(I will violate a standing rule of this mailing list not to make fun
of individuals but rather to debate the ideas, not the people. But in this
case, I can't help but make fun of the illustrious Ken Friedman. He goofed.
So he deserves this scolding. (and knowing Ken, he will approve of the
scolding.)

Ken entitled his recent posting

Many designers think they are innovating when they are merely
breaking and entering.

Ken is using an incorrect interpretation of the words "hacker" and "hack."

I know: I am an officially certified Hacker. I am a member of the Hacker's
Society and i have attended many of their annual conferences. When I was at
Apple, I was proud to get Apple to be one of the sponsors of the
conference. I've given talks there. Many eminent computer scientists (e.g.,
Donald Knuth of Stanford) attend. We are proud to be hackers.  And as
hackers, what we do is hack.

see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hackers_Conference

Hacking, in this sense, is a type of research through design.

*On the proper definition of the word "hack"  (The verb form of "hacker")*

Let me correct the eminent Prof. Friedman on his understanding of words.
Although in his recent posting he is quoting from a newspaper article, he
claims frequently to be an authority on word definitions, so he should have
known that the quote was inaccurate. In his post, the relevant quotation is:

On Sun, Jul 10, 2016 at 4:15 AM, Ken Friedman <[log in to unmask]
>
​included this quote from the newspaper article he cited
:

> To “hack” is to cut, to gash, to break. It proceeds from the belief that
> nothing is worth saving, that everything needs fixing. But is that really
> the case? Are we fixing the right things? Are we breaking the wrong ones?
> Is it necessary to start from scratch every time?


The sentiment is wrong because it is a horrible misinterpretation of the
word "hack."
Hack, like most English words, has multiple meanings. When I hack, when
Facebook prides itself on hacking, when the Hackers Conference meetings, we
have in mind a very different definition of "to hack" and "hacker."

I cite two sources.

*First*:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_culture

(Trivial editing -- adding new lines and deleting non-functional
note-markers simply to enhance readability No words were changed.)

The hacker culture is a subculture of individuals who enjoy the
intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming limitations of software
systems to achieve novel and clever outcomes.

The act of engaging in activities (such as programming or other media) in a
spirit of playfulness and exploration is termed "hacking". However, the
defining characteristic of a hacker is not the activities performed
themselves (e.g. programming), but the manner in which it is done: hacking
entails some form of excellence, for example exploring the limits of what
is possible, thereby doing something exciting and meaningful.

Activities of playful cleverness can be said to have "hack value" and are
termed "hacks" (examples include pranks at MIT intended to demonstrate
technical aptitude and cleverness).

The hacker culture originally emerged in academia in the 1960s around the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)'s Tech Model Railroad Club and
MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

Richard Stallman explains about hackers who program:

What they had in common was mainly love of excellence and programming. They
wanted to make their programs that they used be as good as they could. They
also wanted to make them do neat things. They wanted to be able to do
something in a more exciting way than anyone believed possible and show
"Look how wonderful this is. I bet you didn't believe this could be done."

*Second: * http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/H/hacker.html

1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and
how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to
learn only the minimum necessary. RFC1392, the Internet Users' Glossary,
usefully amplifies this as: A person who delights in having an intimate
understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer
networks in particular.

2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys
programming rather than just theorizing about programming.

3. A person capable of appreciating hack value.

4. A person who is good at programming quickly.

5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using
it or on it; as in ‘a Unix hacker’. (Definitions 1 through 5 are
correlated, and people who fit them congregate.)

6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker,
for example.

7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or
circumventing limitations.


Finally, because of Ken's mistaken definition (and the mistake of the woman
who wrote the book he so clearly admires), he misinterprets the reason
Facebook is proud of its hacking.

*Why Facebook is proud of hacking*

Here is the real explanation of how Facebook interprets the word "hack".
If you read it properly, you will see it is precisely how many of us urge
that design be done. As the article below says, it is "an approach to
building that involves continuous
improvement and iteration.
​"​

That's precisely what I teach my students. Observe, ideate, build, test,
learn:  repeat. Continuous improvement and iteration.

http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-stock-letter-shareholders

*The Hacker Way*

As part of building a strong company, we work hard at making Facebook the
best place for great people to have a big impact on the world and learn
from other great people. We have cultivated a unique culture and management
approach that we call the Hacker Way.

The word "hacker" has an unfairly negative connotation from being
portrayed in the media as people who break into computers. In reality,
hacking just
means building something quickly or testing the boundaries of what can be
done.

Like most things, it can be used for good or bad, but the vast majority of
hackers I've met tend to be idealistic people who want to have a positive
impact on the world.

The Hacker Way is an approach to building that involves continuous
improvement and iteration. Hackers believe that something can always be
better, and that nothing is ever complete. They just have to go fix it --
often in the face of people who say it's impossible or are content with the
status quo.

Hackers try to build the best services over the long term by quickly
releasing and learning from smaller iterations rather than trying to get
everything right all at once. To support this, we have built a testing
framework that at any given time can try out thousands of versions of
Facebook.


Don Norman
Prof. and Director, DesignLab, UC San Diego
[log in to unmask] designlab.ucsd.edu/  www.jnd.org  <http://www.jnd.org/>


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