Bard College

Linking Language and Thinking with Code

Bard has introduced a computing component into its intensive writing program called Language & Thinking held during the three weeks before the first semester. The component exposes all first-year students to the power of code as language and computational thinking.

Language & Thinking for the Web

Networks are encountered every day from online social networks, to linked encyclopedias, to citation structures, and obviously, the world wide web. Students will learn how to read and write for the web using HTML, and discuss the power of the link using Google's PageRank algorithm as a case-study. These in-class components involving markup and an "unplugged" networking simulation will be taught by the Language & Thinking faculty.

"The Garden of Forking Paths." Jorge Luis Borges. Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. August 1948.
"As We May Think." Vannevar Bush. The Atlantic. July 1945.
Reading and Writing for the Web Warm-ups
HTML Free Write
Page Rank Unplugged

Coding Studios: Excursions in Computing and Media

Students will learn how computing can be the ultimate medium — the meta-medium — allowing us to express ourselves in new ways with motion, sound, graphics and text. The three coding studios will be managed by Bard computer science undergraduates and will comprise:

The Physical: Read and write algorithms to make robots sing and dance.
The Visual: Read and write algorithms to create virtual fish and software mirrors.
The Textual: Read and write algorithms that generate poetry and prose.