HTW Berlin

Computer Barbie

Prof. Dr. Debora Weber-Wulff
HTW Berlin
Fachbereich 4

AWE: Gender and Computing
Winter Term 2017/18

Gender and Computing

This course is about the topic of Gender and Computing. Many computer scientists are convinced that since there is no gender to a bit, there is no gender "problem" in computing, or rather, it is a fantasy construed by politically correct radical feminists. In reality, computer science is a very highly gendered field, as can be seen by the recent Internet-wide discussions of the topic. In addition, the production of our artifacts—computer programs, web sites, and documentation—is strangely gendered. In this course we will be investigating what gender is, how the genderization of our field manifests itself, and what we can do to produce gender-sensitive artifacts.

The course meets weekly on Thursdays at 9.45 in WH C 537.

The grade in this course will consist of a weekly participation grade and a 10-page term paper, which can be handed in at any time, on a topic dealing with gender and computing. You are expected to complete the weekly readings or watch the videos before coming to class, as we will be discussing them in class.

There is a Moodle room where you can find the materials for the course that are not available on the open web.

The picture above is Mattel's "Computer Engineer Barbie." I have two of them, we will be having a look what this image has to say about the perception of women in computing.

The schedule can be found here as well, as well as a collection of links.


Last Change: 2017-09-29 16:25 
Debora Weber-Wulff (weberwu@htw-berlin.de) Impressum Copyright and Warranty