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Odd that as a child growing up in the 80s every kid in my public school (in rural Kansas no less), as well as the surrounding schools I encountered, was taught

Odd that as a child growing up in the 80s every kid in my public school (in rural Kansas no less), as well as the surrounding schools I encountered, was taught programming in 6th-8th grades and also was required to take at least one high school course. Of course this was also a time when computers shipped with BASIC, users were confronted with a blinking cursor command prompt upon startup, and the very idea of a "computer" meant "tool to do things." Nowadays the modern conception of "computer" is more akin to "consumer appliance," a more interactive television experience. For the majority of people learning to program a computer makes no more sense to them than learning how to make television shows... and the very same tech companies that drove the industry into the consumer appliance category now bemoans the fact that everyone appears to be consumers rather than producers.

Alex3917 9y ago
> For the majority of people learning to program a computer makes no more sense to them than learning how to make television shows Why doesn't it make sense for everyone to learn how to make television shows? The three basic areas of active literacy in modern society are writing, coding, and video production. It seems like knowing all three should be a basic requirement for graduating high school.
- GuiA 9y ago
  > the three basic areas of active literacy in modern society are writing, coding, and video production. Uhm... source? Why writing, coding, and video production and not writing, coding, and photography? Or podcasting? It's unclear whether you randomly made this up on the spot, or if you're actually quoting academic taxonomies. FWIW, Wikipedia says: "Literacy is traditionally understood as the ability to read, write, and use arithmetic. The modern term's meaning has been expanded to include the ability to use language, numbers, images, computers, and other basic means to understand, communicate, gain useful knowledge and use the dominant symbol systems of a culture. The concept of literacy is expanding in OECD countries to include skills to access knowledge through technology and ability to assess complex contexts." Video production does not seem to have a prominent position, and while computers/technology are brought up, coding is not.
  - Alex3917 9y ago
    Those are the three primary mediums for selling ideas in modern society. Podcasting is a niche phenomenon, and even the most popular podcasts have only a few million subscribers. And while photography clearly can be used to create change in society, it doesn't do so anywhere near as often as the other mediums.
    - Jarwain 9y ago
      Video production is definitely one of the primary mediums for the communication of ideas, because of how versatile it is. A podcast is basically a video, without the visual aspect. The visuals accompanying video provides another dimension through which an idea may be conveyed. Photographs are just snapshots of a video. A photograph can represent multiple ideas, and provide an idea of the story's plot. Video, in comparison, provides a running narrative and dynamicism vs the staticness of photography.
      - GuiA 9y ago
        Sounds like some post hoc rationalization. I could similarly state that a video is just a piece of interactive multimedia , without the interactive aspect - not sure what that brings to the table regarding the definition of literacy.
    - GuiA 9y ago
      > Those are the three primary mediums for selling ideas in modern society. Again, according to whom? Is this some generalization you're making up on the spot, or a statement that is quantifiably provable? It's really not clear to me that video production is used to sell ideas significantly more than radio, or highway billboards, or public speaking.
      - Alex3917 9y ago
        > Again, according to whom? Go compare the traffic numbers on YouTube with, say, Gimlet Media, Earwolf, or any of the other top podcasting networks.
- sabujp 9y ago
  Many people actually do this: 1) record everything you do all the time 2) edit and make appealing 3) broadcast yourself(tm) 4) profit
sabujp 9y ago
This, on my 8088 i had to some (gw)basic programming and command line hackery just to get games to load. Then the games required some imagination. Now it's just point, click, and pay $big_corp $ so you can get stuff in the game faster.

Alex3917 9y ago

> For the majority of people learning to program a computer makes no more sense to them than learning how to make television shows Why doesn't it make sense for everyone to learn how to make television shows? The three basic areas of active literacy in modern society are writing, coding, and video production. It seems like knowing all three should be a basic requirement for graduating high school.

GuiA 9y ago
> the three basic areas of active literacy in modern society are writing, coding, and video production. Uhm... source? Why writing, coding, and video production and not writing, coding, and photography? Or podcasting? It's unclear whether you randomly made this up on the spot, or if you're actually quoting academic taxonomies. FWIW, Wikipedia says: "Literacy is traditionally understood as the ability to read, write, and use arithmetic. The modern term's meaning has been expanded to include the ability to use language, numbers, images, computers, and other basic means to understand, communicate, gain useful knowledge and use the dominant symbol systems of a culture. The concept of literacy is expanding in OECD countries to include skills to access knowledge through technology and ability to assess complex contexts." Video production does not seem to have a prominent position, and while computers/technology are brought up, coding is not.
- Alex3917 9y ago
  Those are the three primary mediums for selling ideas in modern society. Podcasting is a niche phenomenon, and even the most popular podcasts have only a few million subscribers. And while photography clearly can be used to create change in society, it doesn't do so anywhere near as often as the other mediums.
  - Jarwain 9y ago
    Video production is definitely one of the primary mediums for the communication of ideas, because of how versatile it is. A podcast is basically a video, without the visual aspect. The visuals accompanying video provides another dimension through which an idea may be conveyed. Photographs are just snapshots of a video. A photograph can represent multiple ideas, and provide an idea of the story's plot. Video, in comparison, provides a running narrative and dynamicism vs the staticness of photography.
    - GuiA 9y ago
      Sounds like some post hoc rationalization. I could similarly state that a video is just a piece of interactive multimedia , without the interactive aspect - not sure what that brings to the table regarding the definition of literacy.
  - GuiA 9y ago
    > Those are the three primary mediums for selling ideas in modern society. Again, according to whom? Is this some generalization you're making up on the spot, or a statement that is quantifiably provable? It's really not clear to me that video production is used to sell ideas significantly more than radio, or highway billboards, or public speaking.
    - Alex3917 9y ago
      > Again, according to whom? Go compare the traffic numbers on YouTube with, say, Gimlet Media, Earwolf, or any of the other top podcasting networks.
sabujp 9y ago
Many people actually do this: 1) record everything you do all the time 2) edit and make appealing 3) broadcast yourself(tm) 4) profit

sabujp 9y ago

This, on my 8088 i had to some (gw)basic programming and command line hackery just to get games to load. Then the games required some imagination. Now it's just point, click, and pay $big_corp $ so you can get stuff in the game faster.