đŸȘŽ JachĂ©re

Scraps and Scrapping

Mar 20, 20255 min read

Scraps

I have finally found the time to produce two (extremely dense) abstracts for the next paper (on Source Code and Ludemes). Variant A is more committed to the socio-cultural context and moves from there towards studying source code and ludemes. Variant B on the other hand rather quickly focuses on the code and the methodological approach, and is far more technical and less discursive than other critical code analysis cases I’ve encountered. I deliberately kept the two abstracts dense without preparing them for submission yet.

March 2025 Variant A

  • Focus on programming as meaningful human activity and how code is conceptualized beyond technology-centric concept

This study examines programming as a meaningful human activity through the lens of early video game development during the 1980s and 1990s. Moving beyond technology-centric conceptualizations of code, I argue that video games represent a distinctive category of software characterized by their capacity to facilitate participatory experiences with emergent, contingent outcomes. Central to this analysis is the concept of ludemes—conceptual units of gameplay that bridge aesthetic and mechanical elements—which serve as translational devices connecting developers’ intentions, players’ experiences, and computational implementation. Drawing on archival material from Swiss developer Paolo Baerlocher, including source code for Poizone (1991) and its 2023 port, this research illuminates how programming constitutes a semiotically rich communicative process rather than merely a functional endeavor. The findings reveal how code emerges not in isolation but as part of complex socio-cultural assemblages, demonstrating that programming practices involve meaningful human engagement with computing technologies that transcends purely technical considerations. By situating code writing within broader human contexts of creativity, social exchange, and meaning-making, this study contributes to our understanding of programming as a culturally significant practice that both shapes and is shaped by human concerns beyond technological efficiency.

March 2025 Variant B

  • Focus on critical code studies approach and scalable viewing

This research employs critical code studies to analyze the implementation of semiotically significant units of code in early video game development through case studies of Paolo Baerlocher’s games Poizone (1991) and its 2023 port. Using a scalable viewing methodology that combines close and distant reading techniques, the analysis traces the concrete manifestations of such units within source code across multiple programming paradigms separated by three decades. The investigation focuses on specific ludemic sequences, including avatar movement, teleportation mechanics, and block-pushing interactions, mapped across both assembly language and modern Python implementations. This comparative approach reveals how similar conceptual ideas can be encoded differently across programming languages while maintaining their essential ludemic functions. Through critical code analysis of these case studies, the research demonstrates how the conceptual vocabulary of game programming evolved in response to material constraints and technological affordances. The findings contribute methodological innovations for studying source code in humanities contexts, offering scalable frameworks that connect micro-level

Since I consider both to be useful, the question arises as how I will spread my other articles:

  • I would like to enter one of those abstracts for the “Media Archaeology 2.0: Rethinking Media Histories with the Digital Humanities”.
  • The “Ludens x Digital Humanities” paper for the Digital Humanities Research Journal of the Renming University in is now through the peer-review process and should be published in the next issue. But, the text is to be understood more as a basis for synopsis.
  • Also, I had something else in mind, in the direction of Expanding on the Video Game Image as Interface, but wonder if I should simply focus on source code.
  • An article is published, but is mainly focusing on the visual. In any case, I could record this as an attempt to capture Ludemes in visual distant reading - relatively unsuccessfully.

I am also writing three texts with research colleagues:

  • PYH (anthology on video game development and community): Entangled media, the demoscene and video game development in the Romandie. Can draw a lot for my critical code analysis approaches.
  • AG (anthology on video games and resonance after Hartmut Rosa): Ludemes and resonance in video games.
  • DG (lesson for the Programming Historian): A tutorial or introduction into reverse engineering for humanities scholars.

Scrapping

My engagement with SRC revigorated my love for scrapping, copying and pirating. I started to build a personal archive of publications and websites that I like keeping around. Being able to scrape datasets, publications and websites enabled me to act in a time of depressing developments. I was able to smuggle this quote into the mission statement:

“We must become undisciplined. The work we do now requires new modes and methods of research and teaching; new ways of entering and leaving the archives.” — Christina Sharpe, In the Wake[1]

Other basic ressources on the topic:

I guess I’d love to build a pirate library on pirating as well. The whole endeavour also made me appreciate bash a lot more. Most of my scrapping I’ve done with python scripts, but bash is just so much more concise and with little overhead. I had a raspberry pi 4 laying around, unused, and transformed it into a NAS, torrent server, and my little personal scrapper demon. Love that little creeper.