Hardware cost and internet access are the first barrier to live coding, unevenly by region and income

Because live coding runs entirely through a screen and network, its infrastructure requirements are themselves a gatekeeper. In Mexico (ENDUTIH data cited for ~2020) only 48% of people had internet access, and a quarter of those had no home device, so the barrier falls hardest on people outside the capital and on lower incomes. The teachable point is transferable: a medium’s accessibility is not just about free software but about the hardware and connectivity needed to run it. Practitioners answer with low-cost mitigations: Raspberry Pi, self-assembled machines, and lightweight software that runs on low-spec hardware.

Examples

Irene Soria: you don’t need a Mac or a super-powerful computer; you could build your own, use a Raspberry Pi, and use lightweight software to ‘shorten the digital divide’.

Assessment

Name two access barriers to live coding beyond ‘can you get the software’, and give a concrete mitigation for each.