Code, Coding and Coded Perspectives
L Jean Camp

I begin with a discussion of code and its primary types: embedded, source, binary and interpreted. I then consider three measures in which code is fundamentally different than print. In particular I speak of the trust inherent in connectivity, the organizational difficulties of information, and the problem of archiving information that may change rapidly. Following each of these explanations I offer my own hypotheses about how code and ubiquitous digital media might alter society and the sensibilities of its participants.

Then I briefly describe my perception of the work of others on which I hope to build. In particular I refer to descriptions of aural cultures, cultures that exist before the introduction of alphabets. I also discuss some of the hypotheses about the nature of print and the resulting influences on the societies and perspectives of its users.

In each case the outcome appears to be framed by the technology. While not an advocate of radical technological determinism I do move forward with an inherent assumption that technology and society form each other in dance of a million steps. I then argue that social and legal norms currently under construction could lead to one outcome or another: a populace treating the technical as mystical or a populace deeply immersed in the control of their own lives.

Here I discuss the implications of regulatory regimes and network design for an Internet that concentrates control of speech: open code and open information vs. closed code and closed information. Open information and code encourage participation and examination just as open processes encourage participation and examination. Closed code and data discourage participation and examination. The foundation of this thesis is that code is speech, process and action. The regulation of code as speech, process and action will predispose certain responses to code, and thus to the medium which will increasingly frame our lives.