wow-inequalities/02-data/intermediate/wos_sample/504f852499029549476022ec13e04046-bjorn-pernille-and/info.yaml

168 lines
5.5 KiB
YAML
Raw Normal View History

2023-09-28 14:46:10 +00:00
abstract: 'In the digital age, the fields and professions related to computing are
having an unprecedent impact on our lives, and on societies. As
computing becomes integrated in fundamental ways in healthcare
{[}10,11], labor markets {[}2,4], and political processes {[}3,6],
questions about who participates and takes decisions in developing
digital technologies are becoming increasingly crucial and unavoidable
{[}7].
A bottom line is that, if a rather homogeneous group develops most of
the digital technologies, there is a risk that these technologies only
consider a part of the population, and therefore unwillingly introduce
biases or trigger exclusion. There are many intersectional
characteristics - such as race, gender, or class - by which people can
be part of an excluded minority. This keynote focuses on women as a
gender minority in computing.
In Western societies, the percentage of women participating in computing
is low. According to a recent report for the European Commission, there
are four times more men than women in Europe in studies related to
Information and Communication Technologies {[}12]. Similarly, a study by
the Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that only 26\%
of computing jobs in USA were held by women {[}13].
Denmark is often viewed as a progressive country with gender equality;
therefore, the gender homogeneity displayed in computer science
education often comes as a surprise. In 2016, only 8\% of the incoming
bachelor students were women at the Computer Science department at the
University of Copenhagen (DIKU). This remarkable low percentage
triggered many questions to us: How did a field initially led by women
lost so many of them? Why is this an issue that society should care
about? What are the practices and actions that help address this issue?
Who should engage with those practices and actions?
These are some of the questions that we have been addressing at
FemTech(1), an action research project started in 2017 at DIKU. Action
research is an approach by which researchers explore a problem, and
develop theoretical understandings, while working on the development of
solutions {[}9]. Unsurprisingly, our results show that there is no
silver bullet to address the gender gap in computing. However, there are
different strategies that can help broaden participation, and they come
with their advantages and pitfalls.
At FemTech, our efforts have been focusing in creating opportunities for
people, and in particular young women with no prior interest in Computer
Science, to explore ways in which computing could match their personal
interests {[}1]. This approach is aligned with previous successful
initiatives which suggested to create ``new computing clubs{''''} instead
of including women in existing clubs {[}5]; and differentiates from a
`deficit'' approach, by which the issue of gender diversity in computer
science is framed as a problem of too few women, which can be addressed
by bringing in more women {[}1].
FemTech is a project with many developments and interventions. What
started as a primarily educational initiative for women high-school
students has evolved into a broaden initiative that seeks to address
structural and cultural issues in computing {[}8]. The project has
delivered many results, some of them especially tangible and measurable
such as the increase of from 8\% to 18\% of women incoming bachelor
students at the department in two years; and the decrease of the
drop-out rate in the first year of the bachelor from 22\%-3.7\%.
More importantly, throughout this project we have developed a great
amount of insights which can be useful for engaging in similar endeavors
and prompting discussions among those interested in addressing the issue
of women as gender minority in computing. These insights include the
importance of changing computer science departments from ``within{''''},
the relevance of challenging stereotypical and narrow definitions of
computer science, and the instrumentality of interactive artefacts in
prompting change.'
affiliation: 'Bjorn, P (Corresponding Author), Univ Copenhagen, Dept Comp Sci, Copenhagen,
Denmark.
Bjorn, Pernille; Menendez-Blanco, Maria, Univ Copenhagen, Dept Comp Sci, Copenhagen,
Denmark.'
author: Bjorn, Pernille and Menendez-Blanco, Maria
author-email: 'pernille.bjorn@di.ku.dk
maria.mb@di.ku.dk'
author_list:
- family: Bjorn
given: Pernille
- family: Menendez-Blanco
given: Maria
book-group-author: ACM
booktitle: 'PROCEEDINGS OF THE 27TH ACM INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MULTIMEDIA
(MM''19)'
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1145/3343031.3355512
files: []
isbn: 978-1-4503-6889-6
keywords: Gender; Computer Science; Inclusion; Diversity; Action Research
language: English
note: '27th ACM International Conference on Multimedia (MM), Nice, FRANCE, OCT
21-25, 2019'
number-of-cited-references: '11'
orcid-numbers: Blanco, Maria Menendez/0000-0002-7353-5183
pages: 510-511
papis_id: 8123e99091f4e3e90fba7f9598c1684d
ref: Bjorn2019femtechbroadening
researcherid-numbers: Blanco, Maria Menendez/AAY-3819-2020
times-cited: '6'
title: 'FemTech: Broadening Participation to Digital Technology Development'
2023-10-01 08:15:07 +00:00
type: proceedings
2023-09-28 14:46:10 +00:00
unique-id: WOS:000509743400058
usage-count-last-180-days: '1'
usage-count-since-2013: '14'
web-of-science-categories: 'Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications; Computer
Science,
Theory \& Methods'
year: '2019'