To make a Doja Cat music video, the creators of the pop stars’ newest song “Woman” teamed up with nonprofit organization Girls Who Code to create what they claim to be the first-ever codable music video.
The experiment is similar to a “choose your own adventure” narrative, with the song video for “Woman” playing and pausing at various moments to instruct you through how to make changes using three distinct programming languages. These are identified by colored stars: pink for Python (duh), yellow for CSS, and blue for Javascript.
You can play around with the video and code it to make personal changes, such as enhancing a character’s nails or changing the night sky to a time zone of your choosing. It’s an easy experience, but as far as interactive experiences go, it’s a pure joy to try out, especially if you’ve never used a programming language.
“We know firsthand that girls and young women are among today’s most powerful creators and change-makers. However, too few people realize that they may have a computer science career and that it might offer them an entire future of possibilities to cultivate their interests. You can use code to transform the world around you if you learn how it works,” says Terika Barrett, CEO of Girls Who Code.
“Most females have never heard of coding, but they’re into activism, dancing, or music,” Barrett adds. “Our goal is to show them how learning to code relates to pursuing those interests. We’d been developing a codable music video with Mojo Supermarket for several months and knew she was the ideal match as soon as they brought it up.”
Getting more women and girls into technological professions is an important step toward gender equality, especially when you consider that many of the first computer scientists were women. In fact, the Works Progress Administration began employing its own human calculators to assist engineers in the 1930s, resulting in female computers who performed arithmetic tasks before technology existed.
This is only one example, but it’s a great illustration of why STEM and programming are not inherently gendered despite the current gender imbalance, and that instead, the scarcity of women we observe in tech is more likely a social problem.
According to Girls Who Code, “In 1995, 37% of computer scientists were women. Today it’s just 24%. If we do nothing, the percentage will continue to drop. We understand that the largest proportion of girls who abandon computer science is between the ages of 13 and 17.”
The Mojo Supermarket team, led by creative director Emily Berger, created the interactive video with digital studio Active Theory. “We want to get more young females interested in coding,” she said. But there are a thousand other things that girls care about more than coding. So we were like, can Doja Cat make learning to code appealing?”
Back in the day, a lot of young girls were introduced to HTML and other programming languages through sheer self-discipline on platforms like MySpace, Bebo, and Tumblr due to social media themes on sites in order to create a personalized, frequently interactive environment for their blogs.
This aspect of social media has largely vanished, so while I doubt this Doja Cat music video will create any waves, it’s at least one opportunity for the current generation of girls and women to get their feet wet in the world of coding in a female-centric atmosphere.
The gender gap in computing is a major concern, and there will be people who are opposed to the notion of ‘gendering’ coding education for women. It’s critical that future female computer scientists are comfortable while working in this field, especially with the existing gender gap leaving many feeling alone. Making a donation to Girls Who Code or attempting one of the organization’s courses may be another option for you.
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