[hackerspaces] Out with the "hackers"... In with the "makers" and the "fixers"

[Yves Quemener]

On 11/28/2011 01:05 AM, B F wrote:
> I have no problem with language, but that seems not the case with the
> general public.  "Hacker" has become a bad word.  This was driven home
> to me a couple night ago, over dinner with a group, in which a
> programmer who worked for a major computer company (in the
> communications field) responded to my talk about a "hackerspace" by
> commenting that she might have trouble professionally if associated
> with such a group!

You are describing a wonderful feature IMHO : the name alone acts as a
filter to repel people who might be afraid of the more itchy parts of
hackerspaces. The kind of people who would be afraid to be associated
with anything mentioning "hackers" would be the kind of people to refuse
that the space takes part in lockpicking workshops, building
pirateboxes, DIY dildonics or wardriving. Using "hackerspace" as a name
is a good way of saying that this will be hard to use your membership as
a career booster, which is fine, because it is really not the goal.