To Code or Not to Code: My DH Beliefs

At the end of my high school career, I had a very outgoing history teacher who would often repeat certain sayings or mantras with dramatic vigor. One such saying that has been ingrained in me is the line: “Never write or speak in absolutes.” I believe there is no reasonable argument stating that humanities students MUST learn to code. Likewise, there is no reasonable argument stating that humanities students MUST NOT learn to code. I think the question is a lot more nuanced, and therefore, it isn’t easy to deal in absolutes.

 However, I do believe that humanities students
 would benefit from understanding the structure of code; 
 thus, I think humanities students  SHOULD  learn to code.

I recall reading an article about the most essential skills for individuals to acquire in order to succeed in the job market over the next decade. One of the most important skills was the ability to adapt. Our world has undergone rapid change in the last few decades, faster than it has for thousands of years, and, as usual, we have to adapt. Namely, we have to adapt to the onset of advanced technology. This is especially relevant to the humanities, which are traditionally a non-technological field of study. Some people may believe that a shift in the humanities towards technology is equivalent to abandoning the essence of what the humanities are about. However, as Kirschenbaum puts it:

“Humanities students are to understand virtual worlds as rhetorical and ideological spaces, just as film and the novel are likewise understood as forms of representation and rhetoric.”

The virtual world is filled with the exact same rhetoric and ideology that we attempt to understand and dissect in print documents and traditional humanities. In essence, we humanities students are engaging in the same process, just through a newer, more up-to-date medium. Learning to code will not only help with future job prospects, but also help us become more engaged and understanding global citizens.

That being said, my coding experience is very sparse. I attended a few summers of coding camp when I was younger, and quickly decided I did not really enjoy it. I discovered my passion was for the humanities. Since then, I have always told others that I am not a computer person, which I think is true. However, two weeks in this digital humanities class have taught me that it is not so black and white. I can be well-versed in both coding and the humanities, and this combination has potentially very beneficial outcomes. Going through the HTML Dog training for HTML and CSS was fascinating. I had never understood the inner workings of how these websites I peruse daily operated. Furthermore, will I do love the ambiguity of interpretation and open-ended questions, I appreciate how coding is often a lot more binary. An input can be right or wrong, and I can instantly see the fruits of my labor. I have decided that I am actually interested in computer science (though not by any means enough to major in it). The fact that in just two hours of learning the basics of coding, I can create a basic website with input options, like the code block below, is so cool. Once again, humanities students with an understanding of code can utilize these functions to better understand the world of humanities as a whole.

     



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