In Bogost’s “The problem with diversity in computing” he uses different rhetorical techniques and moves to clearly and effectively get his ideas across. He is expressing the importance of diversity in computing but it is also problematic, as one can tell from the title of the article. The first point he makes stood out to me because he gives an example as to why diversity is important in computing. He explains the time that Professor Amy Webb had a hard time going through airport security because of her boot for her ankle, the underwire of her bra, and, believe it or not, her hair. She then says that the reason this happened to her and has most likely happened to other people it because “someone like me wasn’t in the room”. I found this to be important because in order to discuss what the problems with having diversity in computing are, there needs to be a point made as to why diversity in computing is important to begin with. The reader can actually see the importance of having a diversity of people creating a machine by Bogost painting a picture of what happened to Webb and why.
Another rhetorical move that Bogost used was the point he made about how “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…”. Whether the change in behavior would be positive or negative, the idea comes from the question that Charles Isbell rose: “are we interested in diversity, or are we interested in integration?”. Integration and diversity are not the same thing, but both of them would cause issues if integrated into computing. Here Bogost uses a hypophora by posing Isbells question about integration and then explaining what the difference between the two is and going into what the goal and his point of the article as a whole is.
Bogost also uses an oxymoron to exaggerate how big of an issue diversity in computing really is. “Tech-industry is improving, buy it’s still pretty terrible”. By using the phrase “pretty terrible” he dramatizes the problem of the lack of diversity in the tech-industry and goes onto explain how that is important for computing systems.
Bogost also makes a point that “inclusion is first a problem of economic equity; any resulting social or moral benefits would just be gravy”. He comes to this conclusion by identifying the goal of Google which is “to get more people in the game, not necessarily change the rules of the game”. This falls right under what Isbell asked about integration vs. diversity. Getting more people into the game is more diversity, but the issue with having diversity in computing at all is being able to make a change along with the inclusion of underrepresented voices. Here Bogost uses an antanagoge by mentioning getting more people involved and the company being diverse but following it with the idea that the company is not willing to change what they do which needs to take place along with the inclusion of underrepresented people.
Another rhetorical move that I found to be powerful was identifying what would need to happen to allow diversity or integration to happen. “But integration is much harder than diversity. Isbell thinks that two separate conditions need to be met in order to accomplish it: ‘one is that the new folks are both capable and confident. The other is that the old folks are willing'”. This is important because without both of those factors, integration might as well be impossible to achieve anywhere. By mentioning Isbells idea of what he believes needs to happen to achieve integration, Bogost is using apophasis. He identifies that these two things need to happen but does not elaborate on the idea that should one happen and not the other, it is useless.
Good work, Zoe. If you were working with an outside resource for naming these rhetorical moves, I’d appreciate if you’d edit your post to include that reference, in case other students are interested in learning more about these terms.