New publication on video gaming and immigrant youth in Norway

This year has been good for publications! We have a new chapter on immigrant youth and video gaming out today, published with Emerald in Volume 16 – Media and Power in International Contexts: Perspectives on Agency and Identity, edited by: Apryl A. Williams, Ruth Tsuria, Laura Robinson, Aneka Khilnani

Chapter 7 – Manifestations and Contestations of Hegemony in Video Gaming by Immigrant Youth in Norway

by Carol Azungi Dralega and Hilde G. Corneliussen

Abstract
This chapter reports from a qualitative study on how identity categories, including gender and ethnicity, are experienced and constructed through video gaming among immigrant youth in Norway. The aim here is to explore the manifestations and contestations of gendered power and hegemonic practices among the young immigrant girls and boys. This chapter builds on research about everyday media use especially video games, and our analysis is based on theories of hegemony, power, gender, and ethnicity. Three key findings are observed from the study: (a) video games acting as a bridge between ethnic minority boys (not so much with the girls) and ethnic Norwegians, (b) hegemonic gendered practices, emphasizing the “otherness,” in particular for girls adhering to the category of gamer, and finally, to a lesser degree, (c) marginalization within video games on the basis of being a non-Western youth in a Western context. As such the study simultaneously not only confirms but also challenges dominant discourses on video games by suggesting that, although some positive strides have been made, the claims of a post-gender neutral online world, or celebrations of an inclusive and democratic online media culture, especially video gaming, are still premature.

A big thank you to Carol for her effort and for a great team!

Grappling with Paradoxes

Digitalization and new digital technology – it is not about the future, but about here and now. Almost daily we can hear in the news about how digitalization changes working life, requiring new competences of employees and new strategies for industry. ICT is not neutral, but in many cases rather operates as a new instance responsible for social, cultural, juridical or economical choices. In our new chapter, we point at the importance of questioning how digitalization is made and who are involved (read the chapter or have a look at the presentation).

The report Digital12 was recently published – written on behalf of the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries to explore how Norway can deal with the increasing digitalization, referred to as an “industrial revolution” that affects not only trade and industry, but also society.

The report, which explains how digital innovation will lead Norway into a prosperous digitized future, is absolutely void for reflections around the question of who it is that is involved in digitalization. Words like inclusion, diversity, gender, men/women, girls/boys do not exist in this document. As if we did not know that only about one in four are women in IT education and IT industry in Norway, and that we are below the EU average if we expand the picture to look at sciences and engineering (She Figures, see Figure 6.2); and due to slow improvement, in periods even negative change, of women’s participation, researchers have suggested that it will take several decades before we are even close to gender parity in this field in Norway (Vabø et al. 2012).

Change is dependent on politics. We have already argued that the low number of girls in programming classes in Norway is not a paradox, but a result of a policy that is gender blind! Change is also dependent on the ability to imagine that women have a place in the world of IT and digitalisation.

We certainly need stories about women in computing, a task that Sue Black has taken seriously. She is also indeed visible herself, so enjoy this video where she tells you How to find the superhero within you!

ICT Changes Everything! But Who Changes ICT?

Last week at the IFIP TC9 Human Choice and Computing conference in Poznan with the title “This Changes Everything” – to present our paper – me, Radhika Gajjala and Clem Herman, with the title “ICT Changes Everything! But Who Changes ICT?”

Abstract below or look for the full text here.

Information and communication technology (ICT) has a changing power and digitalization is gradually changing society in all aspects of life. Across the western world, men are in majority in the ICT industry, thus, the computer programs that change “everything” are most often made by men. Unless questioned, this male dominance can be perceived as a “norm” and becomes invisible. Against this background, this paper will provide three examples of how a feminist gaze can contribute to raise important questions and produce an awareness of how exclusion mechanisms have produce a highly homosocial tendency in design of ICT systems in the western world.

The three cases illustrate how a feminist gaze leading to feminist interventions can make a difference in various ways. The first author presents a case study of a pilot for involving programming in public education in secondary schools in Norway, where a complete lack of gender awareness makes this an offer for boys in most schools. Author two presents a case study comparing the situation in the IT business in the UK and India, finding challenges not only to the situation in the western world, but also to white western feminism. Author three discusses alternatives ways of involving women in ICT work, through practices of feminist pedagogy, emphasizing hands-on work.

“A wasted opportunity for inclusion” – new publication on programming in school

Our new article (with Fay Tveranger) is out, online, open access for anyone to read!

  • Hilde G. Corneliussen and Fay Tveranger. 2018. Programming in secondary schools in Norway – a wasted opportunity for inclusion. In Proceedings of Gender&IT’18, Heilbronn, Germany, May 2018 (Gender&IT’18), ACM, New York, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.1145/3196839.3196867

It will be presented tomorrow at the so far brilliant Gender & IT 2018 conference. For those of you who won’t be there, here’s the abstract, and then go and read the whole thing here: https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=3196839.3196867

This paper discusses a pilot introducing programming as anelective in Norwegian secondary schools. Computing is a male dominated field, in Norway as in other European and Western countries. Despite the male dominance in the field, there were no gender inclusion or diversity measures included in the pilot . Theresult is an elective heavily dominated by boys and a wasted chance of attracting girls to computing.

 

What has women and technology to do with programming for children?

I had the great pleasure of talking for the regional conference “Næringsdagane” – the Business Days – 2018 for Sogn & Fjordane, at beautiful Kviknes hotel in Balestrand in beginning of May. One of the main topics of the conference was digitalisation across all sectors in society, and I was asked to talk about “women and technology” and to provide some answers to why there are so few women in IT education and occupations. The widespread digitalisation, after all, requires us to recruit from the entire population.

With my presentation titled “Programming and IT – who would have thought that would become a field for men?” I wanted to show that if we look back in time, there is an alternative story about women and technology, of “forgotten” female role models, including Ada Lovelace, Human Computers, the “ENIAC women”, and Grace Murray Hopper. Many women worked as programmers in the software business during the 1950s and 60s, and they did not think of programming as a field for men, as these quotes from Janet Abbate’s book Recoding Gender. Women’s Changing Participation in Computing from 2012 illustrate:

I was hired a programmer … It was something that women were believed to be good at

It really amazed me that these men were programmers, because I thought it was women’s work!

It never occurred to any of us that computer programming would eventually become something that was thought of as a men’s field

These images of women as suitable programmers, and programming as a suitable occupation for women, have since disappeared. The result is that we lack the vital images and good role models for girls and women to associate with in the field of IT.

In our work with Pillar 1 in NORDWIT we have interviewed women in technology related careers, and they illustrate how the lack of role models is still a challenge. When we asked about role models, one of the young women coming straight out of her master’s study said:

There were several IT companies visiting our class, but they were mostly men. It would have been more appealing and recognisable with a woman.

Another women told us:

I haven’t had any role models that… Because often there haven’t been anyone before us, in a way.

The low proportion of women is reflected in schools, with a low percentage of girls participating in the national pilot for programming in secondary school. “It’s hard to be what you cannot see”, Robin Hauser Reynolds has pointed out in an interview in USA Today. The campaign “#I-look-like-an-engineer” started after Isis Anchalee, featuring on an ad as an engineer, received a lot of attention in social media with comments doubting that she was a real engineer, suggesting she was rather a model hired to make the ad look good. History repeats itself, as the ENIAC women were also once interpreted that way – as “just refrigerator ladies posed in front of the machine to make it look good”.

How can we expect girls to choose programming at school facing a culture where even women who have chosen to work with IT can’t point at female role models, and where women who could have been role models are being distrusted as professionals?

Things obviously need to change!

It is possible to change this?
Yes!

Why?
Because history shows that today’s male dominance is not a given necessity, but a cultural construction.

How can we change it?
There is no quick fix, but still plenty of room for improvement:

  • Don’t accept that “girls just aren’t interested”. Culture shapes interest!
  • Be aware how you contribute to the image of IT. You are part of culture – make space for girls in IT.
  • Be willing to change and always ask questions: What did we do to include girls? How can we change things to include more girls?

(This post was originally written for and posted to the Nordwit blog)

Could Code Clubs be a New Arena for Increasing Girls’ Digital Interest and Competence?

Kids Code in a Rural Village in Norway: Could Code Clubs be a New Arena for Increasing Girls’ Digital Interest and Competence?, in Information, Communication & Society, 19:1, 95-110, DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2015.1093529

I published this article together with Lin Prøitz in 2015, and it is now available from ICS and in a postprint version at ResearchGate: https://bit.ly/2HNg5I0

Abstract

A trend, where voluntary groups teach children and youth basic computer coding skills, has spread throughout the world. After-school clubs invite children to create games in visual programming environments. The activities emphasize play, while teaching principles of computer science. We explore this phenomenon based on observations and interviews at a code club in Norway, asking whether coding represents an important skill for children and how it is distributed to include all children. We find that coding through play activity is perceived as teaching more than simply the technical skills of programming. Although the fun aspect draws in children and volunteers, parents and instructors describe the code club as being about learning to understand and control the computer, and digital competence required for achieving success in society. The Code Club is described partly as being a ‘necessity for becoming a good/efficient/empowered citizen in our digital society’, and partly as ‘children are playing with computers anyway’. These arguments have different consequences for the gender imbalance at the Code Club. Our findings suggest that the code clubs need an explicit recruitment strategy targeting girls in order to become an arena where girls can develop interest and competence in digital technologies.

Read the full article.

This topic has unfortunately only become more relevant and it is urgent to discuss the low proportion of girls participating in programming. In about two weeks I will have a new article out on programming for youth, this time about programming in secondary schools in Norway (together with Fay Tveranger).

Gendering of assistive technology / welfare technology in Norway

“About the Technology that was not Allowed to be a Technology – Discourses on Welfare Technology“
Article by myself and Kari Dyb, available online here: https://doi.org/10.18261/9788215028163-2017-09
It’s in Norwegian though, and the title as well: “Om teknologien som ikke fikk være teknologi – diskurser om velferdsteknologi”.

Abstract: Inspired by Foucault, we explore meaning created by the health authorities’ policy documents on welfare technology. We explore the meaning construction of a «technology-reducing» claim stating that «welfare technology is not about technology, but about human beings». The scientific essay illustrates how this and similar claims have gained widespread acceptance and discusses some of the effects this type of policy statements has for the users of welfare technology.

In the article, we are touching on the (difference in) gendering of health care and technology. Our starting point is critique against a slogan often repeated in Norway: “Welfare technology [assistive tech] is not about technology, but about people”.

Continue reading

We want more girls in programming classes!

Why are there so few women who choose ICT education in Norway? And how can we change this? One strategy is to start early to include girls in ICT and programming classes. Together with Eid vidaregåande we have received funding from the Norwegian Research Council to work with this challenge. Our project is tied to a national pilot for programming in secondary schools, and our goal is to create inclusive programming education where everybody, also girls, can feel that they belong. We collaborate with schools on all levels at Eid, as well as ICT experts from public and private sector and research institutions, and of course the pupils, to create an inclusive environment for programming. Our goal is to reflect how programming and ICT are both relevant and important in many different contexts, and also to present a large variety of ICT experts or “role models” in all kinds and shapes, illustrating that anybody can programme.

Here we are signing the collaboration agreement, the three headmasters and myself.
Signing the agreement about collaboration (Photo Ove Jonny Lillestøl)

CFP – HCC13: This Changes Everything

CFP for the 13th IFIP TC9 Human Choice and Computers Conference: “This Changes Everything”, to be held in Poznan, Poland, 19th-21st September 2018
Conference Chairs: David Kreps, Kai Kimppa, Louise Leenen, Charles Ess

Gender is of course a relevant topic in general for a conference like this, but there is also a track on “Gender in ICT” (Track chairs: Sisse Finken, Christina Mörtberg and Johanna Sefyrin), connected to the (sleeping)  working group (WG9.8) on Gender, Diversity and ICT.

Send your full paper before January 15, and perhaps we can revive the sleeping WG9.8 together 🙂

This conference will also be part of the 24th IFIP World Computer Congress!
 

 

Source: Call For Papers – HCC13: This Changes Everything

“Increasing Number of Women in Computing Hinges on Changes in Culture, Not Curriculum”

Carol Frieze (left) and Jeria Quesenberry – Photo www.cmu.edu

Fewer women than men pursue computer science, but correcting that imbalance won’t be accomplished via quick fixes or by making coursework less strenuous. Rather, the culture of computer science departments must change, as outlined in a new book, “Kicking Butt in Computer Science: Women in Computing at Carnegie Mellon University.

Source: Increasing Number of Women in Computing Hinges on Changes in Culture, Not Curriculum

“start by empowering a girl you know”

8 ways you can empower girls to learn coding

1. Know the specific barriers we need to overcome.
2. Start with concrete first steps in your own life.

The lack of women and girls in computer science is a well-documented problem. Now it’s time for the average person to finally do something about it.

Addressing the issue of girls and coding in your community doesn’t require you to start your own nonprofit or advocacy organization. In fact, you can start very small, like choosing to empower a girl you know.

3. Find organizations putting in the work already.
4. Be a role model.
5. Encourage your local school to teach girls how to code.
6. Lead a coding club for girls.
7. Recognize that computer science is an intersectional issue.
8. Understand where girls need to begin, too.

Source: 8 ways you can empower girls to learn coding

“Håper Rey i Star Wars kan få flere jenter til å like realfag”

Verden trenger flere kvinner i ingeniørfag, matematikk og naturvitenskapelige fag, og NASA håper filmer som Star Wars kan bidra. – Vi vet ikke om den nye Einstein vil være en kvinne eller mann, påpeker NASAs forskningssjef Ellen Stofan.

Source: Håper Rey i Star Wars kan få flere jenter til å like realfag

Code School for children and heads of state – Reaktor

Encouraged by the positive feedback from the participants, we agreed that all children should get the chance to try out the basics of programming in a fun, tangible way. Word of a public code club spread through word of mouth and social media, and the registration for the first Code School filled up within an hour. Over 300 children were placed on a waiting list.

“BUT how can we get boys and girls excited about coding?” they ask in the video. By drawing with code!


Code School from Reaktor on Vimeo.

Source: Code School for children and heads of state – Reaktor

“Girls Who Code to give $1 million to underprivileged girls”


Nonprofit Girls Who Code is giving away scholarships to low-income girls who want to take their free summer coding classes. Here’s why.

Roughly 1% of girls study computer science — and just 20% of software developers are women. So Girls Who Code alumni have the potential to add a big influx of women into the STEM pipeline.

Source: Girls Who Code to give $1 million to underprivileged girls – Jan. 19, 2016