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Emma Willard\u2019s Temple of Time (1846)<\/em><\/p>\n Last major update, October 2018*<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n For years, I\u2019ve asked software engineers and designers I run into at conference if they know about gender HCI (human-computer interaction), feminist HCI, or post-colonial computing. More recently, I\u2019ve added intersectional HCI, anti-oppressive design, and design justice to the list as well. The response is usually something along the lines of \u201csounds interesting, but never heard of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Which is a shame. These fields have some great insights about how to create software that works better for everybody. A very brief overview:<\/p>\n At some level it\u2019s not surprising that this work isn\u2019t as well known as it should be. Much of this work has been done by women of color, queer and trans people, and others who are marginalized within the tech world. Much of this is heavily influenced by the social sciences, which are also marginalized by tech. And much of this work is also by the kinds of biases against that anti-oppressive research that Alex Ahmed, Judeth Oden Choi, Teresa Almeida, Kelly Ireland, and I discuss in What\u2019s at Issue: Sex, Stigma, and Politics in ACM Publishing<\/a>.**<\/p>\n So here are some slightly longer overviews of these different areas, each featuring a handful of key papers, along with a few videos. As you read this, Like any literature survey, what\u2019s here is filtered through my background and interests; if there\u2019s other work that you think should be here, please let me know!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Sj3MkCWwllc<\/a><\/p>\n Dr. Margaret Burnett’s Open Lecture from the IT University of Copenhagen.<\/em><\/p>\n The GenderMag Method<\/a>, a gender-specialized cognitive walk-through process and a set of four personas, is based on 15+ years of excellent research<\/a> by Margeret Burnett and a wide range of collaborators (starting with ). GenderMag: A method for evaluating software\u2019s gender inclusiveness<\/a> describes five facets of gender-linked differences: motivation, information processing styles, computer self-efficacy, risk aversion, tinkering). \u201cThe users who tend to be best supported by problem-solving software tend to be those best represented in software development teams (e.g. relatively young, able-bodied, males), with other users\u2019 perspectives often over-looked.\u201d There\u2019s also a community wiki with teaching resources<\/a>, and an open source Recorder\u2019s Assistant<\/a> to help \u201csemi-automate\u201d the process.<\/p>\n Gayna Williams\u2019 \u201cAre you sure your software is gender-neutral?<\/a>\u201d is a good more general overview, looking at some of the reasons for gender bias in software, with suggestions for free and low-cost ways of improving the situation.<\/p>\n Samantha Breslin and Bimlesh Wadhwa\u2019s Exploring Nuanced Gender Perspectives within the HCI Community,<\/a> from 2014, discusses \u201chow recent approaches to gender in HCI move past questions of how men and women interact differently with technologies. Scholars are focusing on activist, intersectional, and reflexive approaches to gender and identity in design that focus on inclusion and accountability in terms of who technologies are designed for and in what ways.\u201d The same authors\u2019 Towards a Gender HCI Curriculum<\/a> outlines \u201cthe core topics, learning outcomes, and possible activities and assessments a Gender HCI module should cover;\u201d and their Gender and Human\u2010Computer Interaction<\/a> (in the Wiley Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction<\/em>) outlines various strategies and approaches to gender HCI including \u201cunderstanding gender, feminist theories, and queer theories; analyzing gender scripts and metaphors embedded in technologies; reflexivity regarding developers\u2019 and designers\u2019 norms and values; feminist design and an intersectional approach; and designing for future diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n The most visible academic work on Gender HCI has used a simple binary gender model. Gopinaath Kannabiran\u2019s Where are all the queers?<\/a> looks at some of the implications of this. Kannabiran\u2019s Themself: Critical Analysis of Gender in Facebook<\/a> critically analyzes the interactions of non-binary gendered subjectivities, \u201cuncovering some of the system level design choices that render non-binary gendered users invisible for all intents and purposes,\u201d and recommends approaches based on democratizing design and pluralism.<\/p>\n\n
Gender HCI<\/h2>\n