Extreme TrackingCCSWG: Week 3 in Review
Ξ March 4th, 2010 | → | by Max | ∇ test |
Coming up: Week 4, Wendy Chun, Brown University
Looking forward to Week 4, CCS itself will be under inspection with Wendy Chun’s reading on the first chapter of her forthcoming book about software. Through her critical lens, we’ll examine the ontology of computers “by exploiting the unexpected possibilities of source code as fetish.” The scope of our discussions will expand to encompass more than the hands-on code critiques that have been central to the group so far — we will ask: what are the implications of our critical work on code?
Looking back at Week 3
Last week, Dennis Jerz invited members to participate in a unique project to collaboratively annotate the source code for William Crowther’s landmark game Colossal Cave Adventure. By the week’s end, the two files under review had amassed an impressive 85 total footnotes. This code critique expanded beyond the source files and into an informative conversation that reviewed not only specific lines of Adventure, but also the game’s relationship to Critical Code Studies as a whole. The 64 total posts, some of which were submitted by our FORTRAN-literate members, spanned an impressive range of topics, including the influence of nostalgia on our reading, the technicalities of a GOTO statement, a thorough review of the classic phrases PLUGH and XYZZY, and a constructive debate about deconstruction. As we prepare to receive Wendy Chun’s presentation that will mark the half-way point of our meeting, we look back and see how the first week’s conversation that started with generalities has steadily evolved into hands-on code critiques and exchanges regarding the finer points of Critical Code Studies. Since continued discussion in the Week 2 thread has facilitated this natural progression, we expect that the code commentary in Week 3 will continue to flourish for the duration of the working group
Meanwhile, other code critiques have also been taking place on such topics as famous software bugs, an interactive text-based toy, and errors in C compilers. Members have not forgotten about the code critiques of weeks past, as the group works on applying and creating a wide range of critical tools.
This week we will begin our conversation about a CCS mini-conference, but till then see these calls for related panels at MLA 2011.
MLA Calls:
Close Reading the Digital. The application of new techniques and methodologies for close reading computational media, including code criticism, digital forensics, and software and platform approaches. 1-page abstracts, short vitae by 19 March 2010; Jeremy Douglass (jedouglass [at] ucsd [dot] edu) and Matthew Kirchenbaum (mkirschenbaum [at] gmail [dot] com)
Meaning Making and Procedural Rhetoric in Casual, Art, and Indie Games. Explores the cultural meaning of critically dismissed casual games, art games, and indie games. A Pecha Kucha-style roundtable. Abstracts by 15 March 2010; Mark L. Sample (msample1 [at] gmu [dot] edu).