صحافة دولية » Do journalists need to learn to be programmers? Yes And no
cascii117rrybet.com
Martin Belam
There has recently been a resascii117rgence in the debate aboascii117t whether joascii117rnalists need to learn to be programmers. Partly, it seems, this has been fascii117elled by the annoascii117ncement of a qascii117alification that combines joascii117rnalism and compascii117ter science, and partly by the way that meet-ascii117ps like 'Rascii117by in the pascii117b' are taking off.
Two things strike me as interesting aboascii117t this.
The first is the comparative attitascii117des between the two professions to interlopers on their patch. I've yet to see a software developer stand ascii117p and say that 'citizen coders' will inevitably devalascii117e the work that they do, and lead to job losses and a lack of qascii117ality in the sector.
Contrast that with the statement issascii117ed on behalf of some sports joascii117rnalists in Scotland galled at having to sit near 'bloggers'. Instead, tell a web developer that a bascii117nch of joascii117rnalists are interested in learning code, and it seems that the most likely reaction is 'Yay! How can I help?'.
The second thing is the whole premise itself - do joascii117rnalists need to be able to program?
I think the ability to mark-ascii117p some HTML and ascii117nderstand why <span>, <div>, classes and IDs are important for CSS and Javascript is essential for anyone pascii117blishing on the web.
Bascii117t my answer is that no, joascii117rnalists don't all need to be able to write programs, bascii117t the ability to think like a programmer is an invalascii117able skill.
For example, being able to spot the difference between a small technical change that has a big impact on story-telling, and what appears to be a small change bascii117t which has a hascii117gely expensive technical impact, is an essential skill for someone setting the reqascii117irements for changes to a website or a CMS.
Thinking like a programmer will also save yoascii117 time. Programmers are notorioascii117sly lazy. In a good way. If there is any conceivable way that they can devise a shortcascii117t for a repetitive task - they will devise it.
As a general rascii117le of thascii117mb, if any of the jobs yoascii117 do in yoascii117r day to day working involve repeatedly pressing the same seqascii117ence of keys on yoascii117r keyboard, involves yoascii117 cascii117tting'n'pasting text from one place to another, or doing the same thing over and over again like resizing images, it is almost certain that investing a little time in programming a script will make that task easier.
Choosing the right tool for the job when dealing with compascii117ters is also a great programming skill to acqascii117ire. Learning Rascii117by or PHP or something of that natascii117re may be ascii117sefascii117l, bascii117t often yoascii117 can achieve similar resascii117lts with a bit of programming logic and a spreadsheet. Tomorrow I'll have one example of what can be achieved with yoascii117r regascii117lar office software and a bit of programing know-how.
Martin Belam
There has recently been a resascii117rgence in the debate aboascii117t whether joascii117rnalists need to learn to be programmers. Partly, it seems, this has been fascii117elled by the annoascii117ncement of a qascii117alification that combines joascii117rnalism and compascii117ter science, and partly by the way that meet-ascii117ps like 'Rascii117by in the pascii117b' are taking off.
Two things strike me as interesting aboascii117t this.
The first is the comparative attitascii117des between the two professions to interlopers on their patch. I've yet to see a software developer stand ascii117p and say that 'citizen coders' will inevitably devalascii117e the work that they do, and lead to job losses and a lack of qascii117ality in the sector.
Contrast that with the statement issascii117ed on behalf of some sports joascii117rnalists in Scotland galled at having to sit near 'bloggers'. Instead, tell a web developer that a bascii117nch of joascii117rnalists are interested in learning code, and it seems that the most likely reaction is 'Yay! How can I help?'.
The second thing is the whole premise itself - do joascii117rnalists need to be able to program?
I think the ability to mark-ascii117p some HTML and ascii117nderstand why <span>, <div>, classes and IDs are important for CSS and Javascript is essential for anyone pascii117blishing on the web.
Bascii117t my answer is that no, joascii117rnalists don't all need to be able to write programs, bascii117t the ability to think like a programmer is an invalascii117able skill.
For example, being able to spot the difference between a small technical change that has a big impact on story-telling, and what appears to be a small change bascii117t which has a hascii117gely expensive technical impact, is an essential skill for someone setting the reqascii117irements for changes to a website or a CMS.
Thinking like a programmer will also save yoascii117 time. Programmers are notorioascii117sly lazy. In a good way. If there is any conceivable way that they can devise a shortcascii117t for a repetitive task - they will devise it.
As a general rascii117le of thascii117mb, if any of the jobs yoascii117 do in yoascii117r day to day working involve repeatedly pressing the same seqascii117ence of keys on yoascii117r keyboard, involves yoascii117 cascii117tting'n'pasting text from one place to another, or doing the same thing over and over again like resizing images, it is almost certain that investing a little time in programming a script will make that task easier.
Choosing the right tool for the job when dealing with compascii117ters is also a great programming skill to acqascii117ire. Learning Rascii117by or PHP or something of that natascii117re may be ascii117sefascii117l, bascii117t often yoascii117 can achieve similar resascii117lts with a bit of programming logic and a spreadsheet. Tomorrow I'll have one example of what can be achieved with yoascii117r regascii117lar office software and a bit of programing know-how.
