- The link within the article that I had was “50 ways to fight bias”. This was brand new to me, but I found very useful. It is an online card game of sorts that has 4 different sets of cards which each have a “do you know?” section in them which contain diversity and bias related questions such as: “What % of Black women have never had an informal interaction with a senior leader at their company?” The answer for this one is 59%. These questions have pretty dismal answers that prepare you for whats to come in the next section of cards which give you different scenarios, such as: hiring, everyday interactions, reviews and promotions, meeting dynamics, mentorship and sponsorship.
- This activity is geared towards professional people in a working environment. It is very useful because the scenarios that are used in this exercise are very relatable and realistic. One scenario in one of the card sets presents us with this problem: “You’re asked to interview candidates for a role on your team and notice none are women.” The bottom of the card gives an explanation of why this matters. This matters because not interviewing women will surely mean that the company is missing out on good candidates and women will not be afforded the opportunity to advance their careers. The card also gives information that states that women are far less likely to receive an opportunity into entry level professional employment, which further stunts the growth of diversity in the workplace.
Discussion prompts for Week of 7/13
In this article, Alison Wynn (a researcher at Stanford) summarizes her own recent article, in which she analyzed the findings of a year-long case study of a Silicon Valley tech company’s gender equality initiative.
As is typically the case with summaries, an author is trying to do justice to the original text (representing it for what it is), while also working toward their own distinct purpose. Here, for Wynn, that is bottom-lining the findings for a different audience and objective–trying to open up a new kind of conversation around the role that organizations (and not just individuals) must play.
Pay attention to how she works with research in here. Within this article, Wynn provides a lot of linked resources, which function both as a sort of bibliography (here are some of the sources I’m working with…) and as a reading list for those who want more (if you think this is interesting, check this out….). Consider the first one, which links to this article, itself a compendium of a whole bunch of different sources.
Giving her readers access to this lets Wynn build upon that informational foundation without taking up a lot of space in her text. It also gives interested readers a lot more to work with (and a lot more reason to trust Wynn as knowing her stuff). Each of you will follow up on one of the other resources she links and give us a sense of what’s in there and how it’s valuable (both to Wynn and to us, readers who might be looking to use this new knowledge).
Also pay attention as you read to her section headings–she’s setting up a careful logical chain. These headings are kind of like breadcrumbs (think Hansel and Gretel) for the reader to follow 
We can learn from that, of course, about a way to organize our ideas to make them as usable as possible for our readers. As we head into Unit 3, that’s going to be an important consideration–not just writing for ourselves or for me (a teacher reader), but for an audience who needs to hear what you have to say and needs to be able to act on it or make use of it in some way.
Once you’ve read through Wynn’s article, follow up on your assigned link (see the announcement on Blackboard for those assignments). Then, post your responses to these 2 questions (everyone should answer both):
- Give us a capsule summary of the linked article/resource that you explored. What is it? what’s in there? what’s valuable about it? what does it add to Wynn’s article?
- Who do you think would most benefit from reading this article, and why? (in other words, who do you think her target audience is or ought to be?) Select one passage (a sentence or two) from the article, and explain why you think this segment would work especially well for that group of readers. Please quote the passage in your response.
week of 6/22 discussion, Benjamin Fisch
I have tried mostly 2 different search tools for gathering my research. These are google search and the digital SU library. Google search works easily for me. I just come up with a keyword that I think will produce relevant results to the topic I am intending to research. Then I enter it into the search bar and press enter. The process for the SU library, is very similar to Google Search. I just come up with a keyword and enter it into the search bar. When I search Google, I mostly come up with relevant articles about my subject, and sometimes I few blog posts on the matter. When I search the SU library, I come up with encyclopedia research, and scholarly articles.
I am hoping to find texts from encyclopedias or scholarly articles, written by well respected authors in their respected fields. The field I am researching in a general sense is diversity. I would like to find scholarly articles written by university professors that are well respected. I will work to find these fields and voices, by thoroughly searching through the results that come up on the SU library and through Google Search. Once I find a relevant course for my needs, I won’t just stop there. I will continue to find and collect new sources on top of that, that are relevant, so I can make sure I have all the research I need.
Discussion prompts, Benjamin Fisch
1.) “Providing a more concrete understanding of what a perceived stereotype threat could be allows the intended audience to reflect and comprehend these said threats whether the individual reading experiences them or not.” This quote from a classmates expanding the canon post really caught my attention. Its interesting to me, because it proves that individuals who haven’t experienced any type of discrimination, can still learn about that type of discrimination. This is important, because if more people are educated on a type of discrimination, the more people will take action, and try to do something about it.
“If a single company sponsors or promotes one specific kind of religion, this is questionable.” I really like this quote from a classmate’s expanding the cannon post, because it made me aware of a new type of discrimination that is being seen in the work place. This type of discrimination is religious discrimination. The author of this quote explores ways in which a religion, like christianity, could become the typical religion of a work place. If this is so, it creates a hierarchy of religions in the work place. If Christians were at the type of this pyramid structure, lets say that Jews are in the middle, and muslims and hindus are at the bottom. The religions below the popular and typical religion in the work place, may face discrimination for not being the typical religion.
The following Ted Talk video really stood out to me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7365IO9l-tw
The speaker identified an example of a law suit between a muslim women and Abercrombie and Fitch. In this example, the women had been denied a position at the clothing shop, because of something as simple as her head scarf. This is outrageous and a clear example of discrimination in the work place, especially religious discrimination within the work place.
3.) The following is the closing line of a paragraph written by Bogost. “That makes diversity a necessary but insufficient solution to social equity in computing systems.” The following is the beginning of the next paragraph. “For years, companies and educators in the tech sector have framed diversity as a “pipeline” problem.” The transition seen in this example by Bogost is smooth. A reason why this is a great transition, is because Bogost ends the paragraph expressing how diversity in the tech industry is a problem. Then, the next paragraph is related to the end of the prior paragraph, because Bogost writes a sentence that will lead into explaining a potential solution for this issue. So, Bogost ends one paragraph by identifying the issue of diversity in the tech industry, and starts the next paragraph by offering a solution for the problem. This makes for a smooth and effective transition.