Category: Discussions/Homework

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Bogost’s use of rhetoric

Bogost begins his article with an anecdote about a woman’s negative experience going through airport security. By “wagering” that most of his readers will have had similar experiences, he gets them to immediately identify with the subject of the story. He uses the familiar – going through airport security – to introduce a topic which is likely less familiar to readers, that of the consequences a lack of diversity in technology has had –  and will continue to have – on society.

Bogost uses the readers’ expectations against them. The title of the article,  “The Problem With Diversity in Computing” is only a slight hint; this article is actually going to challenge conventional wisdom.  He first introduces that conventional wisdom by using a version of “they say”. Rather than claim these positions as his own, Bogost presents them as those of companies and educators in the tech sector.

Bogost then shares that he teaches at Georgia Tech as part of the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing. One might assume that he will wax poetic about the great things they’re doing. Instead, he turns that assumption on its head, arguing that programs such as the Center are insufficient. In fact, the expert Bogot introduced in the first paragraph, Amy Webb, is described as being concerned with the current strategy for improving diversity with its current focus on software development.

Broadening the conversation to include different perspectives, Bogost includes quotes from Charles Isbell, the dean of computing at Georgia Tech, and Kamau Bobb, global lead for diversity research and strategy at Google. He weaves these quotes with quotes from Webb, as if he were a facilitator or host at a conference, rather than the author of a magazine article.

In his last paragraph, we finally get to read Bogost’s own opinion. After circling back to his opening paragraph by quoting Webb, he uses his last two sentences to respond directly to her position. He also leaves us with a heck of a closing statement: “The problem with computing is computing.” While the turn of phrase may come off a bit glib, it certainly leaves the reader with plenty to think about long after they’ve finished reading.

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Week of 6/15 – Bogost Rhetoric

A recurring rhetorical strategy Bogost applies is in crafting a descriptive narrative. The earliest example we see is when he describes NYU professor and author Amy Webb looking at a TSA security screen with her “cast, head, and breasts [as] big blocks of yellow.” Any immediate response in reading this would itch for an explanation serving to keep the audience curious and invested in the storyline.

Bogost signals that “she had other problems with the machines, too, including that her mop of thick, curly hair confuses them.” He even goes onto mention that another colleague too received similar treatment issuing a “cranial patdown.” This conversational tone keeps a reader-friendly framework to appeal to his intended audience of a publishing blog/ journal webpage. More importantly, however, is understanding that Bogost’s decision to introduce more people/ issues into the eclectic mix suggests that maybe the issue with tech, as we come to find out, isn’t a specific a lone case, but rather a familiar situation recognized by many others.

Later on we begin to understand where Bogost stands on the issue which is best interpreted under one of TSIS’s template of “Okay, but…” It’s evident when he mentions the “Tech industry diversity is improving but it’s still pretty terrible.” Acknowledging what they (the tech industry) say moves the anecdotes Bogost gave with a larger subject the readers can process in mind. In doing so the rhetoric behind the title of his article gains scale presenting the issues and insufficient solutions we’re currently at.

Following the ‘they say’ format, Bogost is also seen challenging the conventional wisdom of diversity and inclusion. He’s explicit in saying “the thinking goes…” when describing how the people with the right educational background, connection, and  access will, “produce the workforce that Webb and others are calling for.” This claim reinstates the negative consequences a lack of computational diversity presents with its logistical train of thought.

And finally, he rounds out his argument sharing insight of his own experience on the subject. By introducing himself as a faculty position holder at Georgia Techs Constellation Center for Equity in Computing, Bogost appeals to audiences who may have questioned his accountability or reason to write on the subject. He adds to the conversation sharing data, statistics (such as the one on Google), and other scholarly directors/ leaders  perspective in the field opening lines for a fruitful discussion and strengthening his credibility with broader audiences.

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Bogost’s Rhetoric Blog Post

The article begins by introducing a protagonist, Amy Webb who broke her ankle and was forced to use the backscatter machines in the airport that produce X-Ray images of passengers. This was a great way to start off this article because it gets the reader involved instantly introduces what the rest of the article is going to be about. The author then goes on to say how Amy turned that inconvenience of breaking her ankle, into an opportunity to watch how technology like that works.

The next rhetoric device I noticed was how the author explains his role at Georgia Tech in the “Constellations Center for Equity in Computing.” Bogost states how their goal is to increase access to computer science education among women and people of color. Bogost then gives many facts and states that integration is much harder than diversity.

Isbell, who also worked at Georgia Tech thinks that two separate conditions should be met in order to accomplish their goal. “One is that the new folks are both capable and confident. The other is that the old folks are willing.” Using quotes throughout the article is a great way to prove the authors points and convey the message thats being conveyed throughout. In addition to the quotes from Isbell, Bogost includes quotes from Kamau Bobb, the global lead for diversity research and strategy at Google and a senior director at Constellations. Bogost explains how Bobb isn’t so sure the tech industry is willing to diversify. he gives numerous quotes that Bogost includes in this article which helps prove his point and is very effective.

“Their goal is to get more people in the game, not necessarily to change the rules of that game..” This quote really stuck with me. . A rhetoric device is used here to convey Bogost and Bobb’s message. They showed having a very confident tone which. also. helps prove their point.

The article ends with Webb describing how women, people of color and others are being discriminated against when it comes to computing and how it should change.“We’re all discriminated against by computing.”  “Anyone who falls outside of that core group of interests are not being represented,” Webb said. The last line of the article was in my opinion a very effective way of closing It out. If Webb is in fact right about all this, “the problem with computing is computing.”

 

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Week of 6/15 Discussion Post – Dominique

  1. After reading my classmates posts, I found that everyone has different areas of diversity that they are interested in. Some of the issues that stood out to me include equal opportunities for minorities in education, disability and employment, and diversity in higher education. The reason that I found equal opportunities for minorities in education is because being an education major, I have learned that there are some teachers out there who overlook students who are minorities, and do not allow them to have the same opportunities as their peers. When I become a teacher, I never want my students to feel out of place or left out in my classroom because they are a minority. I want each student to feel that they are valued equally as they should be. The issue of disability and employment was interesting to me because I think that research that will help include more people who have disabilities in the workplace is always a good thing. In the future, I hope to see disabilities represented more. The last issue that I included in this post was diversity in higher education. The reason that I thought this was interesting is because I agree, and believe that it is true that people learn better when they are with others who are different. I think that everyone should have equal opportunities, and should not have to defend themselves because they are different. One of the media elements that made an impression on me was the one about equal opportunities for minorities in education. This is because the diagram shows just how unequal access to gifted education programs really is for minorities. This graph stood out to me because it is easy to understand, and is overall very impactful. 
  1. In my opinion, Bogost does a great job of transitioning into new ideas. One area of his article that stood out to me because of the transition was when Bogost was talking about  diversity being seen as a “pipeline” issue. In this paragraph, Bogost explains that people who have a good background in education have access to more that will allow them to eventually obtain a good job with their connections. He then says that fixing this issue will allow for a workforce that includes different types of people. Bogost set himself up for his next paragraph because that is where he gives an example of an organization that is working on resolving this issue. Bogost further describes the organization by saying, “The center’s goal is to increase access to computer-science education among women and people of color”. This explanation helps the reader to better understand why a center like this is important. Overall, I think that Bogost did a good job of transitioning in this section of the article.
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5 Rhetorical Moves

  1. The first rhetorical move I noticed in Bogost’s “The Problem With Diversity in Computing” is that right off the bat, he has a protagonist, Amy Webb, in this article. I didn’t know who she was until I read further on, and as the reader, the feeling I received from the first paragraph was intriguing and curious as to see where the writer will lead with this. He connected these first few sentences to go on and explain how someone like her wasn’t present in the room when these systems were designed, so I found this connection to be brilliant.
  2. The second is when Bogost introduces the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing, because this is an aspect to the article that the reader may be unfamiliar with. Bogust explains his role there and the center’s mission, so he uses this school to strengthen his point that there needs to be growth for the tech population. He does so by saying “Adding more black engineers from Atlanta schools to that mix will certainly help push the numbers up incrementally.” He also proves this point by including a statistic about Google’s employees, so this backs him up with an actual fact.
  3. Third, Bogust writes about Charles Isbell, who brings up an interesting point: diversity vs. integration. This is a comparison which I’ve never heard about before and honestly found it so fascinating. How he brings in Charles as a source to quote their conversation gives the reader the opportunity to expand their knowledge on a topic that isn’t talked about enough. Bogoust makes it clear that both integration and diversity need to be met if we, as one, want to accomplish the universal goal of expanding those within the tech field.
  4. A quote by Bogost which really stayed with me was “Their goal is to get more people in the game, not necessarily to change the rules of that game.” It is evident that rhetoric is used here to convey this idea to the reader. Bogost has a powerful and confident tone in this statement. He says this after introducing Kamau Bobb, so with this statement he reflects on what Bobb’s opinion of this topic.
  5. Lastly, Bogost ends the article by saying “The problem with computing is computing.” Here, he backs up Webb’s point that everyone outside of the computing field is discriminated against. Going on to compare computing professionals acting tribe-like and only sticking to who’s inside their circle is a great use of rhetoric to make this connection.
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Rhetoric of Bogost

The article starts out by introducing a protagonist, Amy Webb, and right off the bat she is injured- a broken ankle. This injury is used to grab your attention immediately so you’re enthralled in what is being said. Bogost then uses Webb’s injury to connect the dots of how her injury produces the inconvenience of her having to go through x ray machines that highlight areas of her in big yellow blocks. This leads her to showing how technology does not take women into their creative processes, and as an end result they are treated very differently, unfairly even.

A second instance is Bogost explaining that Webb encountered other problems while being in this situation with a TSA agent, the physical characteristic of having big, curly hair. Webb says “She’s had other problems with the machines, too, including that her mop of thick, curly hair sometimes confuses them.” Bogost then uses a connection to a colleague, which makes the reader take a claim like this more seriously. It’s bad enough when it happens to one person, but when more people are added into the fold, especially when you know these people, or the author knows them, it makes this much easier to physically identify with.

Bogost uses the sentence “Computers have started issuing prison sentences” as an eye catching phrase that surely pulls emotion out of the readers. At first glance one might think that this is used a metaphor of some sort, but it’s actually much more than that. The link that is offered in this article takes you to another article- one that shows how criminal sentencing uses Artificial Intelligence to deem someone high risk for criminal behavior, and how terrifying that concept it.

Bogost (and Webb) criticizes the fascination with STEM education, and the pipeline of education to workforce as part of the problem with why these fields aren’t very diverse, but beforehand, theres a qualifying statement “Even though she’d like to see more diversity among tech workers, Webb blames educational efforts like those that Constellations is pursuing for the current state of affairs, at least in part.” This is used to sort of soften the blow for the criticism that is to come.

Another very interesting, but simple line that stuck out to me from this article touches on the differences between humans and machines: “Critical thinking is what the computers won’t be able to do,” This is a short, simple statement that has a lot to unpack. In one sentence this sort of sums up why Artificial Intelligence\, and technology might not be so helpful, because it leaves out so much (or even all) of the human element, and therefore it cannot truly do ther job that it is asked to do.

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Week of 6/15, Bogost’s rhetorical moves

The introductory paragraph to Ian Bogost’s article “The Problem with Diversity in Computing” exemplifies the story of an injured Amy Webb and features her firsthand experience facing the ignorance of computer software. This is the first rhetorical move Bogost makes, and it introduces an issue the majority of people don’t have to worry about, but should care about. People of color, especially black and Latinx, and women face an inclusion problem that can have severe consequences when computer software is relied on in countless fields.

 

“Among them is the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing at Georgia Tech, where I hold faculty positions in the colleges of computing and liberal arts,” Bogost states his position at Georgia Tech to inform the reader of his legitimacy of the information he is sharing. Following this quote, Bogost expands on how the computer-science center at Georgia Tech is working towards expanding access to computer-science to people of color and women, and their ongoing funding going to public schools in Atlanta for computer-science classes. 

 

The use of survey data is used to solidify key examples of Bogost’s argument. He addresses Google’s workforce which is made up of 95% White or Asian people, this fact adds to the idea that systemic privilege prevents minorities from being given the same opportunities in the computing industry. Data collected from China is used as well, “There, kindergarten-age students nationwide will begin studying a textbook this year that’s designed to teach students the new basics of knowledge they need to succeed in a computational future,”. The addition of this fact is used to inform the reader on steps that are already being taken to improve computational skills elsewhere in the world. China makes up roughly 18% of the global population and is a leading country in the computer-science industry, the steps they are taking education-wise are important to know because of how large of an impact China can have on our world. 

 

In Ian Bogost’s article, quotes from his colleagues are used to develop an emotional aspect that is less informative, and more compassionate.“The integration of women, people of color, and other underrepresented voices would mean that the behavior of the entire industry would change as a result of their presence in that community. ‘Diversity is just membership,’ Isbell said. ‘Integration is influence, power, and partnership.’” The quote opens the reader up to a new definition of diversity, where organizations in our current culture are obligated to diversify their workforce, although many are reluctant to fully integrate the minority groups because of the prejudices they have towards them.

 

The last statement made in Ian Bogost’s article provides the reader with an idea where deeper thinking is necessary. “That culture replaces all knowledge and interests with the pursuit of technological solutions at maximum speed. “Anyone who falls outside of that core group of interests are not being represented,” Webb said. If she’s right, then the problem with computing isn’t just that it doesn’t represent a diverse public’s needs. Instead, the problem with computing is computing.” The quote follows a series of paragraphs addressing the economic mentality of many of the large companies that run our computing world. In the post-industrial capitalist world, we tend to forget about the moral codes we stand by personally, and to combat the ongoing inclusion issues in the computing industry, we must stop computing for computing’s sake, and start computing for our fellow human’s sake.

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Week of 6/15 Bogost Blog Post – Dominique

When reading Ian Bogost’s article, “The problem with diversity in computing”, I noticed that he used a lot of examples and rhetorical moves in order to get his point across. Bogost begins his article with a story that is easy to understand, which is how he introduces his topic. Bogost jumps right in instead of explaining his topic; the first sentence in the article is “When Amy Webb broke her ankle, she was forced to hobble around on a walking boot”. This sentence does not make it seem like Bogost is going to be talking about diversity in technology, which allows the reader to remain interested in the article, and makes them want to keep reading. 

The second rhetorical move that I noticed was the use of logos, which is a way of persuasion using logic. Bogost uses logos throughout most of the article by stating facts. For example, while talking about diversity and access to education, he states that at Google, “more than 95 percent of technical workers are white or Asian”. Facts often convince readers to agree with what an author is saying. 

A third rhetorical move that I saw in Bogost’s article was personification by using the words, “Computers have started issuing prison sentences” when talking about technology not being able to predict diversity. Obviously, computers cannot literally issue prison sentences, but this use of personification allows the reader to see the importance of this topic.

Furthermore,  Bogost uses repetition in order to emphasize the point that technology tends to leave diversity out when talking about Webb at the airport. Bogost quotes Webb, then further explains her point when he says, “someone like me wasn’t in the room” when the system was designed, or when it was trained on images of human forms, or when it was tested before rollout”. Repetition of the word “when”, followed by an example is powerful here because it shows just how much diversity can be ignored.

Finally, I found that Bogost tends to use certain words that draw the reader’s attention. For example, he talks about how tech-industry diversity is improving a little bit, but he uses negative words in order to make a few sentences stand out. Bogost says, “Tech-industry diversity is improving, but it’s still pretty terrible. Women, black, and Latinx representation is particularly poor”. The words “terrible” and “poor” used while talking about the same point help the reader to understand how bad the situation really is, because these words draw attention.

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Overview for Week of 6/15

We begin Unit 2 this week, during which each of you will identify and begin to plot out your research path and assemble a body of sources to carry your inquiry along. For many of you, this will mean continuing to build on something you learned in Unit 1, but you are not limited to that topic. Our work will continue to unfold beneath the big umbrella of “diversity and organizational culture,” but as you’ve seen from how your classmates have taken up this work, there are a whole lot of possibilities to explore. Read on for an overview of this week’s assigned work.

Readings

Writing Assignments

Blog post in which you list at least 5 rhetorical moves you see Bogost making in “The problem with diversity in computing”–in other words, 5 different places in the text where you see that how he says something helps you as a reader understand what he is trying to say. Think about how he works to make a connection with the reader, how he introduces key ideas/evidence, how he tries to make a point stick.  Quote these briefly so we know what you’re talking about, and try to name/explain what you see him doing there (due on blog by Wednesday, 6/17)

Complete the Focusing Flowchart exercise on Blackboard (due in Unit 2 dropbox by Sunday, 6/21)

Discussion work on blog. See this post for the prompts and instructions (due by Thursday, 6/18): 

Discussion prompts for week of 6/15

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Discussion prompts for week of 6/15

As we move forward into Unit 2 this week, our focus will be twofold:  identifying and practicing rhetorical strategies (thinking about how we say what we do) and working to articulate the specific issues we’re interested in exploring further beneath this big umbrella of organizational culture. This will be foundational to the larger work of Unit 2: exploring.

For this week’s discussion work, please respond to question 1 and either of the other questions. Your posts are due by Thursday, 6/18–an extension from the original date, as you have a brief analytical exercise due by Wednesday (see the Unit 2 schedule of assignments and the associated dropbox on Blackboard).

  1. Our primary purpose in Unit 1 was to expand the body of shared knowledge on the subject of diversity and organizational culture, and each of you has made an individual contribution to that effort. Now I’d like you to review your classmates’ contributions to see what they’ve added–click on “canon” in the tag cloud to read these. What have you found interesting and significant in what you’ve read in their posts? Please be specific in naming the issues that have stood out to you and in pointing us toward 1 particular media element (graphic, video, link, etc.) that really made an impression on you. Taking these contributions as a set, how are you seeing the idea of “diversity and organizational culture” differently?
  2. “Flashpoint” is one of those buzzwords used in lots of different ways, in fields as far removed as management and gaming and exercise and chemistry. And since it’s proven to be so flexible, in rhetoric, too. For our purposes, it refers to a sort of rhetorical spark, a moment in the text when we see an important genesis or shift—when something important suddenly becomes clear. Pick such a flashpoint in “The Problem with Diversity in Computing,” and walk us through your chain of thought using one template from TSIS that’s designed for presenting the reaction you want to capture. (Chapters 4 and 5 of TSIS offer lots of ideas)
  3. Crafting effective transitions can be a real challenge for writers, but we can learn a lot from examining how others approach the task. Consider how Bogost uses transitions to develop his argument by focusing on a specific passage—the movement between one paragraph and another or between one section and another. How does he lay the groundwork for the move? How does he pick up on one of those pieces to move forward with? Be specific—quote and analyze in detail.

Please categorize your posts as “Discussions/Homework,” and Tag with “unit 2,” “week of 6/15,” and [your name]. Read through your classmates’ posts later this week, and respond where you see fit.