Moving Students of Color from Consumers to Producers of Technology

Abstract

To address disparities in computing among girls of color, this chapter examines the impact of a multi-year, out-of-school computer science intervention with n=108 female high school students of color. This rigorous and comprehensive 5-week computer science intervention designed within a culturally-relevant framework, demonstrated the following outcomes: 1) one exposure to the intervention demonstrated a significant impact on computer science knowledge, attitudes, and access to diverse peers/role models, 2) the impact of the intervention endured after a 9-month period, and 3) repeated-exposure to the intervention (2 sequential 5-week interventions) produced greater growth than just one summer. These findings suggest that short-term interventions can be impactful, and repeated exposure opportunities are

Resisting Racism in Tech Design

“…Less HCI research has intentionally positioned Black youth as designers, with recent research leveraging the appeal of games as the gateway for transitioning Black children from being consumers of technology to being producers of technology [61]. For example, DiSalvo et al [43] examined Black males in the role of gamers who playtest video games as a mechanism for constructing their computing identities.…”