Should students learn to code for the web?
I do believe that all students should, in some respect, learn to code for the web. It is true that not all students, will, or should become a website developer, but no matter the discipline, we interact with websites at every turn of our academic career. Two main ideas support this argument which I will detail below.
First, it is important to have a basic understanding of the architecture of the systems we interact with. Today, it is incredibly easy to go your whole life engaging with technology, while not learning why it functions the way it does. The only way to break down barriers to what otherwise functions as a black box is to open the hood and attempt to understand how these systems work through education. This will also increase our capabilities to troubleshoot. This is not to say that one needs to be entirely proficient as a programmer, but knowing the nuts and bolts of the technology we interact with is helpful and empowering.
Second, at a time where we are increasingly disconnected from the ways that our technology and internet function, learning to code can put power back into the hands of users and independent creators. Reflecting on a conversation between Tim-Berners Lee and John Bruce, Julian Lucas writes, “What needed fixing was obvious enough: web users had surrendered their data to monopolistic platforms that respected neither privacy nor choice. Because their systems were deliberately incompatible, they could wall off the valuable information trails we generated—search histories, purchases, social-media posts—and treat us with impunity, knowing it was nearly impossible for us to leave.” In response to this issue, Berners worked to create a system which put users back in control of their data. We can see learning to code for the web as one part of that much larger project undertaken by Berner. Learning these skills creates the foundations for students to make what they need, all while keeping their work private and mutable.
Prior Experience & Coding sample
Prior to this lab, I had never coded for the web. I have had some experience coding in Python for ArcGIS Pro, but it was fairly cursory and was entirely contained within that software. While I worked through the HTML Dog tutorials, I quickly saw the utility in knowing how to code for the web. It was not only fun, but also an insightful process as I began to pull back the curtain on general functions that I interact with on a daily basis, such as placing text in bold or creating headings. To illustrate why it is helpful to teach students to code, take a look at the form below. It is a small interest form for people interested in Digital Humanities.
Digital Humanities Interest Form
The page only took a few minutes to make, and it places the creator in full control of the product from start to finish. We interact with digital forms all the time, whether that be evaluation surveys, filling out paperwork for doctors’ visits, or signing up for email lists. In turn, it is important to understand both how they work, and how they can be manipulated to best serve users as opposed to relying on prepackaged options.