DEV Community

Greater Than Code

Episode 023: Politics and Software with Lorena Mesa

00:16 – Welcome to “Hey! I Made a Bong Out of This Podcast!” …we mean, “Greater Than Code!”

01:26 – Origin Story

Obama For America Campaign

05:46 – Politics and Software; Data Collection

Danah Boyd: Be Careful What You Code For

16:43 – Working in Python for Data Collection

Django Girls

19:46 – The Python Software Foundation (PSF)

23:55 – Communication and Organization Within Communities

MINSWAN: Matz is Nice So We Are Nice

Social Encounter Party

33:49 – Power Structures and Forming Relationships

36:39 – PSF Funding

Reflections:

Jessica: Each of our languages has a metalanguage that people use to talk about the language.

Sam: Needs more sleep

Astrid: Code can and should touch everything: What is it not doing that it should be doing?

Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy

Coraline: Software is not neutral.

Rein: Software is inherently political. It is made for people by people. There’s no way it can’t be political.

This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode.

To make a one-time donation so that we can continue to bring you more content and transcripts like this, please do so at paypal.me/devreps. You will also get an invitation to our Slack community this way as well.

Amazon links may be affiliate links, which means you’re supporting the show when you purchase our recommendations. Thanks!

Support Greater Than Code

Episode source