Why Geeks Need to Write

Writing is about facilitating communication and access, and (ostensibly) so is innovation.  But insofar as technology serves as an intermediary between us and the rest of the world, and is designed to facilitate our goals, a key component of good implementation is being user-friendly.

People, and in particular STEM-oriented folks, can be more (or less) user-friendly too. It has been said often that "it's not what you say, it's how you say it," but this tired maxim could definitely read "it doesn't matter how brilliant what you're saying is if you can't make yourself understood."

Having an important idea is great, but having an idea that you can't make intelligible to others is a curse. Cf social media; humans love giving and getting feedback--it's kinda our thing.  Imagine having a brainwave but being unable to convince anyone of its importance.

If that sounds extreme ("of course people understand me! My friends understand me. My peers or coworkers understand me") then good. You have cleared the necessary professional/social hurdles of basic communication such that you can collaborate on projects,  pick up a document or piece of code where someone else left off, and maybe even enjoy interfacing with some humanoids once it becomes socially inappropriate and/or unfeasible to continue working.

But this means that you are comfortable with people like you. What about people outside your cultural, academic, or social bubble? In particular in the tech world, it is possible to take elitism to some kind of weird extreme where if someone doesn't understand us, we assume they are somehow uninformed or inferior.  And since so much of correspondence, documentation, and communication happens online or via text, good writing is a key component of good communication, be it professional, personal, or academic.

I would argue that, especially in Computer Science, it should be an essential goal to make the experience of the Other as convenient and understandable as possible--whether they are students, teachers, coworkers, friends, or clients/users, especially those with a different educational background. Language that obfuscates, isolates, or is unnecessarily full of jargon does not belong.  Beyond that, good writing will endear you to all those you work with, create code with, and/or those who may be intimidated by your work or your product, and it can make the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful pitch, startup, job interview or research grant application.


One of my greatest fears as a child was somehow getting Locked-In Syndrome.  You lie there, aware but unable to communicate with the outside world.  Statistically, this is pretty unlikely, but it makes a helluva thought experiment.  It is possible to get very, very insular and forget to connect your work back to those who may not have telepathic levels of understanding of our own projects. Good, clear writing--everything from documentation and instruction manuals to emails, web content, and essays-- will steer us away from the reputation of being a locked-in sector, alienating the very folks that we purport to serve.

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Following in this vein: writing, accessibility, and breaking down other barriers in STEM.

Center for Plain Language
Washington Post: "How to integrate literacy with STEM." - starting at a young age.
Maria Klowe at Forbes: "Look what happens when STEM professors teach writing."
Grandma Got STEM - Science blog aiming to break down the stereotype of women and other generations as being uninvolved in STEM. 

Ship's log, stardate -307942.59...

We begin almost two weeks into the winter semester of Introductory Computer Science. Commander Heap is at the helm of a vast ship of young, hungry souls, with innocent eyes, heavy backpacks, dazzling smartphones, and minds as yet uncorrupted by PEP-defying syntax.

This humble blog shall chronicle not only the dramatic victories, emotional setbacks, the giddy highs and turbulent lows of introductory Computer Science, but .....also maybe, y'know, some pertinent remarks on the course material and stuff. 

This is the first day of the rest of this blog.