Title: Nightwork : a history of hacks and pranks at MIT /
Authors: Peterson, T. F.; MIT Museum
Publisher: MIT Press,
Year: 2011
Subjects: Massachusetts Institute of Technology History.; Student activities Massachusetts Cambridge History.; College students Massachusetts Cambridge Humor.; College wit and humor.
Abstract: Before the term hacking became associated with computers, MIT undergraduates used it to describe any activity that took their minds off studying, suggested an unusual solution to a technical problem, or generally fostered nondestructive mischief. The MIT hacking culture has given us such treasures as police cars and cows on the Great Dome, a disappearing door to the President's office, and the commencement game of "Al Gore Buzzword Bingo." Hacks can be technical, physical, virtual, or verbal. Often the underlying motivation is to conquer the inaccessible and make possible the improbable. Hacks can express dissatisfaction with local culture or with administrative decisions, but mostly they are remarkably good-spirited. They are also by definition ephemeral. Fortunately, the MIT Museum has amassed a unique collection of hack-related pictures, reports, and remnants. Nightwork collects the best materials from this collection, to entertain innocent bystanders and inspire new generations of practitioners.
Contents: Foreword / Deborah G. Douglas -- Introduction/Hacking 1.000H / T.F. Peterson -- Hack, Hacker, Hacking / Brian Leibowitz -- Hacking into the new millennium / Eric Bender -- Where no cow has gone before: Accessing the innaccessible / Anonymous -- Auto industry: The great vehicle hacks -- Domework: Hacking the domes / Brian Leibowitz -- Intriguing hacks to fascinate people -- Greener pastures: The green building hacks -- Making an entrance: The Lobby 7 hacks -- "All Mondays should be so beautiful": the art of hacking art -- Form + function = Hack: the architecture hacks -- Campus commentary: Hacks as policy protests (plus a few complaints and humorous shout-outs) -- A sign of the times: Hacking with signs and banners -- The numbers game: Hackers reinvent measurement -- Beyond recognition: Commemoration hacks -- Object lessons: Hacks in the classroom -- Worth a thousand words: Hacks fit to print -- Teaching a nation to make snow: Hoax hacks -- "Please wait to be served": The performance hacks -- When MIT won the Harvard–Yale game: Hacking Harvard -- Because it's there: The best of the rest -- Zen and the art of hacking -- Glossary of MIT vernacular.