Hacking

I agree with Kirchenbaum that anyone who is concerned with the humanities should learn to code, simply because it is such a useful tool in getting data out to the world in an interesting and effective way. Especially in a world that is becoming more and more digitized, where it is harder then ever to retain the attention of an individual, being able to make an intractable and intriguing site or program that presents your data and information is essential. I think Kirchenbaum would share this opinion and I was really struck by his comments on virtual worlds and how they “will be to the new century what cinema was to the last one and the novel to the century before that. ” I also really liked what Donahue said about “the computer sciences and the humanities both being engaged in the process of developing the very same models.” I really liked his connection between his experiences with NLP and how they connect to the very same concepts that the humanities too to study. From the limited coding experience I have in this class and my intro to Computer Science class that I’m taking I’d say coding is a valuable skill to have both in a technological sense and in an every day life sense. I think while it would be very useful to anyone to be able to interact and communicate with computers, an exponentially expanding part of our culture and daily life, it is also very useful to develop the problem solving skills that come with taking the time to learn to code and debug code. Plus it is very exciting when you can get computers to say or do what you want.

Here is my profile:

https://www.codecademy.com/ChrisLasch