Here are the characteristics of the Facebook Generation (via Fr Rob). What do you think?
1. All ideas compete on an equal footing.
2. Contribution counts for more than credentials.
3. Hierarchies are natural, not prescribed.
4. Leaders serve rather than preside.
5. Tasks are chosen, not assigned.
6. Groups are self-defining and -organizing.
7. Resources get attracted, not allocated.
8. Power comes from sharing information, not hoarding it.
9. Opinions compound and decisions are peer-reviewed.
10. Users can veto most policy decisions.
11. Intrinsic rewards matter most.
12. Hackers are heroes.
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Tim,
Oh so true.
"In the new company headquarters, there is little external discipline. Former hackers who dominate the scene work long hours and enjoy free drinks in green surroundings. A crucial feature of Gates as icon is that he is perceived as the ex-hacker who made it. One needs to confer on the term "hacker" all its subversive/marginal/anti-establishment connotations. Hackers want to disturb the smooth functioning of large bureaucratic corporations. At the fantasmatic level, the underlying notion here is that Gates is a subversive, marginal hooligan who has taken over and dressed himself up as a respectable chairman."
-Zizek, Violence
Thought that was interesting.
Peggy,
Like you, I like most of this list--but also not hackers as heroes!
Interesting list. I agree with Kacie in #3 though, that the Facebook generation isn't truly open to all ideas on an equal footing. Certain ideas that didn't used to be open for discussion and debate now are, but others aren't - or at least aren't treated on an equal footing. Each generation or subculture has its own set of non-negotiables, whether they realize and acknowledge it or not. I would agree with a general statement that *more* ideas are treated as if they are on an equal footing than in most previous generations. At times that is good; at other times it is bad and even a little ridiculous.
I agree also that "hacker as hero" has some troubling implications unless significantly qualified and nuanced.
When I saw the last item on the list, I smiled, because I did think that the list sounded awfully like the open source movement in software industry. (By the way, hacker here means programmer, not someone who tries to access other people's computers illegally).
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