Apr

20

Are You Qualified to Write About Tech?

April 20, 2008 |

Now if it was Friday and Dave hadn’t “turned off Techmeme” for this post, I would have thought that this post would have fulfilled all the qualification to stretch into a fun-filled weekend long bitchmeme - still, there is potential here.

Here is what Dave Winer thinks about who is worthy of discussing tech stories and also what is worthy of discussing:

Further, to call most of the posts that show up on Techmeme “tech” is a bit of a stretch. Most of the authors don’t know the first thing about technology, never took a computer science class, have never written code, and don’t admit that understanding tech is a prerequisite for writing about it. Further, most of the articles that get linked to by Techmeme aren’t about technology, they’re about who’s buying who, or who’s on top of who, or advertising, bubbles, PR, linkbait, etc

The first part of Dave’s post that I didn’t quote is a personal attack on Gabe Rivera’s integrity that is barely worth discussing (do you really think Gabe would rig TechMeme in TechCrunch’s favor to pay back Arrington for letting him live in his basement?).

This second part I quoted above might be even worse, though. Looks like Dave thinks that in order to be qualified to write about tech, you have to have taken computer science classes and be able to write code.

As this is going to spark some confessional posts, let me be clear here: I was a computer science major in college until I got bored of it after two years and decided to study history - and I can write code if I have to, but don’t enjoy it.

But here is why I think this doesn’t make sense: technology isn’t just about code, it’s about users and enabling users (and doesn’t that sound like something Dave would say himself?). Those users can (and should) happily write about their experiences and I for one am glad Techmeme picks up on that.

Maybe Dave just has a very narrow vision of ‘tech’, but the whole industry around the source code is just as interesting as the code itself to me (or even more so).

Besides that, though - who is forcing anybody to pay attention to Techmeme?


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5 Comments so far

  1. MG Siegler on April 20, 2008 11:52 pm

    As someone who can write some code as well - I could not agree with this more. Winer makes an interesting point I think about too many posts having a business-tilt but to suggest that you need to be a programmer to write a tech blog is rather ridiculous.

    Could it help for certain posts? Sure. But so could say, having an entertainment background if you’re writing about the convergence of technology and media. Tech is simply much bigger now than programming languages, it’s a part of almost everything we do everyday in life and that is only going to expand.

  2. Gabe on April 21, 2008 2:21 am

    Of course I agree too. I didn’t respond to that part of Dave’s post because in my view it’s an old argument settled long ago. At least in my mind.

    First off, Techmeme is indeed to a considerable extent about the tech *industry*, and I’m OK with that. Business transactions aren’t “technology”, but the business of tech affects adoption and the rate of future development. So the dollars matter.

    Would programming chops make bloggers and reporters better informed? Sure, all other things being equal. But the way things turned out, a lot of the best commentators on trends in technology aren’t computer scientists. Likewise, a whole lot of programmers seem to have an incomplete view of technology.

  3. engtech on April 21, 2008 11:17 am

    If being a programmer improved your ability to communicate then programming docs/specifications wouldn’t suck so much.

  4. WinExtra » Dave - you are a pompous ass on April 21, 2008 1:07 pm

    […] even more of linkbait in my opinion that the TechCrunch post you turned your pompous nose up at. As Frederic at The Last Podcast said in his post on this But here is why I think this doesn’t make sense: technology isn’t just about […]

  5. Oh Jaysus, The Technoids Are Up In Arms « Mike Cane 2008 on April 25, 2008 10:06 am

    […] Oh Jaysus, The Technoids Are Up In Arms Are You Qualified to Write About Tech? […]

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