Let's face it, most people do not own a programmable computer. They own
a programmed computer.
Even considering locked platforms which bar you from getting root
access, the major barrier to people programming is not technology, it's
knowledge.
I suggest that at least getting a hands-on sense of what code is, and
what it does, is one of the keys to mastery of technology. By "mastery"
I do not mean that people will be able to do everything, with every
element of the technology they own... But they will actually "own" some
of it - which many ICT users don't. Coders are able to induce the
machine to do something beyond that which the supplier imagined or intended.
I do think that it is possible to have some aspect of technological
mastery without coding - a few "power users" of applications programs do
attain mastery which would suprise, delight and/or alarm. But even a
smidgin of coding knowhow suddenly opens up a huge world of undocumented
possibilities.
I see the process as one very parallel to gaming. Here's a diagram (go
ASCIIart!):
===============
Changing the Rules
^
Playing and Winning
^
Playing and Losing
^
Not Playing
===============
"Not Playing" is digital exclusion. And while being a digital refusnik
may seem appealing, that does not opt one out of the changes to society,
culture and economics and politics that technology wreaks.
"Playing and Losing" is passive digital inclusion, where people are
subject to technology, and are victims of it. Work in a call centre
where your keystrokes are logged, and you'll know what this is.
"Playing and Winning" is true, active digital inclusion, where you're
able to use technology to empower yourself within society as it is. Lots
of artists and arts organisations want to get into this zone - but
that's where they're happy to stay. Technology is an amplifier of value,
and many artists, who are, let's face it, middle class freelance or
employed educators and crafters, see ways that skillful use of
technology can give them a satisfactory career. And it's where many arts
organisations want to be - amplifying their media presence with new
technologies, but while being subject to (and subject of) the digital
media context in which they operate.
"Changing the Rules" is the cool bit. This is technological mastery.
It's where you have sufficient understanding of your relationship with
technology that you are able to ask challenging questions about the
whole milieu. You are able to create new channels or characters of
communication, not simply occupy the ones that already exist. You are
able to use computers in new (or old) surprising and potentially
disruptive ways. (If you find the word "disruptive" scary, replace it
with the word "innovative".)
Even knowing a little bit about code can open up huge potential to link
or view or understand things (data, images, text) in unexpected ways.
Best Regards,
James
=====
On 07/01/12 15:54, Rob Myers wrote:
> On 07/01/12 15:18, Andreas Maria Jacobs wrote:
>
>> Where and how are software skills degraded from a professional craft
>> to a hobby 'free' time occupation?
>>
> There are two reasons why I suggest people on Netbehaviour learn to
> program using these resources. Neither is so they can get jobs as code
> monkeys.
>
> The first is so that they can get a feel for how code works. So they can
> gain an insight into how the software they use every day, and that
> affects their entire lives, works. This is important for thinking
> critically and realistically about software.
>
> The second is so that they can use code as a tool to achieve their own
> ends using software, less constrained by the fixed affordances of
> applications and web sites. Data visualisation, digital humanities
> techniques and web scripting are all useful ways of doing things with
> software.
>
>
>> What are the benefits from it when being outsourced and jobless?
>>
> Software should not be an economic end in itself. It is a tool for
> achieving other ends. This is its benefit to artists and activists and
> academics, not that they might be able to make a living by writing code
> for multinationals.
>
>
>> The naivity - also expressed in this list - surrounding software
>> practices is astonishing
>>
> We don't leave culture to the culture industry or sex to the sex
> industry. We shouldn't leave software to the software industry.
>
> - Rob.
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>
>
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