I believe that all humanities students should at least have some knowledge of how coding works. I don’t think they necessarily have to take a complete computer science course, and I also don’t believe they need to be proficient in any particular coding language. I do think, though, that having some exposure to the underpinnings of things they likely use every day — websites, for one — would allow them to navigate the digital world with more confidence and expertise.
I don’t know very much about coding, but I grew up with a father who loved computers, and so I spent a lot of my childhood around computers, tablets, video game consoles, etc… My dad walked me through making a few basic Python games, and I spent a few years on a website called Scratch, ostensibly coding games in “code blocks” (but, in reality, mostly talking to other little kids in the comments of said games). I also had to take some basic CS classes in middle school, which haven’t stuck a bit.
I consider myself a more humanities-oriented student, or at least a student with little formal training or understanding of CS. However, I found it incredibly informative (and dare I say, even fun?) to go through the HTML Dog tutorials for this lab activity and manipulate my own little web page. I’m likely not the best archetype for a humanities student, especially given that I’ve had a long-standing curiosity for CS and so would understandably find CS-related things interesting. Despite that, I think that giving humanities-oriented students some kind of primer on coding and digital literacy in general would go a long way toward expanding their options for research and inquiry, if they so desire. The world doesn’t seem to be getting any less digital, and empowering these students with knowledge about that world instead of just telling them that they won’t need it for their job is shortsighted.
Ultimately what’s at stake is not the kind of vocational computer literacy I was taught as an undergraduate, but what a growing number of practitioners in the digital humanities (and related disciplines, like digital art or game studies) have begun to call procedural rhetoric, or procedural literacy.
“Hello Worlds (Why Humanities Students Should Learn to Program).” Matthew G. Kirschenbaum, May 26, 2010. https://mkirschenbaum.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/hello-worlds/.
This quote stuck with me, because I think that humanities students would find this approach to learning to code reasonable. Articulating ideas in a structured way is the basis of philosophy, for example, so presenting coding as just another way to turn ideas into action doesn’t seem like much of a leap. I think that as a liberal arts student, I may be biased towards interdisciplinary studies, but I do believe that the digital world is an important one for everyone to get involved in — not just CS majors or web developers.
Here’s a snippet of HTML code that could stand as the basis of the “About” page of art student’s portfolio website, for just one example of how coding could be applied in the humanities:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Jane Doe | Multimedia Artist</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">
<!-- I don't have a stylesheet for this website, but if I did, it would be inserted here. I assume that any self-respecting artist would make their portfolio look a little bit better than just plain text! -->
</head>
<body>
<h1>About Jane Doe</h1>
<p>I am a multimedia artist with a particular interest in the intersection between coding and visual art. I specialize in video and 3D modeling, but I've found forays into sculpture and painting extremely satisfying. Most recently, my work has been featured at the Blank School of the Arts (my alma mater - go Goats!) and Themis Legal Academy.</p>
<h2>Upcoming Exhibitions</h2>
<ul>
<li>Janus& Gallery (New York City): Mar. 7 - May 15, 2025</li>
<li>Eclectic Collective (Los Angeles): Sept. 18 - Nov. 3, 2025</li>
</ul>
<h2>Contact Me</h2>
<p>I am always available to talk with exhibit coordinators and potential collaborators. You can email me at <a href="mailto:janedoe@notreal.com" target="_blank">JaneDoe@notreal.com</a>.</p>
</body>
</html>
5 thoughts on “Lab 2”
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Hi Eliza! I agree with your argument that humanities students should have at least some knowledge of how coding works. In most humanities courses, digital resources such as databases and websites are utilized for learning. Since we interact with the digital world every day, it is important that we have some understanding of how it functions. Nice work!
I agree with you that students should have a basic understanding of computer science, as it is beneficial in the humanities. I like that you mentioned that students don’t need to take a full computer science course in order to learn coding. Since CS 111 at Carleton goes over topics such as sorting, run-time, and arrays, if someone already knows that they genuinely interested in the field of computer science and our only interested in learning basic coding practices, then they may be better off taking a different class or going through a free online turotail that covers the basics, similar to HTML Dog. I like your use of comments and documentation in your code example, as it makes your code easier to read for yourself and someone who has never seen it before.
I also spent a decent amount of time on Scratch in middle school, also just making things and talking to everyone else, but I really do think that the concept of “procedural literacy” could be taught through applications and methods like Scratch. I agree that humanities students should at least be able to follow what code is saying, even if they’re still looking up syntax and tags.
Hi Eliza! I totally agree with you! I don’t like coding as I mentioned in my post. But I still took intro to CS at Carleton, because I also believe that it’s good to gain at least some basic understanding of the coding world, so that it is easier to communicate with others given that coding is a popular topic. However, it is not necessary for everyone to go deep into the field of coding. After all, besides the idea of specialization, we all have the right to follow our own interests and choose what we want to focus on in the future, instead of spending a lot of time on something that feels more frustrating than enjoyable (for people who are not fans of coding).
I like how you thought about coding in a similar fashion to philosophy. And I agree that the idea behind coding and humanities/philosophy is similar in the sense that they are both acts of making something. When looking at coding from this perspective it doesn’t seem as mathematical as I initially thought before learning more about it. Coding is definitely out of my comfort zone but keeping up this mentality will surely help me during this learning process!