Situate software as cultural object and propose documentation as a surface to explore it.
### 1.1 Context around software, besides technicality
How do you choose a particular programming language, a coding paradigm, a development environment, an infrastructure where to run the code, and so on? These are not just technical choices, but rather coding contingencies.
Personal decisions, trending technologies, curiosity and boredom, to name a few. A talk that touches on esolangs as form of frugality, a collegue passionate about live coding that drags you to an algorave night, a crypto-boyfriend, the tech stack of a company, a drastic turn of events, etc. etc.
These contingencies are situated in specific contexts.
Programming then is not just sharing code, but sharing context. A significant statement about our relationship to the world, and how we organize our understanding of it (Ullman, 2017). A point of view and a perspective to look at reality, before attempting to get some grip onto it with a script. A way to deal with both the software and hardware circumstances of code (Marino, 2020), but also create space and relations with _non-code entities_ (Mackenzie, 2006).
It's an approach that helps us to think about software as a cultural object. Something "deeply woven into contemporary life –economically, culturally, creatively, politically– in manners both obvious and nearly invisible." (Software Studies, 2009), and not just as technical tool existing in a vacuum.
An object that, in turn, can be used to probe its surroundings. Who is developing? Who is paying? For what cause? Who is gonna use it? How is it structured? It is a big and centralized system or a loose collection of small and interchangable tools?
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There is a difference in scale of space and time between our biological and social selves, and the internal clock of a computer, or the reach of its network. This often leads us to picture wrong images of the technological complexity we are participating in. That's why in order to debug complexity we probably first need to debug software (Shirky, 2014). Understand how does it work, or why it doesn't work the way we expect, either in its technical, cultural, or environmental outcomes. Unpack what can be changed and adjusted, and being able to reason about it.
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Without guidance seems impossible to orientate in this maze.
### 1.3 Propose documentation as a surface to address these issues
1. Welcoming diverse knowledges
2. Lowering barriers and create entry points
3. Orientate software in the world
- _(500)_
## References
Ullman, E. (2017). _Life in code : a personal history of technology._ New York: Mcd, Farrar, Straus And Giroux.
Marino, M.C. (2020). _Critical code studies._ Editorial: Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Mit Press.
https://vimeo.com/105069079
Tsutomu Nihei, Paul, S., Montclare, B. and Macasocol, J. (2005). _Blame! Volume 1_. Los Angeles, Ca: Tokyopop.
How do you choose a particular programming language, a coding paradigm, a development environment, an infrastructure where to run the code, and so on? These are not just technical choices, but rather coding contingencies.
Preparing for a job interview, trending technologies, curiosity and boredom, to name a few. A talk that touches on esolangs as form of frugality, a collegue passionate about live coding that drags you to an algorave night, a crypto-boyfriend, the tech stack of a company, a drastic turn of events, etc. etc.
These contingencies are situated in specific contexts.
Programming then is not just sharing code, but sharing context. A significant statement about our relationship to the world, and how we organize our understanding of it (Ullman, 2017). A point of view and a perspective to look at reality, before attempting to get some grip onto it with a script. A way to deal with both the software and hardware circumstances of code (Marino, 2020), but also create community and relations with _non-code entities_ (Mackenzie, 2006).
It's an approach that helps us to think about software as a cultural object. Something "deeply woven into contemporary life –economically, culturally, creatively, politically– in manners both obvious and nearly invisible." (Software Studies, 2009), and not just as technical tool existing in a vacuum.
An object that, in turn, can be used to probe its surroundings. Who is developing? Who is paying? For what cause? Who is gonna use it? How is it structured? It is a big and centralized system or a loose collection of small and interchangable tools?
### 1.3 Propose documentation as a surface to address these issues
1. Welcoming diverse knowledges
2. Lowering barriers and create entry points
3. Orientate software in the world
- _(500)_
## References
Ullman, E. (2017). _Life in code : a personal history of technology._ New York: Mcd, Farrar, Straus And Giroux.
Marino, M.C. (2020). _Critical code studies._ Editorial: Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Mit Press.
https://vimeo.com/105069079
Tsutomu Nihei, Paul, S., Montclare, B. and Macasocol, J. (2005). _Blame! Volume 1_. Los Angeles, Ca: Tokyopop.
