What is a ‘Hacker’
I mean from a writer’s perspective. If you had a character who was a hacker (or a cracker), how would you make him convincing. To be believable, you have to enter their mindset. Here are some ideas I’ve gotten from my computer friends and The New Hacker’s Dictionary:
Though it’s a common stereotype that programmers can’t write, a surprising number of hackers are very able writers.
They read science fiction and go to science fiction conventions (try it; it’s a good way to meet hackers and proto-hackers).
They know a martial-arts form (Does this surprise you? Me too). The kind of mental discipline required for martial arts seems to be similar in important ways to what hackers do. The most popular forms are Tae Kwon Do, Kung Fu, Aikido, or Ju Jitsu. The most hackerly martial arts are those which emphasize mental discipline, relaxed awareness, and control, rather than raw strength, athleticism, or physical toughness.
They study a meditation discipline. The perennial favorite among hackers is Zen. Other styles may work well, but choose one that doesn’t require you to believe crazy things.
They have an analytical ear for music, might appreciate peculiar kinds of music, might play some musical instrument well, or even sing.
They appreciate puns and wordplay. Very neologistic. They nounize verbs and verbize nouns.
The boundaries between “play”, “work”, “science” and “art” tend to disappear.
If you want to show a fake ‘hacker’, include these traits:
A silly or grandiose user ID or screen name.
Have them get in flame wars in their online communications
Have them self-describe as a ‘cyberpunk’
Have lots of spelling errors and bad grammar in their posts
Any thoughts? I’d love to hear them.
Photo credit: Pugg71
More on geeks (from my tech blog–these are all humorous):
10 Steps to Become a Better Geek
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. In her free time, she is editor of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a techno-thriller that should be out to publishers next summer.
Filed under: characters, descriptors, geeks, research, writing Tagged: characters, geek, hackers, nerd
