Critical Code Studies
26 Jan 2022 - 28 Nov 2024
- A new subfield, I got pulled into a discussion group. The basic idea is to apply the tools of critical theory to software and technology, and specifically to code, the magic texts that make the computer world go.
My credentials (aka excuse for being there):
- Dissertation applied metaphor theory to programming languages and paradigms Metaphors in Programming. Touched on a whole bunch of maybe-related topics, including:
- Artificial Life
- Visual programming
- Situated action
- Behave! explored ways to integrate text and visual programming, and was one of the ancestors of Scratch.
- Co-founder of Narrative Intelligence
- Participated in a workshop on Warren Sack's book on Software Studies
Current relevant interests
- Making one-off block languages for specialized DSLs including generative art (derived from Behave! and Scratch).
- Understanding and managing scientific analysis code (from notebooks to reproducibility) and the relationship with science and scientific rhetoric
- Understanding agency and its role in computation (as ever)
- Current-wave hypertext and knowledge management tools like Roam (not very code related, except I am coding my own Goddinpotty , and the Roam-tools all have a plugin/extension culture which is interesting in terms of having code and text intermingled).