Better Technology via Hacking
Science · 2006
In the public mind, the term “hacker” has nothing but negative connotations, conjuring up images of subversive outcasts writing illicit computer viruses, breaking into bank accounts, or scrambling Pentagon databases. But the epithet originally meant someone adept at taking technology intended for one purpose and retooling it, often in startlingly creative and unexpected ways; and the global community of information technologists who tweak software and hardware outside normal channels still exists.