HET202 Scholarship and Research in HE Assignment 1 - On-line activities
HET202 Scholarship and Research in HE
Assignment 1 - On-line activities
The two articles I have chosen to review are:
The Construction of Gender at UBC Computing Services (UCS)
University of British Columbia November 16, 1993
Masculinity and the Machine Man: Gender in the History of Data Processing
Chapter for Gender Codes, ed. Tom Misa, IEEE Press 2010
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
The best introduction to this article review is to point out the startlingly obvious. Article two consumes a vast amount more page real estate and digital ink. I believe this is a consequence of article one’s more qualitive nature vs. article two’s more historic, quantitive approach. Article one pronounces the personal experience in the work place of the author and draws conclusions from them in a particularly poetic and speculative manner. An example of this can be seen in this quote:
“It’s not how well you made the computer work, or how much you helped someone figure out something, it’s how fast and powerful the computer is that seems to be the point of many of the office conversations. I think that reflects a masculine, competitive construction, that many women, including myself, just aren’t inclined to partake in.”
Where as article two is best described as an articulated timeline of the gender differences in IT/computer science from the 1950’s to present day.
In balance with the factual and historical nature of article two, article one seems to give the impression of a bias viewpoint. This in turn engenders a feeling of isolation within article one. There are no attempts to research other IT departments or investigate the viewpoints of colleagues. The integrity of the article diminishes some what when the question is asked; is this a shared sense of gender isolation in the department or just one persons experience which could be misconstrued as a result of personality?
There is a definite harmony or correlation between the two articles. This is apparent in their agreement that the history of computing is steeped with a masculine authority using technical jargon, the acceptable level of sex discrimination in the work place to impose a gender divide. Haigh used a quote from James Moore to show, in no uncertainty the intent behind creating a divide.
“Electronic boom” they “seem to have a new hairdo, and some mighty attractive clothes which virtually obliterate any of the blue hues” but suggested that to succeed in “up-grading their own status andGender Codes Haigh – Masculinity and the Machine Manrealizing their own aspirations to management” they would have to “divest themselves extensively of the aura of technical mystery with which they like to surround themselves.”
In concurrence, Currie observes that the computing work place is saturated with:
‘“Privileged discourse” of technical jargon and how it serves to exclude the “other” and maintain control.’
I thought it was really interesting to hear in the James Moore speech that computer engineering started out “blue collar” (factory based engineering) but was intentionally guided towards a “white collar” mentality to associate the vocation with higher-level jobs such as accountancy.
I would love to hear Diana’s thoughts on the advertising campaign that Haigh mentions which has the slogan:
“We taught our data entry system to speak a new language: Dumb Blond.”
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