A Problem, A Solution

As the world becomes more technology driven, the importance of coding amplifies because it serves as the basis for almost everything we do. And while it may seem simple to explain the concept of code as a computer language that instructs a device to perform certain tasks there are more variables. Beyond the definitions, looking at coding as a tool shows that it has made possible many of the things people have become reliant on in their everyday lives. And while its easy to ignore and continue to use technology its good to look and see that there are so many brilliant minds who have worked to put together life as we now know it but there is a darker side to the world of coding.

As a technological artifact, code is not seperate from the people that make it and those that use it and as such it carries a cultural signifigance. Thus, there is a social weight embedded in code. While it may be easy to suggest that technology is a equalizer and that through the anonymity of the internet we are presented without the status symbols of everyday life. Code problematizes this, working as an industry closely linked to capitalism. The continued struggle to make more money allows advancement not only for the sake of improvement but also for economic gain. It’s almost terrifying the speed at which things go obsolete. Planned obsolesence ensures that a company will continue to profit from the population. This creates a divide in the world between who has access to technology and who does not; thus demonstrating that there is a social class system at play. So we are confronted as consumers with companies who have the power to code a form of reality, a virtual reality, but a reality none the less that is inaccessible to some members of society.

Moving past the consumer state in the world of code into the space of development there are issues with equality as well. The majority of people working in code are men and it can often be a hostile space for women to enter. A number of people will argue that women do not code because they lack interest and perhaps even do not have the same apptitude for STEM fields as men. But the problem lies not in women, but rather in society as one that genders the workforce. Coding is not a safe space for everyone although it should be. A solution, possibly, is teaching all children to code. Allowing coding to be taught in the school system exposes children from a diverse set of backgrounds to see the digital world as a viable option for them.

If only to continue to work towards equality, I think we should all learn to code.

Links:

Ford, Paul. ‘What is Code?’ http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-paul-ford-what-is-code/

Hockey, Susan. “The History of Humanities Computing” in A Companion to Digital Humanities, ed. Susan Schreibman, Ray Siemens, John Unsworth. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004. http://www.digitalhumanities.org/companion/

Huggett, J. 2017 The Apparatus of Digital Archaeology, Internet Archaeology 44. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.44.7

Klein, Lauren. ‘Code’ Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities https://digitalpedagogy.mla.hcommons.org/keywords/code/

Raymond, Eric Steven. ‘The Cathedral & the Bazaar’ http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/

Schmidt, Ben. 2016. ‘Do Digital Humanists Need to Understand Algorithms?’ Debates in the Digital Humanities http://dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/debates/text/99

Turkel, Bill ‘Hacking’ Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities https://digitalpedagogy.mla.hcommons.org/keywords/hacking/

Watters, Audrey. “Men (Still) Explain Technology to Me: Gender and Education Technology” Hack Education http://hackeducation.com/2015/03/11/men-still-explain

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