June 11- Anush Y.
by anushy14
Black Girls Code http://www.blackgirlscode.com/ is a non-profit organization founded by Kimberly Bryant with the objective of exposing and educating young girls of color to coding. This program’s aim is to combat the exclusionary and hierarchal demographic of coding by creating more access for traditionally underprivileged sectors of society not active in the creation of digital culture.
A organization like Black Girls Code would be a great opportunity for students in the beginning stages of introduction to the digital humanities practices and theories as a means of illuminating the racial and socio-political realties that alter both the creation and engagement with digital culture. Thus, the goal with is to engage with the question of “what and who encompasses the digital humanities,” more specifically as it applies to coding. I would hope the major themes of feminism and racism will be critiqued, and the following supplemental articles will serve as a jumping off point to creating a discussion.
http://money.cnn.com/2014/06/10/technology/innovation/black-girls-code-hackathon/
http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/29/technology/google-white-males/index.html?=&iid=EL
In examining an organization such as Black Girls Code and reading relevant articles regarding race, gender and digital culture my goal is to make real the theoretical criticisms of the digital humanities by concentrating on one specific demographic and the impact its exclusion and inclusion have had on both the humanities as scholarship and the culture it operates within. My mode of assessing if this reading/assignment/discussion was a success if students are better able to identify the workings of digital humanities such as coding, articulate the logistical realities and impact of its creators and interpreters and ultimately have more questions then answers, especially in regards to the question, “what are the digital humanities?”
History 369 