Having no previous knowledge on coding I find the prospect of learning code daunting. But being able to write code is quickly becoming one of the most important skill sets to have in modern education. Therefore, I support that coding is an important skill in humanities, however, I do not think it is necessary.
In every discipline there is a hierarchy of knowledge through which you progress through, but where do you draw the line when learning to code? What level of competency must these programmers become? Of course the answer will vary from subject to subject and even student to student but the question remains.
Our students will need to become more at ease reading (and writing) back and forth across the boundaries between natural and artificial languages.
Kirschenbaum, Matthew G. “Hello Worlds (Why Humanities Students Should Learn to Program).” WordPress, 23 May 2010.
Though I agree with Kirschenbaum’s view on the importance of programming, simply studying the humanities and learning higher levels of programming is just too long. Being able to “comfortably” switch between artificial and natural is too general. Students of the humanities should not be required to learn code, but encouraged to pursue how code could aid them in the humanities.
My coding knowledge is completely new and I understand that I am frankly unaware of the true nature of being a coder. But if computer programming is like learning a language then I know it is a long, strenuous, and complex process. Therefore, it is unfair to ask all humanities students to be competent in programming.
Knowing computer code is great. Being able to construct your own world is amazing, but rather unrealistic for a large percent of humanities students out there. There should not be a set level of knowledge required like Kirschenbaum implies but rather learn code if the opportunity arises where code could become useful.
Below is some html code that took 10 minutes to learn how to write and another 3 minutes to produce. Thought it was very satisfying to create it would have taken me 10 seconds to write on paper.
3 replies on “Coding the Humanities: Who’s got the time?”
I totally agree with your argument, and love the way you worded it! I come from a similar background in coding, and so I can clearly see ow our experiences may influence our ideas. I like that, though you are countering Kirschenbaum, as Donahue does, you chose to include one of his quotes to argue against, rather than choosing one of Donahue’s quotes to argue for. I think you provided a solid explanation for your case!
I think the problem you are encountering has happened to everyone who has tried to learn to code. Learning your first language will be time-consuming; but learning subsequent languages are much faster. Don’t be discouraged!
I think your argument is sound, but am rather concerned that you might be focusing more on the product, rather than the product. Yes coding text often takes longer than actually writing it, but by going through the process of learning to get the computer to write that text you’ve gained skills in a certain form of logic, and getting others, in this case the computer, to understand your intentions.