Critical code studies
Critical code studies (CCS) is an emerging academic subfield, related to
is an approach that applies critical hermeneutics to the interpretation of computer code, program architecture, and documentation within a socio-historical context. CCS holds that lines of code are not value-neutral and can be analyzed using the theoretical approaches applied to other semiotic systems in addition to particular interpretive methods developed particularly for the discussions of programs.[3]
As introduced by Marino, critical code studies was initially a method by which scholars "can read and explicate code the way we might explicate a work of literature",[3] but the concept also draws upon[citation needed] Espen Aarseth's conception of a cybertext as a "mechanical device for the production and consumption of verbal signs",[4] arguing that in order to understand a digital artifact we must also understand the constraints and capabilities of the authoring tools used by the creator of the artifact, as well as the memory storage and interface required for the user to experience the digital artifact.
Evidence that critical code studies has gained momentum since 2006 include[original research?] an article by Matthew Kirschenbaum in The Chronicle of Higher Education,[5] CCS sessions at the Modern Language Association in 2011 that were "packed" with attendees,[6] several academic conferences devoted wholly to critical code studies, and a book devoted to the explication of a single line of computer code, titled 10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10.[7]
See also
References
Footnotes
- ^ Manovich 2013, p. 42.
- ^ Eyman 2015, p. 58.
- ^ a b Marino 2006.
- ^ Aarseth 1997, p. 21.
- ^ Kirschenbaum, Matthew (23 January 2009). "Where Computer Science and Cultural Studies Collide". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
- ^ Howard, Jennifer (9 January 2011). "Hard Times Sharpen the MLA's Lens on Labor and the Humanities". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
- ^ Montfort et al. 2013.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0-8018-5579-5.
- Eyman, Douglas (2015). Digital Rhetoric: Theory, Method, Practice. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-90011-4.
- ISBN 978-1-62356-672-2. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
- Marino, Mark C. (2006). "Critical Code Studies". Electronic Book Review. ISSN 1553-1139. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-262-01846-3. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
Further reading
- Berry, David M. (2008). Copy, Rip, Burn: The Politics of Copyleft and Open Source. London: Pluto Press. ISBN 978-1-84964-455-6.
- ——— (2011). The Philosophy of Software: Code and Mediation in the Digital Age. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-24418-4.
- Black, Maurice J. (2002). The Art of Code (PhD dissertation). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania. ProQuest 305507258.
- Chopra, Samir; Dexter, Scott D. (2008). Decoding Liberation: The Promise of Free and Open Source Software. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-203-94214-7.
- S2CID 53422082. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-262-01542-4.
- ISBN 978-1-57027-139-7.
- ISBN 978-0-262-06274-9.
- S2CID 16194046. Archived from the original(PDF) on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-300-03835-4.
- Kirschenbaum, Matthew G. (2004). "Extreme Inscription: Towards a Grammatology of the Hard Drive" (PDF). TEXT Technology (2): 91–125. ISSN 1053-900X. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
- ——— (2008). Mechanisms: New Media and the Forensic Imagination. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-11311-3.
- ISBN 978-0-262-04248-2.
- ISBN 978-90-5701-071-2.
- ISBN 978-0-8047-3232-1.
- Mackenzie, Adrian (2003). "The Problem of Computer Code: Leviathan or Common Power" (PDF). Lancaster, England: Lancaster University. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
- ——— (2006). Cutting Code: Software and Sociality. Digital Formations. Vol. 30. Oxford: Peter Lang. )
- ISBN 978-0-262-13374-6.
- Manovich, Lev; Douglass, Jeremy (2009). "Visualizing Temporal Patterns in Visual Media" (PDF). Retrieved 10 October 2009.
- ISBN 978-0-262-01257-7.
- ISBN 978-0-262-01343-7.