blog! “Some thoughts on "Hacking the Cis-tem"”
I recently read a wonderful paper by Mar Hicks called "Hacking the Cis-tem" which is about database design in the 1960s and the nascent digital state's approach to transgender individuals. It's a short and readable paper with some jaw-dropping anecdotes. Like the man who immediately got a pay rise after his …
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#ComputerScience #database #gender #trans
@Edent Great post, but less sure about the last part. How much of a current performance hit should we take now - and should have been taken by database designers in the 1960s - to anticipate 500 emoji names?
Future proofing is a great idea, so long as we proof against the right future. Investing for future benefit is great, investing for no benefit, rather less so. And by the time it's clear which of those it is, it's already a bit late.
Some semi-related thoughts here https://www.publicstrategist.com/2013/03/the-phoenix-and-the-constitution/
@Pubstrat
True. But as a counterpoint - the sewers of London.
They were already committed to the hard & expensive process of digging them. So overspeccing for future proofing was seen as a sensible minor cost.