Programming and Culture

Par

Ian Arawjo

Harvard University

Résumé:

How do we understand computer programming as a cultural practice? Might the dominant ways we have come to think about programming constrain our ability to imagine alternative designs which value different social and material arrangements? In this talk, I discuss my efforts to understand, and in some cases shift, the social and material practices of computer programming. I focus on two major projects: an ‘intercultural’ approach to introductory programming education that centers co-located social bonding, and a new AI-powered interface which challenges what it means to ‘write’ code. Through my work, I ask us to reflect on how our cultural-historical contexts inform our imaginations of what programming activity is and might be in the future. What might we take for granted —and what might we overlook —when we set out to design new programming systems and activities? How might we apply that reflective understanding to design for previously overlooked input methods, goals, and types of people?

Biographie :

Ian Arawjo is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University, working with Professor Elena Glassman. Recently, he graduated from Cornell University’s doctoral program in Information Science, where he was advised by Professor Tapan Parikh. His research spans the intersection of programming and culture —both understanding computer programming as a cultural practice, and designing new tools and activities based on this understanding. He has experience applying a range of HCI methods, from ethnographic fieldwork, to archival research, to developing novel systems and running usability studies. His first-authored papers have earned Best Paper nominations at top HCI conferences, including CHI, CSCW, and UIST. Previously, he graduated from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, where he studied CS and computational media.