The Hackers Conference
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The Hackers Conference is an annual invitation-only gathering of
designers A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...
,
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...
s and programmers to discuss the latest developments and innovations in the computer industry. On a daily basis, many
hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...
s only interact virtually, and therefore rarely have face-to-face contact. The conference is a time for hackers to come together to share ideas.


History

The first Hackers Conference was organized in 1984 in Marin County,
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, by Stewart Brand and his associates at Whole Earth and The Point Foundation. It was conceived in response to
Steven Levy Steven Levy (born 1951) is an American journalist and Editor at Large for ''Wired'' who has written extensively for publications on computers, technology, cryptography, the internet, cybersecurity, and privacy. He is the author of the 1984 book ...
's book, '' Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution'', which inspired Brand to arrange a meeting between the individuals, or "
hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...
s", the book named. The first conference's roughly 150 attendees included Steve Wozniak,
Ted Nelson Theodor Holm Nelson (born June 17, 1937) is an American pioneer of information technology, philosopher, and sociologist. He coined the terms ''hypertext'' and '' hypermedia'' in 1963 and published them in 1965. Nelson coined the terms '' trans ...
,
Richard Stallman Richard Matthew Stallman (; born March 16, 1953), also known by his initials, rms, is an American free software movement activist and programmer. He campaigns for software to be distributed in such a manner that its users have the freedom to ...
,
John Draper John Thomas Draper (born March 11, 1943), also known as Captain Crunch, Crunch, or Crunchman (after the Cap'n Crunch breakfast cereal mascot), is an American computer programmer and former phone phreak. He is a widely known figure within the ...
, Richard Greenblatt, Robert Woodhead, and Bob Wallace. The gathering has been identified as instrumental in establishing the libertarian ethos attributed to
cyberculture Internet culture is a culture based on the many way people have used computer networks and their use for communication, entertainment, business, and recreation. Some features of Internet culture include online communities, gaming, and social medi ...
, and was the subject of a
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
documentary, produced by KQED: Hackers - Wizards of the Electronic Age.


Participants at the original 1984 Hackers Conference

Here is the list of participants at the original 1984 Hackers Conference, given in the contact list distributed to participants titled "List of Participants at the Hackers' Conference November 9–11, 1984" Arthur Abraham, Roe Adams, Phil Agre, Dick Ainsworth, Bob Albrecht,
Bill Atkinson Bill Atkinson (born March 17, 1951) is an American computer engineer and photographer. Atkinson worked at Apple Computer from 1978 to 1990. Atkinson was the principal designer and developer of the graphical user interface (GUI) of the Apple ...
, Bill Bates, Allen Baum, Bruce Baumgart, Mike Beeler, Ward Bell, Gerry Berkowitz, Nancy Blachman, Steve Bobker, Stewart Bonn, Russell Brand, Stewart Brand, John Brockman, Dennis Brothers, Bill Budge, John Bumgarner, Bill Burns, Art Canfil, Steve Capps, Doug Carlston, Simon Cassidy, Dave Caulkins, Richard Cheshire, Fred Cisin, Mike Coffey, Margot Comstock, Rich Davis, Steven Dompier, Wes Dorman,
John Draper John Thomas Draper (born March 11, 1943), also known as Captain Crunch, Crunch, or Crunchman (after the Cap'n Crunch breakfast cereal mascot), is an American computer programmer and former phone phreak. He is a widely known figure within the ...
, Mark Duchaineau,
Les Earnest Lester Donald Earnest (born December 17, 1930) is an American computer scientist. Education and career After receiving his B.S. in electrical engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1953, he began his career as a comp ...
, Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Erik Fair,
Richard Fateman Richard J Fateman (born November 4, 1946)Lee Felsenstein Lee Felsenstein (born April 27, 1945) is an American computer engineer who played a central role in the development of the personal computer. He was one of the original members of the Homebrew Computer Club and the designer of the Osborne 1, the ...
, Jay Fenlason, Fabrice Florin,
Andrew Fluegelman Andrew Cardozo Fluegelman (November 27, 1943 – July 6, 1985) was a publisher, photographer, programmer and attorney best known as a pioneer of what is now known as the shareware business model for software marketing. He was also the founding ...
, Robert Frankston, Paul Freiberger,
Rob Fulop Rob Fulop is an American game programmer who created two of the Atari 2600's biggest hits: the port of arcade game '' Missile Command'' and 1982's ''Demon Attack'', which won '' Electronic Games Game of the Year award. While at Atari, Fulop al ...
,
Robert Gaskins Robert Gaskins was one of the creators of PowerPoint, and an expert and author on the history of the English concertina. Education and professional work Gaskins was educated in Computer Science at University of California, Berkeley, and subsequ ...
,
Nasir Gebelli Nasir Gebelli ( fa, ناصر جبلی, also Nasser Gebelli, born 1957) is an Iranian-American programmer and video game designer usually credited in his games as simply Nasir. Gebelli wrote Apple II games for Sirius Software, created his own co ...
, Steve Gibson, Geoff Goodfellow, Richard Greenblatt,
Roger Gregory Roger L. Gregory (born July 17, 1953) is an American lawyer who serves as the Chief United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Background Gregory was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but grew u ...
, Leslie Grimm, Robert Hardy, Brian Harvey, Dick Heiser, Matt Herron,
Andy Hertzfeld Andrew Jay Hertzfeld (born April 6, 1953) is an American software engineer and innovator who was a member of the original Apple Macintosh development team during the 1980s. After buying an Apple II in January 1978, he went to work for App ...
, Bruce Horn, David Hughes, John James, Tom Jennings,
Jerry Jewell Jerry Jewell is an American voice actor and voice director who works on anime series for Funimation and OkraTron 5000. He has performed the voices for several anime roles and is noted for his roles as Kyo Sohma in the ''Fruits Basket'' series, ...
, Chris Jochumson, Ted Kaehler, Sat Tara Khalsa, Scott Kim, Peter LaDeau, Fred Lakin, Marc Le Brun, Jim Leeke, David Levitt,
Steven Levy Steven Levy (born 1951) is an American journalist and Editor at Large for ''Wired'' who has written extensively for publications on computers, technology, cryptography, the internet, cybersecurity, and privacy. He is the author of the 1984 book ...
, Henry Lieberman, Efrem Lipkin, William Low,
David Lubar David Lubar (born March 16, 1954) is an author of numerous books for teens. He is also a video game programmer, who programmed ''Breakout (arcade game), Super Breakout'' for the Game Boy and ''Frogger'' for both the Super Nintendo Entertainment ...
, Scott Mace, John Markoff, David Maynard, Bob McConaghy,
Roger Melen Roger Douglas Melen (born 1946) is an electrical engineer recognized for his early contributions to the microcomputer industry, and for his technical innovations. Dr. Melen was co-founder of Cromemco, one of the earliest microcomputer companies ...
, Diana Merry, Mark Miller, Charles Moore, Michael Naimark,
Ted Nelson Theodor Holm Nelson (born June 17, 1937) is an American pioneer of information technology, philosopher, and sociologist. He coined the terms ''hypertext'' and '' hypermedia'' in 1963 and published them in 1965. Nelson coined the terms '' trans ...
, Terry Niksch, Guy Nouri, David Oster, Ray Ozzie, Donn Parker, Howard Pearlmutter, Mark Pelczarski, Michael Perry, Patricia Phelan, Tom Pittman, Eric Podietz,
Kevin Poulsen Kevin Lee Poulsen (born November 30, 1965) is an American former black-hat hacker and a contributing editor at ''The Daily Beast''. Biography He was born in Pasadena, California, on November 30, 1965. Black-hat hacking On June 1, 1990, Poul ...
,
Jerry Pournelle Jerry Eugene Pournelle (; August 7, 1933 – September 8, 2017) was an American scientist in the area of operations research and human factors research, a science fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and one of the first bloggers. In the 1960s ...
, Larry Press, Steve Purcell, Christopher Reed, David Reed, Barbara Robertson, Michael Rogers, Pete Rowe,
Peter Samson Peter R. Samson (born 1941 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts) is an American computer scientist, best known for creating pioneering computer software for the TX-0 and PDP-1. Samson studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) between 195 ...
, Steve Saunders, Laura Scholl, Rich Schroeppel, Tom Scoville, Rony Sebok, Rhod Sharp, Bob Shur, Burrell Smith, David Snider, Tom Spence, Bud Spurgeon,
Richard Stallman Richard Matthew Stallman (; born March 16, 1953), also known by his initials, rms, is an American free software movement activist and programmer. He campaigns for software to be distributed in such a manner that its users have the freedom to ...
, Michael Swaine, David Taylor, Jack Trainor,
Bud Tribble Guy L. "Bud" Tribble is Vice President of Software Technology at Apple Inc. Work Tribble was a member of the original Apple Macintosh design team. He served as manager of the software development team, and helped to design the classic Mac OS and ...
, Bruce H. Van Natta, Bob Wallace, Walter E. (Gene) Wallis,
Bruce Webster Bruce F. Webster is an American academic and software engineer. He is currently a principal at Bruce F. Webster & Associates and an adjunct professor in computer science at Brigham Young University. Early life and education Webster studied ...
, Ken Williams, Deborah Wise, Steve Witham, Robert Woodhead, Don Woods, Steve Wozniak, Fred Wright


Logo

Scott Kim designed the iconic Hackers Conference logo.


References


External links


Official siteHackers - Wizards of the Electronic Age (video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hackers Conference, The Technology conferences Hacker culture Whole Earth Catalog Recurring events established in 1984