Gendered work culture in free/libre open source software development

This article adopts a feminist perspective to examine masculine work culture in the development of free/libre open source software. The authors draw on a case study of ‘the Heidi Bug’ discovered during the development of the Mozilla Firefox web browser to examine how 'gendered talk' was (en)-acted to facilitate 'bricolage' in an online work environment. Such gendered talks contain cultural references familiar to male developers. Though seemingly innocuous, such acts could be seen as a performance of gender that simply reflects the hegemonic heterosexual masculine culture manifested in online virtual work space. The virtual work space therefore can be exclusive to those who shared the cultural references. Although it may not necessarily be ignorance or insensitivity of male developers, a more gender-balanced, women-friendly and inclusive work place certainly would benefit from a more diverse environment. This paper highlights the gendered aspect of software development through examining the language use and mainstream 'bricolage' practice, and establishes a compelling ground for enlarging the talent pool to include more women and integrating gender ethics (e.g., raising awareness of sensitive languages and design approaches) into computer ethics education

“You Sound Like a Good Program Manager”: An Analysis of Gender in Women’s Computing Life Histories

Through the eyes of professional women in computing, we can better understand the impact of workplace structures, higher education pathways, and the particular closed nature of the tech industry. This study of women’s life histories contributes to the work of in-depth qualitative examinations of CS learning contexts and psychological studies investigating phenomena such stereotype threat which contextualize the experience of women in computing environments. Drawing inspiration from Margolis and Fisher’s work drawing the “blueprints” of the “boy’s clubhouse” of computing education [20], as well as McDermott and Webber’s analysis of when math learning occurs [22], we ask when, where, and how is gender being invoked and created, as a way to unpack the places, events, and interactions that shape women’s participation in the Silicon Valley workforce. This qualitative analysis of 13 life history interviews with professional women in computing shows that gender becomes salient for women in public settings, particularly in early adulthood when women enter male-dominated classrooms, teams, and workplaces that foster “brogramming” culture. CS educators, hiring managers, and recruiters all need to be aware that the effects of gender go beyond just including more women in classrooms and on teams. The learning environment, incentives for participation, and the goal of diversity all need to be better aligned in order to foster an equitable workforce

Interacting with Masculinities: A Scoping Review

Gender is a hot topic in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI). Work has run the gamut, from assessing how we embed gender in our computational creations to correcting systemic sexism, online and off. While gender is often framed around women and femininities, we must recognize the genderful nature of humanity, acknowledge the evasiveness of men and masculinities, and avoid burdening women and genderful folk as the central actors and targets of change. Indeed, critical voices have called for a shift in focus to masculinities, not only in terms of privilege, power, and patriarchal harms, but also participation, plurality, and transformation. To this end, I present a 30-year history of masculinities in HCI work through a scoping review of 126 papers published to the ACM Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) conference proceedings. I offer a primer and agenda grounded in the CHI and extant literatures to direct future work.Comment: 12 page

Documenting resistance, conflict and violence: a scoping review of the role of participatory digital platforms in the mobilisation of resistance

In recent years, grassroots movements have gained traction and significant numbers globally. Against longer histories of resistance and protest movements’ mobilisation of documentation, mechanisation and digital technologies, this scoping literature review seeks to understand how resistance and social movements have drawn upon the participatory and easily accessible nature of social media and digital platforms to mobilise new generations of activists, create new archives, document activities and abuses, call for accountability and overwrite or challenge the narratives put forward by mainstream media outlets and state archives. We identify relevant projects, explore the activist potential and threats of the combination of digital technologies, social movements, and documentary or archival practice, before concluding by identifying open research questions in relation to digital technologies, social movements and archival practice

The feminist agenda in the face of the fourth industrial revolution. Women and algorithmization of the public sphere

[ES] El artículo ofrece una panorámica de los retos que la cuarta revolución industrial plantea para la agenda feminista. La algoritmización de la esfera pública implica la automatización de decisiones que antes eran tomadas por seres humanos. Estas decisiones, no son neutras, incorporan y reproducen sesgos que generan situaciones de desigualdad. La incorporación de las mujeres a los equipos de trabajo en el sector STEM contribuiría a erradicar estos sesgos, si bien, la brecha de género no parece remitir. Para ilustrar la manera en la que los sesgos de género y los modelos androcéntricos pueden arruinar el proceso de toma de decisiones, se proponen dos ejemplos paradigmáticos: el ámbito de la salud y el sistema VioGén.[EN] This article provides an overview of the challenges posed by the fourth industrial revolution to the feminist agenda. The automation of decision-making processes in the public sphere, driven by algorithms, brings forth inherent challenges. These decisions are not impartial; instead, they perpetuate and amplify gender biases, leading to situations of inequality. While the inclusion of women in STEM work teams could help mitigate these biases, the gender gap in these fields persists. To demonstrate the detrimental effects of gender biases and androcentric models on decision-making, two illustrative examples are presented: the healthcare sector and the VioGen system, which addresses gender-based violence

Pwning it: voices of nerd women in a male-dominated subculture

A nerd is commonly defined as someone who is “socially inept” or “bookish.” While this term generally has a negative connotation, in some social circles nerd has been reclaimed as a positive attribute. However, there is much more to nerds and nerd subculture. Using theories on identity, presentation, and gender, I analyze how nerds and nerd culture have transitioned in society. For women, this includes battling the notion of being a “fake geek girl” and other preconceived ideas about women in nerd subcultures. Ten women who self-identified as nerds were interviewed about their experiences being a woman in a typically male-dominated nerd subculture and how those experiences may have shaped their gender performance. I found that these women began identifying as a nerd at a young age, and during that time, it was not an attractive label. The nerd label eventually developed into a term of pride. I also found that women often did not think much about their gender presentation, but some did appear to conform to the masculine hegemony present within nerd communities. Others maintained their own personal identity even when the ideals of nerd culture and personal traits were incongruous

Documenting resistance, conflict and violence: a scoping review of the role of participatory digital platforms in the mobilisation of resistance

In recent years, grassroots movements have gained traction and significant numbers globally. Against longer histories of resistance and protest movements’ mobilisation of documentation, mechanisation and digital technologies, this scoping literature review seeks to understand how resistance and social movements have drawn upon the participatory and easily accessible nature of social media and digital platforms to mobilise new generations of activists, create new archives, document activities and abuses, call for accountability and overwrite or challenge the narratives put forward by mainstream media outlets and state archives. We identify relevant projects, explore the activist potential and threats of the combination of digital technologies, social movements, and documentary or archival practice, before concluding by identifying open research questions in relation to digital technologies, social movements and archival practice

Keeping Quiet: Investigating the Maintenance and Policing of Male-dominated Gaming Space

Despite the near parity between the number of female and male gamers (Entertainment Software Association, 2014), studies on gender in videogames illustrate a culture that typically reflects hegemonic masculinity and excludes women on a multitude of levels. Because these interactions occur within real and virtual space (both online and within games), a holistic approach is warranted to analyze these mechanisms of oppression. This paper seeks to uncover the ways by which gaming culture is maintained and policed as a male-dominated space, through qualitative data collection. By using ethnographic, participant observation at a large, multi-genre convention the experiences of both male and female gamers were collected and analyzed. Their stories shed light on the means by which women are silenced, or kept quiet, by voice chat profiling, verbal abuse, and hostile Internet communities. They are subject to strict policing of gamer identity, relegation as casual gamers, and their calls for inclusiveness all too often fall on game developers\u27 deaf ears

Popular Pedagogy in Canadian Television: A Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis of Trailer Park Boys

This major research paper studied the representations of masculinity in the Canadian television program Trailer Park Boys from the perspective of public pedagogy and education. Motivated by a desire to expose how patriarchal discourses are learned through everyday practices and texts, a methodology of feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) was formulated. Trailer Park Boys is a long-running mockumentary series set in a fictional trailer park near Halifax, Nova Scotia. It focuses on a cast of male characters with exaggerated personalities, and is satirical in tone. Prior to the main analysis of this paper, a collection of relevant literature was conducted and an opportunity to address a lack of gender-focused studies of Canadian television, including Trailer Park Boys, was noted. This study used the feminist CDA method to analyze what masculinities were reinforced as normal or abnormal in Seasons 3 and 9 of the program, based on the understanding that popular culture is a site of everyday learning. After the data was collected episode-by-episode, it became apparent that the themes of family, authority, and sexuality were helpful in understanding what relationship Trailer Park Boys had with traditional representations of heteronormative masculinity. It was found that despite the presence of some non-traditional forms of masculinity, the show ultimately reproduced stereotypical, and often harmful, discourses of masculinity. A final explanation of the connection between the results of the study and Canadian pedagogy and everyday learning was offered, and directions for future research were identified