Critical Code Studies
Mark
There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes “What the hell is water?” -- David Foster Wallace, This is Water
Critical Code Studies (CCS) names a set of emerging methods for interpreting the cultural significance of computer source code. The goal of CCS is not merely to uncover hidden treasure, but to chart out the waves of the code and the ocean currents they form.
In a piece of electronic literature, code is the water. It is the aspect of the piece audience interactors can take for granted. It can also be a murky unknown. I first used Scalar to explore code in a book called Border Codes about the Transborder Immigrant Tool. Using the Scalar's annotation tools, we can start to explore the code as a space of human-computer interaction, another liminal space in our exploration of mermaids, where worlds collide.
Scalar's media-rich annotation tools, allow us to see that code is made of an interacts with many media forms. In this way, Scalar begins to approximate a system called Magic, envisioned by Scalar co-creator Craig Dietrich and John Bell. Though it seems to be a highly abstracted form of inscription, it is rather a snapshot of a process. In its lines are signs of the history of its creations, what it is, what it was, and what it wants to be. It is also not a thing in isolation. Like the ocean waters, it is in contact with, in connection with, and dependent on co-operating systems. It is also not merely a means of humans to direct the actions of computers but instead a means for humans to communicate with each other about these systems, as we can see here evidence of Logan Sales and Pete Willemsen, referencing other members of the team. The code determines what can happen but not what will happen. It is a space of play and possibility, where limits are tested and at times overcome, moody, variable, an amalgamation of dreams and disappointments.
In short, the code is like the sea, but in a piece like this, it is not so much a thing to be known as a space to be explored and deep dives and since it is open source a space for splashing about and making waves.