[NetBehaviour] Learn To Code

[James Morris]

I'm one of the naive ones. But the naivity kept me producing (both
code and other creative stuff) for a good few years. Having the
desire to complete ever more ambitious goals also helps. As does zero
social life ;-)

> ... I wonder where exactly the divide between 'leisure/fun'  
> and 'work/labour' lies if not in the differences between having a
> job - whether as a 'code monkey' or as 'paid' artist ... and not
> having a job ...

it's a problem. coding even if you're doing it in your leisure time
isn't always fun. maybe we should remember that the divide between
work/leisure is an artificial one?

james




On Sat, 7 Jan 2012 18:27:58 +0100
IR3ABF <ajaco at xs4all.nl> wrote:

> I don't know Rob,
> 
> I could afford maintaining my wife and childrens life by working as
> a 'code monkey'.
> 
> As an outcome of the crisis in the 80ties, the Dutch government
> issued a program to train jobless academics (including me) by
> cooperating with the demands of the cooperative forces and a huge
> number of former philosophers, historicians, musiciens and other
> 'trained and skilled' people found jobs in the IT industry in late
> 90ties, early 2000nds
> 
> When the financial crisis hits really hard the industry reacted by  
> disposing these group first, aged between 45 and 60, what effective  
> way is there left to (re)gain a living apart from being a
> 'outsider', guised under the name of activist/artist/pauper or being
> dependent on welfare as earning money (to pay for the financial
> demands modern life imposes on every single individual) by practising
> cultural/software/ creative activities not as part of the
> cultural/software/creative industry is by far too less to survive
> decently.
> 
> It is one thing to discuss things from a comfortable position,
> backed by whatever institutions who pay the expenses and the rent,
> but a complete different thing when that is not the case, when there
> is nothing to hold on
> 
> What remains then is something else, not expressable in 'jargon' or  
> 'code', and I wonder where exactly the divide between 'leisure/fun'  
> and 'work/labour' lies if not in the differences between having a
> job  
> - whether as a 'code monkey' or as 'paid' artist or as a 'cultural/ 
> creative/sex worker - and not having a job, or should I go into the  
> streets and fellate white collar workers to maintain my family?
> 
> Send with consent from Judith V. - artist by birth - mother and lover
> 
> Sent from my eXtended BodY
> 
> On 7 jan. 2012, at 16:54, Rob Myers <rob at robmyers.org> wrote:
> 
> > On 07/01/12 15:18, Andreas Maria Jacobs wrote:
> >>
> >> Where and how are software skills degraded from a professional
> >> craft to a hobby 'free' time occupation?
> >
> > There are two reasons why I suggest people on Netbehaviour learn to
> > program using these resources. Neither is so they can get jobs as
> > code monkeys.
> >
> > The first is so that they can get a feel for how code works. So
> > they can
> > gain an insight into how the software they use every day, and that
> > affects their entire lives, works. This is important for thinking
> > critically and realistically about software.
> >
> > The second is so that they can use code as a tool to achieve their
> > own ends using software, less constrained by the fixed affordances
> > of applications and web sites. Data visualisation, digital
> > humanities techniques and web scripting are all useful ways of
> > doing things with software.
> >
> >> What are the benefits from it when being outsourced and jobless?
> >
> > Software should not be an economic end in itself. It is a tool for
> > achieving other ends. This is its benefit to artists and activists
> > and academics, not that they might be able to make a living by
> > writing code
> > for multinationals.
> >
> >> The naivity - also expressed in this list - surrounding software
> >> practices is astonishing
> >
> > We don't leave culture to the culture industry or sex to the sex
> > industry. We shouldn't leave software to the software industry.
> >
> > - Rob.
> > _______________________________________________
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> > NetBehaviour at netbehaviour.org
> > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
> >
> 
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