Science of Friendship

Curricular Materials

In this pilot Project GUTS unit, presented by ITEST project GUTS y girls, high school girls explore questions and test their own assumptions on why humans help some people and not others. Using methods and data from the social sciences (anthropology, sociology and psychology) and computer modeling in NetLogo, a text-based computer programming language, students investigate the role of cooperation in human interactions—and how cooperation plays a role in global issues such as resource management, health equity and climate change.The linked site includes a pacing guide and overview of the lesson

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WEPAN - Call for Conference Proposals

Opportunities

WEPAN (Women in Engineering ProActive Network) is excited to convene the 2015 Change Leader Forum: Roadmap to Inclusion: Engineering Excellence for the 21st Century, in Broomfield, CO, from June 9-11, 2015. Pre-conference workshops and an evening kick-off event are scheduled for June 9th for both novice and expert participants working to promote women in engineering change initiatives.

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Wit Helps Women in Computer Science Combat Ignorance

Publication

As a minority in the upper levels of the computing profession, women are sometimes mistreated through ignorance or malice. Some women have learned to respond with wit and panache.This article is part of a special issue of the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) Newsletter.

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The Digital Life Style for Women

Publication

In Australia and the USA there are now more female undergraduates--right across the board, except in computer science and engineering, which is an issue we need to address --than there are males And it's partly as a result of the pressures of the information revolution. Suddenly corporations--and nations--need all the bright/creative people they can get. They can't afford to ignore half the resources! And for the first time in history, women are free to use their brains! This article is part of a special issue of the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) Newsletter.

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Where Have Women Gone and Will They Be Returning

Publication

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

Publication

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

Publication

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

Publication

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

Publication

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

Publication

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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