General Summary: Professor Brandee Easter discusses her research on digital rhetoric and software studies, specifically focusing on Brainf*ck discussed in her article “Fully Human, Fully Machine.” Several undergraduate students at UT reflect on her research, the connection between literature/texts and technology, and the impact coding languages have on the programmer, specifically how it reinforce gender stereotypes.
Detailed Summary: Easter’s interest and introduction to digital rhetoric and transition over from literary studies (00.00-2.53); Easter on the importance of talking about code and what Brainf*ck is (2:53-7:07); Easter discussing the relationship between coding and rhetoric, the vulgarity of B in the coding world, and the limited syntax and somatics of the programming language (7:07-11:37); Easter’s opinion on the “ideal programmer” becoming one with the machine and gender and coding, specifically, particular masculinity among coders (11:37-17:40); a brief word from our sponsors (17:40-18:10); Easter responding to how students -- both involved with coding or not -- can move away from the strict, traditional values often depicted (18:10-19:28); Easter on how her article “Fully Human, Fully Machine” fits into her upcoming book as well as how she envisions the future of this field (19:28-22:57); extra takeaways Easter wanted to emphasize (22:57-26:00).
Scholarly Article Informing this Production: Easter, Brandee. “Fully Human, Fully Machine: Rhetorics of Digital Disembodiment in Programming.” _Rhetoric Review_, vol. 39, no. 2, 2020, pp. 202-215.
Credits: This podcast was produced by Trinity Ngo, David Saenz, Khanh Nguyen, Mallory Wilcox, and Emily Wilschetz with resources and assistance provided by the Digital Writing and Research Lab and Professor Mark Longaker at the University of Texas at Austin. The engaging voices of David, Mallory, and Brandee Easter resonate throughout this podcast, adding depth and nuance to the discussion. Trinity Ngo, who not only co-produced but also made significant contributions to the editing process, ensuring a polished and cohesive final product. Khanh Nguyen played a pivotal role in shaping the narrative by assisting with the script and providing a detailed transcript, contributing to the seamless editing process. Emily Wilschetz's noteworthy contribution to the script further enriched the content. Music featured in this podcast, titled “commonGround” was created by airtone and has been repurposed here under Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial license 3.0 Additionally, conversation.wav was adapted and incorporated under Creative Commons 1.0 license. Setting the background music is the soulful composition "Unpacking" by SoulProdMusic, contributing a distinctive atmosphere to the listening experience. Adding further dimensions are the captivating glitch sound effects by Premswaroop Kasukurthi and the dynamic rock sounds titled "Rock It" by Coma-Media, both discovered on Pixabay.com.