…the cultural primacy of making, especially in tech culture—that it is intrinsically superior to not-making, to repair, analysis, and especially caregiving—
Chachra, Debbie. “Why I Am Not a Maker.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 23 Jan. 2015, www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/01/why-i-am-not-a-maker/384767/.
This part taken from “Why I Am Not A Maker” caught me off guard because it made me realized that my prejudice was real. I did think makers were better, but I am slowly transitioning to think deeper, not just into the role of makers but also as a nurturer or caregiver.
This particular part of the article made me realize how much I like starting things and how difficult it can be to take care it, nurture it so that it grows into something meaningful and valuable.
Before my gap year, I was always excited and anxious to start things -anything- from projects to speeches to writing…etc. I always felt satisfied from making and creating things.
During my gap year, in which I spent 6 months in Cambodia (longest time in 3 years spent in my home country), I began to feel dissatisfied with just making things. Through working with local start-ups and NGOs I realized that making things…were just that – making things. It’s the “growth” that matters so much more! From that time on, I committed myself to one impossible thing – to ride. I started riding since I was 10 years old, I made myself into a horse-rider, I quit for 4 years from 2015 and now what? I decided to push it further in 2019-2020, to grow and nurture this sport I love so much. I decided to join my country’s team and now pursuing it at Carleton too.
That’s how I understood the misplaced value towards makers and the under-appreciated sector of analytics, reparation and care-givers. This surely applies to tech as well!
With this context set, for DGAH, I am very eager to learn and practice methods of data collection and analysis as well as data visualisation – in a sense to build upon the information available already in our world – to organize and take care of what’s already here efficiently. In what field? I love history and art, so I think I will be looking into these two fields from humanistic point of view and I am currently taking computer science, and liking it a lot so I will also look to apply the methods to this field.
All in all, whether it’s the childhood house SketchUp project, or my Python game I created last term, I want to be able to return to these programs or applications and build upon what I already started and help others build theirs too.
