HTML or Squarespace?

As technology has become more important in everyday life, the demand and hype around programming has exploded. Kids are being taught to code at younger ages, and the expectations placed on new graduates by employers now expect people in non-technical roles to have technical skills.

Our recent readings and week of class have focused on the idea of developing our technical minds, but in relation to humanities research. Needless to say, the pressure placed on students to learn how to program is not only restricted to those with their sights set on working in industry.

In this post I want to address the debate around whether or not humanities scholars should learn to program. First, I want to distinguish between the skill sets involved with applying technology in humanities projects and help clarify I consider to be “real” programming.

There is a common misconception that deep understanding of software tools is synonymous with being a “coder”. Proficiency with 3d modeling software like Sketchup or WordPress is significantly different than proficiency with C++ or Java. Technical competence is distinct from an in depth understanding of data structures, algorithms, and development life cycles. Many programmers view scripting languages like Python and VBScript(Excel) as lesser forms of coding because they do not require the same understanding that other languages do. A few years ago I sat down with a friends Dad to talk about his projects. When i mentioned that I liked to use Python to help develop tools that I used in my every day life, he responded with a simple “That’s not real programming.”

While his statement was a little on the nose, I find myself agreeing with him. The in knowledge required to be software developer is no longer needed to engage with technical projects. There are languages and tools available to help anyone accomplish any task with limited experience. No one needs to know html, CSS, and Javascript to build a website in 2020. In general, there is likely to be a program or a combination of programs that can allow for the completion of most projects.

There is no doubt that many projects could be enhanced by programming skills, however the idea that humanities researchers should learn to program detracts from the primary focus that these scholars aim to pursue. Time spent learning low level technical knowledge is time that could be spent pursuing an individuals topic of interest.

While programming will indeed usefully equip one better to understand computer scientific discourses, it should NOT be taken as the necessary precondition to engaging with the computer sciences and all who consider themselves scholars of the humanities should realize that the discourse of programming is only the technical jargon with which computer scientists address many of the very same questions that one encounters every day in the humanities.

Evan Donahue, A “Hello World” Apart

As Evan Donahue addresses in his article A “Hello World” Apart, there are more similarities between the questions asked by computer science researchers and humanities researchers than most people recognize. Knowledge of programming is not necessary to be able to understand and engage with the questions addressed by the computer sciences, and by extension, not necessary to develop an understanding of the relationship between research and the digital medium that it is expressed.

My personal experience with coding comes primarily from a handful of computer science classes, some independent projects and an internship at a tech company in a business focused role.

The code chunk below details a Javascript function that is a part of a dynamic search bar I made in a web design project. The search bar uses a handful of languages to pull information from a database and populate a drop down menu as the user changes their input.

function searchCallBack(results) {
  var players = results;
  var max = Math.min(3,players.length);
  var listContents = '';
  
  for (var i = 0; i < max; i++) {
	var nameList = players[i]['
player_name'].split(' ');
	var name = nameList[0] + '_' + nameList[1];
	var link = window.location + 'Player/' + name;
	var bar = ' ' + players[i]['player_name'] + ' (' + players[i]['start_year'] + '-' + players[i]['end_year'] + ')'
    listContents += '<li><a href = ' + link + ' >' + bar + '</a></li>';
                               
  }
  var searchUL = document.getElementById('searchUL');
  searchUL.innerHTML = listContents;
}

While the search bar worked, my time spent learning the inner workings of Javascript could have been better spent googling “Javascript search bar module” if my primary goal was realted to the final product. Nameless developers have already sunk countless hours into developing tools for people like me to accomplish this task easier, faster, and with better results.

If I had the perspective of a humanities scholar, I imagine that my primary goal would be to use my search function to enhance my research. In this case my google search would most would resemble “Squarespace”. Squarespace is a great tool with great search function that doesn’t require hours of learning Javascript, html, and CSS. Overall, I advise individuals to not get too caught up in the hype surrounding programming when technology has already become so accessible to engage with. Instead, I think humanities researchers should absolutely develop technical proficiency by learning how to think of projects in terms of tools. Being able to teach yourself how to use software is essential to being able to create the highest quality products that you can and saves time and energy spent on work that has already been completed. Although programming is an invaluable skill set and may be necessary for certain projects if the tools don’t already exist, it could be unnecessary for many people.