My Position
As someone interested in pursuing social sciences but far from computer-savvy, I have been gradually convinced over the past few years that humanities students should learn to code. To some degree, Kirschenbaum’s compelling argument has contributed to this change in mindset. One of the strongest points he makes comes across with the concepts of virtual “world-making” and “procedural literacy.” With the rhetorics, biases, and attitudes embedded within them, digital projects consist of alternative realities that provide humanities students with an extensive range of content to analyze and contemplate. Through such “story-telling,” computer programmers essentially employ the same skills as humanities people do, just in a different type of language. However, in order for humanities people to be able to comprehensively interpret the technical language, they necessarily need to understand the way programmers think and frame their thoughts.
Admittedly, digital humanities is a collaborative undertaking, and by no means should we assume that every contributor comes in with the exact same reservoir of skills. Yet procedural literacy sets the foundation for constructive criticism, since effective collaboration is based on the ground that everyone on the team has the ability to decipher the logic behind how others set up the rest of the project. Only when they are able to read the code can they make comments and suggestions in terms of the code itself—the building blocks underlying the presentation of ideas. We empower our own ideas by reimagining the various ways in which they can be encoded, translated, and displayed. This is fundamentally what humanities students have always been trained to do through reading comprehension and critical thinking. Now, with a multitude of tutorials available, there are really few stakes to worry about risking (besides time commitment) as one starts to build one’s technical literacy. The worst outcome is finding out that coding is not one’s preferable way of expressing oneself. At the end of the day, the value of learning to code lies in the attempt to learn and in the gesture of embracing a new learning experience.
Our students will need to become more at ease reading (and writing) back and forth across the boundaries between natural and artificial languages. Such an education is essential if we are to cultivate critically informed citizens — not just because computers offer new worlds to explore, but because they offer endless vistas in which to see our own world reflected.
“Hello Worlds (Why Humanities Students Should Learn to Program).” Matthew G. Kirschenbaum, 26 May 2010, mkirschenbaum.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/hello-worlds/.
My Experience
To be honest, I had had absolutely zero experience with computer programming before I came to Carleton. I had not been able to keep up in higher-level math classes back in elementary school, so I developed the false conception that my brain was not wired to do any STEM-related stuff. For a long time I had been trapped in this false conception, shutting myself away from learning how to code. It was not until I did an education-related externship that I realized it would be difficult to apply what I wanted to convey in a practical setting without knowing about how computer languages worked. Our team ran into a coding issue with the user interface of our website, but neither us nor the host could solve it, and we had to resort to placing a work order with a software developer. I wished I had been able to contribute—or at least understand what exactly was preventing us from advancing in the project in technical terms. But I had not.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>My first web page</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>This is my first web page.</p>
How exciting!
<p style="color: green">Yes, that really <em>is</em> exciting.</p>
</body>
</html>With no prior knowledge of coding, I went over the beginner tutorials for HTML and CSS from HTML Dog and created my very first web page. This exercise allowed me to further understand what it means for HTML to be structural and CSS to be presentational.
Part of the reason why I chose to take Hacking the Humanities was because I wanted to challenge myself to step out of my comfort zone. Kirschenbaum suggests that computer programming revolves around solving real-life problems, which is exactly what I aspire to do as a social science researcher in the future. I know that I will for sure take one computer science class. Simply opening myself up to it introduces me to broader horizons, which is also a big step towards an interdisciplinary mindset. “My first web page” marks this important step.
6 thoughts on “Reflective Blog Post: Why Humanities Students Should Learn to Code”
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I think this brings up a really interesting point that I hadn’t really thought of before. I hadn’t considered that if you don’t learn to code, you are always going to be reliant on other people to make sure your projects and other things are running correctly. However, with even a little bit of basic coding experience you often have enough knowledge to solve basic problems without relying on someone else. I also agree with you that its super cool how you can quickly learn a little bit of basic HTML and CSS and make a cool webpage.
I agree with your statement that computer programmers essentially employ the same skills as humanities people do, just in a different type of language. I also agree that there are few stakes to worry about risking as one starts to build one’s technical literacy. I admire that you chose to step out of your comfort zone to take this class and how far you have already made your first webpage with HTML and CSS.
I agree with your statement that computer programmers essentially employ the same skills as humanities people do, just in a different type of language. I also agree that there are few stakes to worry about risking as one starts to build one’s technical literacy. I admire that you chose to step out of your comfort zone to take this class and how you have already made your first webpage with HTML and CSS.
Hi Vivian! I think you bring up a bunch of really great points here! I agree with you that humanities students and computer science students share many of the same skills, just in different outputs, and I also love the way you talked about world-building that was brought up in the reading. Overall, I definitely agree with you and really liked reading your position on this debate!
I appreciate your perspective, and I agree that students in humanities should adopt an open and receptive mindset towards programming. Your emphasis on teamwork in digital humanities highlights the significance of understanding various steps in the overall framework, including programming. The more attention we give to collaboration, the better we facilitate effective teamwork in this field. Such perspective makes total sense to me.
Hi Vivian, I like the points you make and I am glad to learn that you are challenging yourself by taking this class. Respect that. I kind of had the same misconception about coding with you before taking any CS class in Carleton, as I always thought coding is really far away from me. Now I would see it as just another language, just as English to me as I am not a native speaker. Coding brings me a new vision of how to approach things both in academics and in life.