Introduction

From Maze

Even those who have no interest in the playful, aesthetic, and educational dimensions of computing cannot ignore the cultural relevance of code. Computer programs not only function to process and display critical data, to facilitate communication, to monitor and report on sensor networks, and to shoot down incoming missiles - they also have an existence as texts that are read by the original programmer, others who maintain and modify them, and in many cases wider and wider circles of meaning-seekers. We now live in a world where citizens examine the leaked source code that causes our voting machines to function. We find it unremarkable that particular snippets of code written by scientists are quoted in an attempt to demonstrate that climate change is a scam. It is no longer tenable to pretend that computer code is purely technical, without social, political, cultural, or other significant dimensions.