Where Have Women Gone and Will They Be Returning

Publications

The Incredible Shrinking Pipeline (Camp 1997) describes a serious problem for computer science (CS) professionals everywhere. CS continually loses women at all stages of the pipeline including elementary, middle, and high schools, college, graduate school and beyond. Thus, the computing industry has lost access to a large pool of potential computer professionals. As a result, ACM's Committee on Women in Computing [ ACM-W:www.acm.org/women ] donated the appropriate funds needed to acquire current graduation and undergraduate enrollment statistics, which will provide an updated view of the

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Forbidden Technology

Publications

A review of: The Technology of Orgasm; "Hysteria," the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction. By Rachel P. Maines. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.This article is part of a special issue of the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) Newsletter.

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Gender and Computer Ethics in the Internet Age

Publications

In this article, I wish to explore some of the ways in which considerations of gender should be taken seriously in the newly developing discipline of computer ethics. Over the last two decades, computer ethics has developed into a separate academic and practical discipline. Much of the rationale for its formation derives from the attempts of computer and IT workers to form themselves into a recognized profession with suitable codes of ethics. Additionally, legislation must keep pace with new forms of crime as they become possible via networked technology. Alongside this, every week seems to

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Strangers In the "Myst" of Video Gaming: Ethics and Representation

Publications

In August 1999, Lara Croft donned the cover of Playboy. One month later, she held the cover page of PSM (Play Station Magazine, the most frequent figure appearing on the cover in PSM's history--four times in two years). The two images were strikingly different, as one can imagine. But, the implications of the two representations are indeed significant and call into question the ideas of reality, identity, gender, and representation. Which Lara Croft is "real?" Which one, if either, is a figure with whom girls and women in the world of games and beyond can identify in any meaningful way? Or, is

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Gender Issues in Online Communities

Publications

The Internet is imagined as an all-inclusive technology that will allow everyone, regardless of social status, gender, or ability, to communicate equally. The full title of a recent book is The Control Revolution: How the Internet is Putting Individuals in Charge and Changing the World We Know. But has the offline world really changed? Or is what is happening online merely a reflection of real-world power structures and communications? One possible answer is: the world has changed because online communities allow geographically diverse people to form relationships, whereas previously the mere

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Paradigms and Perversions: A Women's Place in Cyberspace

Publications

Brillo is an electronic journal devoted to the inclusion of marginalized voices in the movement towards a global information infrastructure. It's also cranky and witty and feminist and funny, and you can find it at [http://www.virago-net.com/brillo/ ]. We here reprint the editorial rant from the introductory issue and look back on our experiences with Brillo. This article is part of a special issue of the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) Newsletter.

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Gender Differences in CMC: Findings and Implications

Publications

Starting with the early popularization of the Internet, and as recently as the mid-1990's, gender has been claimed to be invisible in text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC)-the absence of physical cues as to a message sender's identity was thought to remove all trace of information as to gender, race, social class, etc. from the message, making the medium inherently democratic and egalitarian. However, claims of widespread gender anonymity have not been supported by research on online interaction. In the present essay, I report on what has been found in a number of empirical studies

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Give girls a chance: building a bridge to science and technology

News

In Oakland, California, a team of teachers, professional men and women, and educators from the Chabot Space and Science Center are actively engaged in encouraging girls and young women in math, science, and technology. The Techbridge program provides hands-on opportunities for girls in elementary school through high school to explore these key areas and for teachers to participate in subject-specific professional-development opportunities.

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Freedom Machines

Publications

The Freedom Machines film, discussion guide, lesson plan, and resource guides are designed to dramatically broaden the concept of diversity for all students through telling the intimate stories of adults and children with disabilities who are using modern technologies to change their lives. Original Freedom Machines website

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A Learner-Centered Design Method for Educational Technology

Publications

This paper aims to share EDC’s learnings from developing and implementing this method including addressing issues of trust between youth and adult team members, appropriately acknowledging youth contributions, balancing the roles of mentors and adult design partners, and making dynamic curriculum adjustments based on participants learning styles and skill levels.

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