Women in Computer Science http://cs.supertriceratops.com Where are they? Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:47:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 en hourly 1 Unlocking The Clubhouse http://cs.supertriceratops.com/?p=11 http://cs.supertriceratops.com/?p=11#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:46:07 +0000 caitlin http://cs.supertriceratops.com/?p=11 In many ways, this book (by Jane Margolis and Allan Fisher) is the epitome of research for women in computing. It describes a multi-year (1995-2000), involved (hour long surveys each semester) study addressing the issue of why there were so few female computer science students at CMU. Furthermore, once Margolis and Fisher had collected some data they started implementing changes in the department based on that data. The result was a large increase in female enrollment.

This book makes for a very interesting read. I personally think it should be required reading for all freshman CS majors (and CS faculty). Many issues are discussed, but these issues are coupled with some concrete, effective solutions. I will discuss more details in upcoming posts.

]]> http://cs.supertriceratops.com/?feed=rss2&p=11 0 Digital Divide http://cs.supertriceratops.com/?p=8 http://cs.supertriceratops.com/?p=8#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:45:38 +0000 caitlin http://cs.supertriceratops.com/?p=8 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/business/16digi.html

25 years ago, there were similar numbers of men and women in computer science courses. This very short, light, New York Times article points to some research about why this is no longer the case. Many women do not consider computer science as a career track, because of perceptions that the field is meant for action gamer geeks.

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