Here we go again!

Just when you think we are making progress in diversity and inclusion, here come the Google screed!  Summary here from The Guardian.

Accessibility of online courses

In this statement by vice-chancellor at U. California at Berkeley Cathy Koshland, an alum of Haverford College, addresses a recent ruling by the government that online courses at Berkeley are not ADA compliant. I was made aware of this when my colleague Mark Guzdial @ Georgia Tech, asked if their Online Masters was ADA compliant (thanks, Mark!).

This questioning is directly related to the point of this blog, that accessibility should be a concern from the conceptual, design and other early stages in the development of pretty much any tool or device used by people. In that way, the result will be a more diverse population served, and therefore a more complete interaction with the tool or device. Universal design may be the ideal, but we should get as close as we can to that ideal.

Sorry to sound like I'm on a soapbox, but this really resonated with me and connected me strongly with the actual purpose of SIGCSE 2008 with years ago. I hope this process of questioning software design and services provided about accessibility continues.

One down, ...

Harvey Mudd College now had more women in CS than men, as reported here.

Racism in the Research Lab

Seems it's not just in computing ... from the NY Times.

Tapia Conference next month

For more information, see http://tapiaconference.org/.

Silent support is not enough

Saw this link from Barbara Boucher Owens.

Twitter working on diversity, as are others ...

... by changing people in the role of "Diversity Chief"as reported in this article in the NY Times.  But is it enough?  I mean, we in education are often accused of "just making a new course" to cover a curricular hole or overlooked but important issues, is this the same in the world of technology?

Well, it's a start I suppose :)

Diversity in Academia

Just a quick link on diversity in the Academy.

A Science Issue, a Human Issue

Latest found in Astronomy, but an problem that is found in many places, as reported here by NPR.

DO-IT video on inclusive teaching ...

The University of Washington's DO-IT program has been a great resource for exploring the intersection of computing and disability/accessibility, here is a recent (2015) 11 minute video on what I would term "Universal Teaching" (i.e., where universal design meets computing education) which is more of an ideal to which we should aim and work to realize as much as possible.

HuffPost Tech article on why girls should learn to code

Just a quick handoff to 14 Girls Explain Why Women Should Learn How To Code, enjoy!

Three simple was to improve diversity in tech hiring

They seem simple, and have been tried in other contexts, should be considered in tech as well in conjunction with others means.

World Accessibility Map

I have yet to try it, but thought you would like to know about it, link here.

Big data find evidence of hiring bias

Aaron Clauset of the University of Colorado, Boulder (and Haverford College class of 2001) just published an article suggesting evidence of bias in faculty hiring, especially in computer science and especially with women.

A provocative discussion

So I saw this recent article about not teaching all women to code. Or more accurately, the title is provocative.  As I read the piece, there are some ideas I agree with, like we should never coerce students to learn coding or anything for that matter. But I do believe we should expose them to computational thinking, and that will include algorithms, data representations .. in other words, programming.

I am sensing that the issue is more with the targeted accommodations for women. Studies indicate that is where the issue is.  Still, the dream should be less accommodation and more universal design of education that includes everyone.  In this way, women, like everyone else, can make a more informed choice about career and interest.

But I am considering a (sarcastic) response about not teaching men cooking, or some other provocative title.  Stay tuned.

A different gift ...

UPDATE^2: It appears people are listening, the book is not longer available at Amazon, and Mattel issued an apology (in Time!) -- when a group works together ... Thanks all, including the groups that listened and acted/adjusted.

UPDATE: The SIGCSE/CSTA communities have rallied and developed some great responses to the original book, a few highlighted here:

• Feminist Hacker Barbie where you can rewrite the book
• An example remixed by Casey Fiesler
• An article at Cosmo
• The original post by Pamela Ribon

Thanks for the thoughtful, and rapid, replies -- jd

Original Post:

There is a new book about Barbie and computer engineering, I think Mattel needs to get some feedback, it portrays a young girl only able to design a computer game and needing boys to implement.  Marie desJardins contacted the author directly and shared the reply to SIGCSE, copied below:

Thank you for your email. I am grateful that you have pointed this out to me. When I write Barbie stories, I always try to write them from a feminist perspective. The story of "Barbie Computer Engineer" was an assignment I got that had to be based on an existing Italian Barbie magazine story. My assignment was to rewrite the story for a book format. I never saw a final copy (I am just a lowly freelance writer, they don't send me copies).  I will order a copy and see what exactly I wrote that is upsetting people. While I take responsibility for what I wrote, you should be aware that I was obliged to follow the existing story and I do not know how Mattel changed the story after I wrote it.

I welcome the twitter controversy and I should have perhaps seen this and pushed with the editors to make the story better in terms of the way it portrays woman. I think Mattel should be more responsible towards the young girls affected by their content and I should too. I consider myself a feminist and have worked for many feminist causes so I was surprised by your email. Sometimes as a freelance writer you get lazy and just follow orders and forget to think about the young people you are affecting. Thank you for reminding me.

all the best,
Susan Marenco

I suppose it is a sincere response, but the damage is still there -- onto contacting Mattel directly? Stay tuned!

So what can be done?

An article from Fast Company summarizing a few recent books and studies on the challenges of increasing both accessibility for women employees and this increasing diversity -- and yet another, explaining science is fine, it's the scientists.

News Flash: Women are lied to more than men are lied to.

It appears that equality is still a dream away since we cannot even assure an honest process, as highlighted in this recent Slate article.

A recent article and chart for the tech industry

Updated Sunday 24 August ...

http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/pandora-white-male

Found this from a friend, read through the comments, still work to do :-(

http://www.geekwire.com/2014/chart-bad-gender-gap-tech-companies/

Actions seem to speak louder than words here as well ...

In some ways diversity and accessibility are like pie (or your favorite dessert, insert here) -- who doesn't like pie?  The bigger questions involving execution, how to we maximize diversity (I believe by maximizing accessibility, which is another question)?

Recent findings under review at Psychological Science "... suggest that a more balanced division of household labor among parents might promote greater workforce equality in future generations."

I am so OK with that, I like watching TV while folding/ironing and listening to the radio in the kitchen -- just can't wait for my wife to find out she needs to mow the lawn and repair the car (oh, wait she's already done each of these tasks :).

Mom was right, actions do speak louder than words.