Forums | UCL ChangeMakers

03 February 2015, 14:29

Should we promote a subculture; of hacking UCL as a part of ChangeMakers? The general idea is not to break in and up your grades, but to fix things - technical, structural, cultural, education or whatever.  

04 February 2015, 11:22

Certainly would attract some people, although if publicised in the wrong way may bring the wrath of the Senior Management Team down on our collective heads... Worth thinking about - like an alpha/beta testing process, test the rigging and find where it breaks - lots of software debugging metaphors, with which I'm mostly out of touch. What do others think?

Paul

04 February 2015, 12:46

I think about this sort of thing a lot, and I must confess I'm a little torn between the often haphazardous and serendipitous nature of hacking and tinkering versus the more structured, organised nature of large institutions ("Change Hackers" vs "Change Makers"?). 

Hacking by its very nature is often subversive. It's challenging what's been done before, sometimes turning things completely on its head. It's scary to the status quo. 

I like the idea of fostering this kind of culture/approach a lot because I know it's beneficial; it's the "how to" I'm slightly struggling with.