I have been crocheting since I was fourteen, and I know: every project requires the destruction of a pair of scissors.
The thing is, crocheting is making something. I take the ball of yarn, and I build it up in neat rows and patterns. But to build it, I have to break the project down, undo stitches right and left, and at the end, I need my pair of scissors to cut and tie off the yarn. My flowers, hats, scarves, and blankets were all made by ripping patterns apart and cutting yarn up, just as much as they were made by building. As Mark Sample says, destruction is necessary to learn (Sample).
In a similar vein, working on the code for Monkeys writing Shakespeare required that I break the thing to understand how it works. I already know enough code from previous experiences to understand how to troubleshoot some basic C++ and HTML, so I focused more on a problem I ran into with the code: Why couldn’t I get apostrophes to work?
I eventually realized that the variable “original_text” was set apart by apostrophes, so inserting one in the middle of the line broke the code. Fortunately, I could insert the HTML code for apostrophes, “'” to add in the apostrophes to my text. I didn’t know how to fix this problem until I looked online, and found the webpage “How to create the apostrophe symbol in HTML”. Fixing this was a collaborative effort, even if my teammate at educative.com will never know me.
I was able to add in apostrophes using the internet’s help, so I could destroy Dolly Parton’s song while maintaining proper grammar.
I don’t consider myself a coder. I don’t find that joy in making codes work that I think is a requirement to really loving coding. I also don’t actually speak any coding languages; I can stumble along if I have a book next to me, but actually writing code isn’t something I have ever done well.
However, I’m not afraid of coding. And the way that coding is taught and thought about currently inspires fear. It is similar to the way math is taught; the idea that there are “math people” and “not math people” is something I have always disliked. Most people can grasp the concepts of math and coding, but these things are taught as if it is an entry to a secret, high society, that not everyone deserves entry to.
These gates that bar the way to coding are bars of privilege. Women are kept out of coding because at the first sign of trouble, they’re told “well not everyone is good at this…” and they start to believe that a B+ in class is a sign that they don’t belong. Meanwhile, boys with a C in class feel like their doing fine, because they are not told with every glance that they do not belong. Miriam Posner writes about this, saying:
“But it also makes you extremely conscious of your mistakes, confusion, and skill level. You are there as a representative of every woman. If you mess up or need extra clarification, it’s because you really shouldn’t — you suspected this anyway — you shouldn’t be there in the first place.” (Posner, Think).
I cannot speak to the experience of people of color, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was similar. Even when there are coding classes and math classes that work to overcome the barriers that keep coding so white and male, the pervasive idea that people are “coders” or “not” will continue to keep the underprivileged firmly in the “not” category.
I think, instead, we need to think about coding similarly to how we think about cooking. Not everyone is a cook. But, anyone can make toast, if they’re given a toaster, some bread, and some easy to follow instructions. We have to remove the economic barriers keeping people from toasters, and also (to strain the metaphor) remove the socialized idea that a certain group of people will burn toast every time. Let people burn their toast and break their code; it’s the first step to a great meal and a good coder.
My first crochet projects were a mess, and I certainly wasn’t branching out into creating my own patterns. But I was a crocheter as soon as I picked up a hook and started enjoying myself. Through talking with others, tearing projects apart, and practice, I got a lot better. But what mattered was the enjoyment. If a person enjoys Digital Humanities, they are a Digital Humanist – even if only through creating messy projects using software others have already made.
The only cuts that hurt more than they help, when learning something, are the ones that cut people out of the group.
Works Cited
“How to Create the Apostrophe Symbol in HTML.” Educative: Interactive Courses for Software Developers, https://www.educative.io/edpresso/how-to-create-the-apostrophe-symbol-in-html. Accessed 30 Apr. 2021.
Posner, Miriam. Some Things to Think about before You Exhort Everyone to Code. http://miriamposner.com/blog/some-things-to-think-about-before-you-exhort-everyone-to-code/. Accessed 30 Apr. 2021.
Posner, Miriam. » Think Talk Make Do: Power and the Digital Humanities Journal of Digital Humanities. http://journalofdigitalhumanities.org/1-2/think-talk-make-do-power-and-the-digital-humanities-by-miriam-posner/. Accessed 30 Apr. 2021.
Sample, Mark. “Notes towards a Deformed Humanities.” @samplereality, 2 May 2012, https://samplereality.com/2012/05/02/notes-towards-a-deformed-humanities/.
Shaffer, Kris. Monkeys Writing Shakespeare. https://kshaffer.github.io/monkeyswritingshakespeare/. Accessed 30 Apr. 2021.