Troubling Vulnerability: Designing with LGBT Young People's Ambivalence Towards Hate Crime Reporting

HCI is increasingly working with ?vulnerable? people yet there is a danger that the label of vulnerability can alienate and stigmatize the people such work aims to support. We report our study investigating the application of interaction design to increase rates of hate crime reporting amongst Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender young people. During design-led workshops participants expressed ambivalence towards reporting. While recognizing their exposure to hate crime they simultaneously rejected ascription as victim as implied in the act of reporting. We used visual communication design to depict the young people?s ambivalent identities and contribute insights on how these fail and succeed to account for the intersectional, fluid and emergent nature of LGBT identities through the design research process. We argue that by producing ambiguous designed texts, alongside conventional qualitative data, we ?trouble? our design research narratives as a tactic to disrupt static and reductive understandings of vulnerability within HCI

Adolescents from low-income sectors: the challenge of studying in a time of digital environments

This paper is about practices and perceptions regarding the study of adolescents from low-income sectors in the City of Buenos Aires. The methodology consisted of 26 in-depth interviews with low-income adolescents and participant observations in twenty cybercafés of the South Area of the City of Buenos Aires. Among the findings, these students highlight that ICTs allow them to handle information in a more agile and entertaining way, more consistent with their daily uses. However, doing research on school content is what students do the least, since adolescents use technology mainly for communicative, social and recreational ends. These adolescents recognise some disadvantages in using ICTs to study: the unreliable information, the difficulty to distinguish which topics related to school content are more appropriate and the disruptive and continuous use of social networks. In this sense, these adolescents tend to have more problems in benefitting from ICTs for academic purposes than other adolescents. While communication and recreational skills tend to be similar, the evaluation of different sources of information and the skill to make complex searches online are usually more strongly developed in adolescents of middle and high-income households. In conclusion, we think it is necessary to take these problems into consideration in the social sciences research of the area and besides when implementing digital literacy programs.Fil: Linne, Joaquín Walter. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales. Instituto de Investigaciones ; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

The CybHER Program supported by CISSE Framework to Engage and Anchor Middle-school Girls in Cybersecurity

There is a piercing shortage of personnel in the cybersecurity field that will take several decades to accommodate. Despite being 50 percent of the workforce, females only account for 11 percent of the cybersecurity personnel. While efforts have been made to encourage more females into the field, more needs to be done. Reality shows that a change in the statistics is not taking place. Women remain seriously under-represented in cybersecurity degree programs and the workforce. Prior research shows that elementary girls are equally as interested in the cyber path as boys. It is in middle school that this interest shifts, which raises interesting questions about middle-school girls’ perceptions of cyber-related studies. This study focuses on middle-school girls’ perceptions of cybersecurity and what promising practices can be discovered to engage middle school girls in cybersecurity. These promising practices are then applied to the CybHER program. Drawing on literature from gender gap and STEM research, prior interventions, and anchoring girls to the field, this study looks specifically at adolescent females in middle school. Through open-ended interviews, rich data was collected to form the CISSE framework of promising practices. The CISSE framework shows that community, influence, social media connection, education, increase in self-efficacy, and education are important factors to anchor girls in a cybersecurity career path. The CISSE framework assisted in developing and enhancing the comprehensive program called CybHER. CybHER started as simply a name with a dream. By incorporating the CISSE framework, paying attention to prior successes and prior research, the CybHER program developed into a comprehensive program that includes intervention methods to educate and motivate girls to pursue cybersecurity. Five CybHER themes make up the program. These themes recognize time and relationships as important elements to girls. CybHER provides community, influence, social media connection, increased selfefficacy and education while also producing anchors for girls in cybersecurity. Evaluation from experts in the field suggest that the program will make a significant difference in recruitment and retention of girls

The Case for Improving U.S. Computer Science Education

Despite the growing use of computers and software in every facet of our economy, not until recently has computer science education begun to gain traction in American school systems. The current focus on improving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in the U.S. school system has disregarded differences within STEM fields. Indeed, the most important STEM field for a modern economy is not only one that is not represented by its own initial in "STEM" but also the field with the fewest number of high school students taking its classes and by far has the most room for improvement—computer science

THE DIGITAL SKILLS CRISIS: ENGENDERING TECHNOLOGY–EMPOWERING WOMEN IN CYBERSPACE

This paper examines the latest research on the digital skills crisis, focusing on the factors that contribute to digital exclusion. Through an extensive analysis of current literature on the digital divide, the authors discuss digital skills gaps, namely the exclusion of a sizeable part of the workforce from the digital market economy—and women in particular. Studies indicate that exclusion from the digital market is augmented and reinforced when combining the gender dimension with other exclusionary factors such as disability, age, race and socioeconomic background. Research confirms that the gender imbalance in ICT and related sectors persists today, despite decades of equal opportunity policies, legislation and government initiatives. Women are still underrepresented and digitally excluded and efforts to attract, recruit and retain girls and women in ICT and STEM seem to be failing, reinforcing the gender gaps: participation gap, pay gap, and leadership gap, a result of the deep-rooted gender order reflected in the latest Global Gender Gap Report and Index. A growing body of research of the twenty-first shows that inspiring girls and women into technology—increasing the talent pool in ICT and STEM— requires engendering technology, eliminating gender stereotypes, and raising the profile of female role models and mentors. Studies repeatedly argue that engendering technology entails women’s agency and economic empowerment. Accordingly, the authors include recommendations from inspirational role models and mentors, three successful women in ICT, STEM and Information Society who have made a difference. All three, following a series of semi-structured interviews, propose engendering technology to increase the female talent pool in addition to engendering STEM education, that is to say, including the gender dimension.  Article visualizations

A model for the development of programming courses to promote the participation of young women in STEM

There is a gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and this is a global problem that affects society. However, it is worth pointing out that the gap is not uniform in all STEM fields. Women’s underrepresentation is more marked in physics, engineering, and computer science fields. Nowadays, the labor market is becoming more competitive, technology-based and demands a diverse workforce. Therefore, it is important to continue promoting the participation of women in STEM, and the universities play a leading role in it. Previous research has shown that early learning experiences in STEM can show female students that they can succeed in this fields. This paper describes a model for developing programming courses for pre-university students to promote the participation of young women in STEM programs. The course was developed in one week, 25 students (16 girls and 9 boys) participated. The instructors of the course were four female professors. The programming language was Python, and the methodology used case-based learning. Both instructors and students gave positive comments on their experience in the course. The proposed model, including instruments, learning resources, and methodology, can be replicated and adapted to be used even in other learning field

Does use of touch screen computer technology improve classroom engagement in children?

Many studies have shown that the use of technology in the classroom may influence pupil engagement. Despite the recent widespread use of tablet technology, however, very little research has been carried out into their use in a primary school setting. We investigated the use of tablet computers, specifically Apple’s ‘iPad’, in an upper primary school setting with regard to children’s engagement. Cognitive, emotional and general engagement was higher in lessons based on iPads than those which were not. There was no difference in behavioral engagement. Of particular significance was the increase in engagement seen in boys, which resulted in their engagement levels increasing to levels comparable to those seen in girls. These findings suggest that tablet technology has potential as a tool in the classroom setting

ICT and gender issues in the higher education of entrepreneurs

Rapid technological innovations are currently occurring in higher education with differential effects on academics, students and ICT. This article, through literature review and author experiences, highlights the potential misperceptions of gender and related learning styles resulting from increased adoption of ICT in higher education. The authors emphasise the need for a collaborative approach between educators, learners, and the people and organisations that drive technological innovation, which contrasts the competitive forces that now abound. The authors also acknowledge the implied positions in dialogues about gender. One response is to initiate understanding at the strategic level and utilise the advances in ICT technologies that enhance connectedness in the educational experience. To improve the education of entrepreneurial managers and leaders, future policies must address the effects and accessibility of online education to meet employer and global technological requirements with equitable outcomes.<br /