ERIC Number: ED635049
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 265
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 979-8-3797-2235-7
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Programming and Culture
Arawjo, Ian Anders
ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Cornell University
I situate computer programming as a cultural practice. I develop this perspective in two ways: exploring how programming practices can support intercultural learning, and examining how programming tools themselves embed cultural assumptions and values. For the former, I study how relationships across difference are formed over computing activities in K-12 classrooms in Kenya and the U.S. Asking how programming concepts may serve people's intercultural development, I develop a new type of activity, "cultural algorithms," which uses algorithmic concepts to teach about the social construction of societies. Turning to the material means through which we 'write' code, I then trace the earliest history of programming and reveal epistemological tendencies and biases in the field. From the resulting insights, I develop a new AI-powered paradigm, notational programming, as one critical design that seeks to disrupt dominant norms around typing code. Throughout, I aim to muddle the boundaries between 'programming' and 'culture,' exploring programming both as a tool for making change (changing the programming in culture), and as a tool to be changed (changing the culture in programming). Ultimately, I argue that intercultural approaches to computing are focused on ontological change; that is, changing the boundaries and categories that people deploy to divide themselves from others and diminish the complexity of the world. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: Computer Science Education, Programming, Cultural Influences, Elementary Secondary Education, Foreign Countries, Algorithms, Coding, Design
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Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Kenya; United States
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A