On Board the Digital Revolution

Join the Digital Revolution, and Ensure it Works for You.

Hi there, I’m Annie. I love books, music, and art galleries, and am currently enrolled in a full-time law degree at university. Yet somehow, I find myself making learning to code the most important task on my agenda, and here I am, typing away just to encourage you to do the same.

So how did this transformation of character come about? Let’s backtrack a little bit. Well, we all live in a digital world. Unfortunately, it is increasingly difficult to escape the hyperconnected and decentralised version of society that this conjures, precisely because digital networks are so ubiquitous, and this can be the source of many complaints I hear, including my own.

That was my rather simple and rather sinister point of departure, but after wrestling with this problem in my head over the past months, I realised that the reach of digital technology runs much deeper than that. We see value in the emerging economic system being generated primarily through the production and exchange of information, rather than that of physical resources — just one look at the sheer number of multi-million dollar businesses that took off from building virtual platforms of communication will tell you that. And all of this information about ourselves, our thoughts and behavioural patterns, is necessarily absorbed and transferred through computerised systems. Imagine the profound reservoirs of potential value stored in these systems, then.

Dreaming broadly, computing can break down current organisational, institutional, social boundaries, providing the means to change the world. Day-to-day though, it can help automate situations that we otherwise couldn’t: from writing a line of code that can help you retrieve tailored information about your daily train schedule, to designing your own sites and apps that can broadcast a message near to your heart, or host a community according to the guidelines that you set.

Realising this, I became fully convinced that computing technology will change the human experience in every way, and more importantly, I could find a way to make the inevitable trend more empowering than threatening…

To run the risk of sounding corny, it is about taking ownership of production, after all. The computing tools at our disposal allow us to dream up our own systems and gives us the tools to power those systems automatically. They change our role from passive consumer, to active contributor… if only we learned how to use them. In addition to that, it’s also, well, fun, to learn something new.

And this is why I made the decision to get involved with the programming world. Incidentally, it’s also why, despite the conspicuous lack of a computer science degree, I’ve begun an internship at a young start-up that is developing products which can freely integrate the computation process into visual presentations, in the most user-friendly and widely accessible way possible. I believe great things can happen when we integrate this crucial and revolutionary form of new technology into our lifestyles, ensuring it works to fulfil our own individual goals.

Not to say I’ve figured it out already; precisely the opposite. But I’m excited for what’s in store. Every week, I will be blogging about my attempts to teach myself to code in an ongoing series of articles — testing out different online resources and learning strategies— in search of the easiest-to-follow route from clueless newbie to (someone semi-resembling a) tech wiz.

Hopefully, if you are in a similar position, feel free to join along!