Upon reflection of my group’s Manifesto, I feel that I bear a strong resemblance to the described character. Surely, this is largely due to the fact that I myself wrote the Manifesto, but I do feel it also reflects a strong undercurrent in the Computer Science and Engineering student body. We felt that one of the most common characteristics to students in CSE was professionalism and strong workplace potential. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this trait, but one might expect a more prominent technical, geeky streak in such a department.
I certainly would not call our Manifesto a war cry. However, there undoubtedly was an air of humor or even satire in our artifact. I would not say there was an ulterior motive behind this, but we felt this feeling of good humor is common to our class and reflective of the people in it. At the end of the day, I think it’s incredibly important to be able to laugh at yourself. In a lot of ways, I think that’s what this Manifesto was about.
Overall, I do identify fairly strongly with our portrait. Sure there are some differences – I generally don’t wear a ton of Notre Dame gear and I did understand the “tabs or spaces” question (I’m definitely spaces by the way). But on the other hand, I did once attend a regional Hackton almost purely for resume purposes. Does a large population of our class fit the bill for this portrait? It’s obviously hard to say, but I believe finding someone who completely strays from this portrait would be a difficult task.
Perhaps our artifacts are inspired from a general stereotype of our major, but like most stereotypes, I think that’s because it stems from some form of a kernel truth. No it is not a blanket truth, but there are aspects that describe our CSE community. Stereotypes are everywhere. I don’t mean to suggest they are a good thing, but there’s no doubt they shape the way we see the world around us. The challenge is to have the self will to be able to consciously decide one’s own opinion of stereotypes. This is a challenge that will never disappear from adult life. In regards to the effects of artifacts, I don’t think they are either helpful or harmful. They are merely a lighthearted reflection on some of the features of an ND CSE major. Please don’t take them as cannon. Remember, we all need to laugh at ourselves every once in a while.
Reference to our artifacts:
https://pat73hat.wordpress.com/2016/01/28/manifesto-and-a-portrait-of-c-s-irish/
timpusaterisite 