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Deconstructing CS Culture

Deconstructing CS Culture

Speaker: Amy J Ko – Seattle, WA, United States
Topic(s): Human Computer Interaction , Software Engineering and Programming , Society and the Computing Profession

Abstract

Modern computing culture is unquestionably exclusionary. In education, students who are Black, Hispanic, women, women, gender non-conforming, disabled, or divergent in many other way from the dominant groups in computing often face structural barriers, microaggressions, and disregard. And in industry, these same problems perpetuate, not only shaping the culture of computing companies, but also their products, services, policies, and politics. The question is no longer whether exclusion occurs, but why. Many powerful explanations of these dynamics look to white supremacy, sexism, ableism, and capitalism, linking computing culture to the broader matrix of domination in society. In this talk, however, I want to consider an additional factor at play: the central role of social segregation in computing culture and how such segregation offers psychological safety to its dominant groups, who are in some ways marginalized themselves in society more broadly. By deconstructing these dynamics, and demonstrating how they interact with other systems of oppression to produce marginalization, I hope to map the significant challenges we face in reimagining a computing culture that is truly inclusive.

About this Lecture

Number of Slides: 70
Duration: 40 minutes
Languages Available: English
Last Updated:

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