Cultures of Programming - The Development of Programming Concepts and Methodologies is a recent book by Tomáš Petříček that analyses the history of programming from the perspective of five interwoven cultures. It contains a lot of interesting insight, so I encourage you to read it. At the very least, read the first chapter. In this post, I try to relate these five cultures to the wider world of technology, and to the practices of scientific research.
Indigitalization: Indigenous Computing Theory - Jon Corbett
Convivial design heuristics for software systems
The theme of this workshop is the proliferation of ideas about calling into question the cultural roots of our current programming languages, and the search for alternative paradigms with other cultural bases.
Its Time for a New Programming Language
Today, when compared to any other point in programming history, we find ourselves spoiled for choice when it comes to programming…
The Next 7000 Programming Languages
Landin’s seminal paper “The next 700 programming languages” considered programming languages prior to 1966 and speculated on the next 700. Half-a-century on, we cast programming languages in a Darwinian ‘tree of life’ and explore languages, their features (genes) and language evolution from the viewpoint of ‘survival of the fittest’.
#PreparationTech: Teaching Kids how coding is in hair braiding, quilting, weaving and Latin Music
Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology
A witty, often terrifying that chronicles our transform…
Cognitive Debt and ChatGPT
Maggie's digital garden filled with visual essays on programming, design, and anthropology
The Social Construction of Facts and Artefacts: or How the Sociology of Science and the Sociology of Technology might Benefit Each Other
The need for an integrated social constructivist approach towards the study of science and technology is outlined. Within such a programme both scientific facts and technological artefacts are to be understood as social constructs. Literature on the sociology of science, the science-technology relationship, and technology studies is reviewed. The empirical programme of relativism within the sociology of scientific knowledge and a recent study of the social construction of technological artefacts are combined to produce the new approach. The concepts of `interpretative flexibility' and `closure mechanism', and the notion of `social group' are developed and illustrated by reference to a study of solar physics and a study of the development of the bicycle. The paper concludes by setting out some of the terrain to be explored in future studies.
zach lieberman on Twitter / X
Today I was able to weave a line from Myron Krueger in a talk I gave : Computation is the medium of our lifetimes - it’s not just a technical medium but a cultural medium as well. We should explore the culture of computation.— zach lieberman (@zachlieberman) April 10, 2024
Dependency Cultures - Richard Feldman | SSW 2026
technological diversity
Technological diversity is the opposite of technological monoculture. It refers to the diversity of artifacts (software and hardware) as well as that of ideas, philosophies, paradigms, techniques, languages, mental models, etc.
From information free-riding to information sharing: how have humans solved the cooperative dilemma at the heart of cumulative cultural evolution?
Abstract. Cumulative cultural evolution, where populations accumulate ever-improving knowledge, technologies and social customs, is arguably a unique featu
