TITLE: Not Content With Content
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: March 12, 2014  3:55 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
Last week, the Chronicle of Higher Ed ran an article on
<A HREF="http://chronicle.com/article/Stanford-s-New-Joint-Major/145231/">
   a new joint major at Stanford</A>
combining computer science and the humanities.

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 [Students] might compose music or write a short story and
 translate those works, through code, into something they
 can share on the web.

 "For students it seems perfectly natural to have an
 interest in coding," [the program's director] said.  "In
 one sense these fields might feel like they're far apart,
 but they're getting closer and closer."
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

The program works in both directions, by also engaging CS
students in the societal issues created by ubiquitous
networks and computing power.

We are doing something similar at my university.  A few
years ago, several departments began to collaborate on a
multidisciplinary program called
<A HREF="http://ids.uni.edu/">
   Interactive Digital Studies</A>
which went live in 2012.  In the IDS program, students
complete a common core of courses from the Communication
Studies department and then take "bundles" of coursework
involving digital technology from at least two different
disciplines.  These areas of emphasis enable students to
explore the interaction of computing with various topics
in media, the humanities, and culture.

Like Stanford's new major, most of the coursework is
designed to work at the intersection of disciplines, rather
than pursuing disciplines independently, "in parallel".

The initial version of the computation bundle consists of
an odd mix of application tools and opportunities to write
programs.  Now that the program is in place, we are finding
that students and faculty alike desire more depth of
understanding about programming and development.  We are in
the process of re-designing the bundle to prepare students
to work in a world where so many ideas become web sites or
apps, and in which data analytics plays an important role
in understanding what people do.

Both our IDS program and Stanford's new major focus on
something that we are seeing increasingly at universities
these days: the
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2011-04.html#e2011-04-17T12_43_07.htm">
   intersections</A>
of digital technology and other disciplines, in particular
the humanities.  Computational tools make it possible for
everyone to create more kinds of things, but only if
people learn how to use new tools and think about their
work in new ways.

Consider this passage by Jim O'Loughlin, a UNI English
professor, from a recent
<A HREF="http://www.uni.edu/universitas/article/should-we-be-content-content">
   position statement</A>
on the the "digital turn" of the humanities:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 We are increasingly unlikely to find writers who only
 provide content when the tools for photography, videography
 and digital design can all be found on our laptops or even
 on our phones.  It is not simply that writers will need to
 do more.  Writers will want to do more, because with a
 modest amount of effort they can be their own designers,
 photographers, publishers or even programmers.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

Writers don't have to settle for producing "content" and
then relying heavily on others to help bring the content to
an audience.  New tools enable writers to take greater
control of putting their ideas before an audience.  But...

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 ... only if we [writers] are willing to think seriously
 not only about our ideas but about what tools we can use
 to bring our ideas to an audience.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

More tools are within the reach of more people now than ever
before.  Computing makes that possible, not only for writers,
but also for musicians and teachers and social scientists.

Going further, computer programming makes it possible to
modify existing tools and to create new tools when the old
ones are not sufficient.  Writers, musicians, teachers, and
social scientists may not want to program at that level, but
they can participate in the process.

The critical link is preparation.  This digital turn empowers
only those who are prepared to think in new ways and to wield
a new set of tools.  Programs like our IDS major and
Stanford's new joint major are among the many efforts hoping
to spread the opportunities available now to a larger and
more diverse set of people.
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