the computer hacker (good kind, not media kind) culture comes out of electronics hacking (amateur radio, the world famous MIT Tech Model Railroad Club, etc.). Some computer hackers are fair mechanics as well, because grokking your car or motorcycle or other complicated mechanical conveyance is cool.

      Makerspaces obviously make some accommodation to soft hacking, like software development or network stuff. You just don't need big obvious tools like drill presses or 3d printers to do that.

      I find "maker" pretty appropriate, although it lacks consideration of the "unmaker" kind of hacking: taking something apart that someone else made for the purposes of understanding it. Maybe remake it to your liking, maybe just drop the parts in the reuse bin.

      I wish we didn't have to back away from "hacker" because of all the damn stupid barbarians with their damn stupid swords co-opting the word.

      --
      Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
    5. Re:OK, so this is our definition of Hacker now? by slipped_bit · · Score: 1

      I've had to get used to all of these new terms for old things.

      "maker" = hobbyist
      "life hack" = useful tip
      "shield" = daughter board, or just "board" or "PCB"

      I still can't say "Arduino shield" without cracking a smile because it just sounds so silly to me. When I first heard the term I was wondering what kind of EMI / emissions problems people were having with their Arduino single board computers because in the rest of the electronics industry a shield is a metal fence or enclosure around all or part of a circuit board.

  4. Re:Impossible! by geekmux · · Score: 1

    The hacker community is primarily a male dominated space, therefore it must be hostile and problematic, shitlord!

    Perhaps we should start marketing the term "hackette", and include a pen-test ISO image with every Barbie Thumb Drive.

    Seems to be the desperate approach in CS-land.

  5. Re:Directory by morgauxo · · Score: 2

    hackerspaces.org.

  6. Re:Impossible! by gmhowell · · Score: 1

    The hacker community is primarily a male dominated space, therefore it must be hostile and problematic, shitlord!

    Perhaps we should start marketing the term "hackette", and include a pen-test ISO image with every Barbie Thumb Drive.

    Seems to be the desperate approach in CS-land.

    Those Barbie thumb drives already have them. Not my fault you haven't discovered it yet.

    --
    Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
  7. that isn't the hacker community by Karmashock · · Score: 1

    Hackers existed before the maker thing and they're not even remotely the same thing.

    Call them the makers or anything else not already claimed by something else.

    --
    I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
  8. Re:Directory by morgauxo · · Score: 1

    What are you talking about? Yes, I know the common negative meaning of 'hacker' that you are refering to. I suspect that some uninformed people might still read 'hackerspace' and think that.

    But... 'hackerspace' is a pretty well used term now. I'm sure your hypothetical FBI agents would have heard of it. Also... since when have that kind of 'hacker' had their own dedicated spaces? Where would you find such a thing? Would that be on the same block as the pick-pocketer's club, rapists inn and murderers cafe? Law enfocement must have it pretty easy in your world where the criminals gather together and label themselves. I suppose it's a tough place to market detective skills though.