As the title suggests, the question of “Should Humanities Students Learn to Code?” can elicit different answers from people with different opinions. Although I do not think students should master their skills to be extraordinary at coding, it is not necessarily futile to know how to code, at least at a basic level. Coding can open up new paths for further exploration and carry out a similar process as the one done in the studies of Humanities.
Starting last week, I took few classes on Codeacademy and educated myself with the basics of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. All my life, I was never a guy close to computer. I would always ask my “computer-friendly” friends to help me whenever I faced problems with computers. First few lessons were quite decent and fairly easy to follow. Then, the lessons became more and more challenging. As the level of lessons went up, the more time I spent on a stage, desperate to find myself a way to the next level. Despite the difficulties I was facing throughout the whole learning process, I realized that this new acquirement of knowledge on coding would eventually benefit me and provide many new opportunities. With the new coding information, I naturally applied to my blog posts and comments.
“All programming entails world-making, as the ritual act of writing and running Hello World reminds us.” Matthew Kirschenbaum, in his article, exactly points out the experience I’m having as one of the reasons why humanities students should learn to code. Learning how to code will open up new opportunities for students to explore the virtual world, with a new form of digital text. “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.” I personally agree with the author. Coding is a necessary tool for students in this world, tool for us to adapt to continuously changing world. Technology and especially the new aesthetics of text will develop a new world, as things are more advanced over time. Evan Donahue argues in his article, “Programming languages math and algorithms are the discourses used by computer scientists to address their concerns just as psycho analysis ethnography and material culture are some of the discourses used to address the concerns of the humanities.” I too agree that programming the virtual world through coding may be very similar step to the process of some of the discourses used to address the concerns of the humanities. However, I believe that coding should not be thought as an odd computer science related material where students separate from humanities but rather as a tool that students should take advantage of to more effectively investigate and address the concerns existent in Humanities.
In conclusion, I would like to end with one of the quotes from Matthew Kirschenbaum, which sums up most of my opinions. “An appreciation of how complex ideas can be imagined and expressed as a set of formal procedures — rules, models, algorithms — in the virtual space of a computer will be an essential element of a humanities education.”
Coding should be used as a privilege given to us to enhance our methods of education and exploration in the area of humanities.
Joshua, I’m glad you struggled through the difficulties and found the experience of learning some basic programming useful. And I’m also glad that you’re putting that new knowledge to immediate use as you write blog posts and build out your web site. Nothing beats a real project to make the new knowledge stick!
You make a compelling argument–there’s a clear connection between your own experience and the more theoretical discussions of Kirschenbaum and Donahue, and the quotes you picked out from these articles support your argument really well while also giving me some new perspectives on the articles they came from.