Archaeology of Hacking: Everything You Wanted to Know About Hacking But Were Afraid to Ask

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

"Hacking" is one of the most pressing topics of technological and societal interest. Yet, it is one of the most misunderstood and mischaracterized practices in the public sphere, given its ethical and technical complexities. In this course we will combine anthropological and computer science methods to explore the digital tools, practices, and sociocultural histories of hacking with a focus on their context of occurrence from the late 1960s to the present. Our goal is to help students think anthropologically about computing as well as technically about the digital mediations that we depend on in our lives. Computer Science is a great partner for Anthropology: computational methods have been part of the discipline since the 1970s with the use of digital computers for the study of cultural phenomena. Likewise, archaeology is a powerful companion of computing: its approach to material culture is suitable for the study of the sociocultural aspects of tool-making that are fundamental for understanding computing expertise. One of the most important aspects of hacking today consists in creating a community around tools for the exploration of digital technologies. The interplay between social and technical aspects, however, is one of the most neglected in the existing literature on hacking and computer security. Our proposal is, therefore, to bridge a serious gap between social and technical studies of digital technologies with a focus on hacking.