Understanding Hackers and the Historical Development

Abstract

To understand the confusing usage of "hacker" and "hacking" clearly, we explore how public images of hackers have developed and try to place these public images in a historical framework. The social anxieties of each decade are projected on hackers. Images have been constructed not only by the mass media but also by computer professionals and academics. Focusing on hackers can provide an alternative historical perspective of computing and future role models and public images of computing.