EMAC class video response

On this past Wednesday I had my first Electronic Media and Culture Class over in the new Freshmen building. When my orientation group toured the new building, my two Orientation leaders were really impressed with the place and I agree. It is well fitted out and looks like a great work environment. I thought EMAC was very interesting. Most of my art comes from electronic media and I am excited to become more comfortable and efficient with computers and their programs. I personally am a very computer-savvy person and have worked with a good amount of art programs such as Photoshop. I feel like I will have a good time in this class. During the class we watched a video which talked about Hackers. Now at first I thought about current day hackers who try to gain a profit or sabatouge a person or group, but this video focused on early hackers who contain a very different definition. Back when computers were just being introduced, hackers were the 'normal' everyday people who were very interested in these new pieces of technology. They didnt necessarily work for computer companies, but took apart computers in order to build their own. Theses hackers were inventors, and risk-takers. At first eveyone thought they needed permission to go where no-one has gone before, but they quickly broke down that barrier to produce better personal computers which heavily contributed to the computers we use today. Some individuals in the video did take things too far and began using their knowledge of computers to take advantage of others. The government cracked down on these people exceptionally hard and tried to make examples of hackers to scare the public. Instead of using these hackers to improve their system, they locked them away, afraid they could start wars and serious incidents by using a simple telephone. This closed mindedness frustrated many hackers who wanted to imrove the computer/internet/phone system. Overall I think this was an interessting video that shows the true beginning of the computer. It explains how hackers turned a room full of machines into a box with a monitor that can fit on a desk and perform amazing functions. It would be interesting to see a follow up video to see a more modern view of hacking, mainly becuase the video we watched in class was somewhat dated, although still expressed good information.