The answer is yes, humanities students should learn to code. The most naive argument I would give in support of this is that as humans we should try our best to learn as much as we can. I admit, of course, that I have a particular inclination towards this view as I am, after all, a student at a liberal arts college. A quick rebuttal to this point of view is that given all the things there are to learn in this world, learning to code, especially as humanities student, is of little value. It might seem more naturally productive for a humanities student to further deepen their studies in the traditional humanities and continue to push reading and writing academic literature as the best way to contribute to the humanities.
But is that not to ignore the fact that learning to code is simply an extension of the humanities? While I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself a ‘humanities student’ as I’ve only take a few courses in that domain, I do have a semblance as to some of their primary goals. Ultimately, they seek to do the honorable duty of preserving and enhancing our cultural identity as humans. They are the ones that help us reflect on ourselves and the world that we’ve built around us. With that being the case, then, as Kirschenbaum would have it, learning to code has so much to offer.
Such an education is essential if we are to cultivate critically informed citizens… because they offer endless vistas in which to see our own world reflected.
Kirschenbaum, Matthew. “Hello Worlds (why humanities students should learn to program)”
One specific way in which learning to program helps us to reflect on our world and to see it from a new perspective lies in the notion that a great program is one that is accessible. This is something I know quite well as a computer science major and especially one who has been dong software design for many years. While I was more blind to this aspect of programming before, after taking the Software Design course at Carleton, I’ve come to learn that no user should get left behind, especially in the context of users with visual impairments. It is not just a professional obligation, but a human duty to ensure that everyone can partake in our digital world. The following code snippet is an instance of HTML that emphasizes accessibility to those with visual impairments. Specifically, it focuses on accesible forms and places alt test in place of an unrendered image.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width">
<title>JS Bin</title>
</head>
<body>
<img src="cheeseburger.jpg" alt="A picture of a cheeseburger" width="200" height="200"/>
<form>
<fieldset>
<legend>Name</legend>
<label for="first_name">First Name</label>
<input name="first_name" id="first_name" type="text" placeholder="Jane" tabindex="1">
<label for="last_name">Last Name</label>
<input name="last_name" id="last_name" type="text" placeholder="Doe" tabindex="2">
</fieldset>
<fieldset>
<legend>Email</legend>
<label for="email">Email</label>
<input name="email" id="email" type="email" placeholder="name@carleton.edu" tabindex="3">
</fieldset>
</form>
</body>
</html>3 thoughts on “Should Humanities Students Learn to Code?”
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Perhaps this is a sign that I’ve spent too much time in the scientific mindset of “objectivity” and separation of the subject and the observer, but I’ve never thought about the humanities as a field of reflection before. I agree that programs should be accessible to everyone, but I’m curious about how programming itself can be/has been made more accessible. You mention the visually impaired specifically in your post, and looking at the example code you uploaded it is easy to see how someone with dyslexia, or even something as common as simple poor eyesight, could have a hard time engaging with this creative aspect of the digital world.
I completely agree that the humanities are there to solidify and enhance our human identity. That said, Computer Science is most definitely embracing that idea. With the increasing accessibility not only for people outside the grid but, like you mentioned, those with physical impairments and the new rise of digitized cultural patrimony, tangible and intangible practices have become supremely easy to protect.
I like how you bring up the importance of accessibility. I think computer scientists may benefit from listening to those in the humanities to be able to produce better “tech for good.” There’s also been a push for making coding languages more similar to the English language, so that would also help decrease the gap between CS and the humanities!