I anticipate coding--particularly for the web--to be part and parcel of
librarianship as a whole - and if that's not already the case, then in a few
short years. I already expect many of my coworkers to be HTML/CSS literate
just as everyone has been expected to be familiar with an Office Suite. So,
I'm not sure distinguishing who is and isn't a coder in the field is (or
will) be all that straightforward.

Michael | www.ns4lib.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Andromeda Yelton
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2012 7:53 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] What is a "coder"?

On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 10:46 PM, Jonathan Rochkind <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> A coder is someone who writes code, naturally. :) "code" is something
> intended to be interpreted or executed by a computer or a computer
program.
>
> I think everyone agrees that anyone is welcome at code4lib.
>

I agree with this *now that I am here*, but I did not know that it would be
the case in advance.

When people ask me to self-identify as a coder I get totally
deer-in-headlights and tend to not raise my hand unless told to do so
point-blank. "What is a coder" is a great question but for the purposes of
diversity outreach "who self-identifies as a coder" (or technologist) is
more relevant, and I think that's a question where you're going to find
systematic demographic differences in the skillset required before people
are willing to say "me".

Andromeda