Discussion 7/8

  1. It was so nice to read everyone else’s assignments and see all the different directions we chose to pursue even though we were given the same prompts.  I found it really interesting that the majority of us chose very different topics and yet still managed to stay connected under the umbrella of diversity in the workplace.  Personally, I chose to narrow down the larger topic of diversity by concentrating on the smaller issue of women working in the police force, so I also really liked how Joanna did the same thing but with a different group of marginalized people: members of the LGBTQ+ community.  Joanna utilized many images that really helped drive her points home and I found it very moving when she included the quotes from LGBTQ+ people and their real life work experiences.  Another expansion to the canon that comes to mind is Sherri’s.  Her decision to include a trailer to an HBO documentary was very enticing and made me much more interested.  I also liked the direction she took with the prompt because it expanded on the topic of hiring and the troubles that people with autism tend to experience during that process.

3.The transition that stuck out to me the most occurred between paragraphs twelve and thirteen.  The last line of the twelfth paragraph is “”Diversity is just membership,” Isbell said. “Integration is influence, power, and partnership.””  This line leads into the next, “But integration is much harder than diversity”.  This particular transition was very compelling for me because I believe it is the one that changed the direction of the entire article.  Before paragraph twelve, the article mostly concentrated on representation in computing, but as we can see with this transition, its new focus is now on integration and its importance.  Leading up to this transition, Bogost quotes Isbell saying “Are we interested in diversity, or are we interested in integration?”.  This makes the reader contemplate everything they had previously heard thus far and prepared them for the change in tone for the rest of the article.  After these paragraphs, the article focuses more on bigger companies and how discrimination occurs despite some of their good intentions.

Discussion Questions Week of 7/5

Response to #1

I am very impressed by everyone’s article choices and discussions for the Expanding the Canon assignment. As a group, we explored so many issues from sexual orientation to gender to race to disability and so on. I especially enjoyed Ed’s post on how CEO behavior affects diversity and organizational culture. This topic was similar to the one I selected (Strategic Diversity Leadership) but Ed took it further and highlighted the practical steps that CEOs can take by linking to a Forbes article. The comics Ed used were funny and helped illuminate the issues in a different way. Sherri’s post on the dark side of personality tests hit home for me. I have taken several online personality tests over the past month as I applied for various jobs, and now I am a little scared about how this information will be used. I think Sherri’s use of bold statistics strengthened her post, and I really liked the movie trailer too. Kathleen’s post on the assumptions that healthcare workers make about disabled people was eye-opening because it showed that bias can exist in the most unlikely places. This post featured my favorite media element, the video of Melissa Crisp-Cooper. Watching her daily activities and her interactions with the doctors created empathy and made the issue come to life.

When I think of these thoughtful blog posts and all of the other articles that we’ve read (and that came up in my searches), I got this overwhelming feeling, as if the problems were getting larger the more people studied them and tried to solve them. A big complex question started to form in my mind. Something like, are we expecting too much from our workplaces? Or, maybe another way to put it is, are we offloading our personal responsibility to treat each other fairly and with respect to this thing called a “workplace.” Anyway, that is how I am seeing this topic differently at the moment.

Response to #2

Reading Ian Bogost’s article, “The Problem With Diversity in Computing,” was sort of like following a person carrying a flashlight in the daytime pointing out fairly obvious things. “That there is a picnic table, and oh, we also have a diversity problem in the computer industry.” Yawn. “Hey look, over there. STEM pipeline programs aren’t working.” Double yawn. Diversity problems and inclusion are everywhere, and Bogost does a solid job describing the ones in the tech industry. However, after getting the opinions of various academic types, he doesn’t do much more than throw up his hands, concluding his article with a statement that would keep a philosopher up all night: “the problem with computing is computing.” But along the way, Bogost’s flashlight shines briefly on an issue that I believe lies at the heart of the diversity problem in the tech industry, and that’s the wealth and power that have been created and concentrated in Silicon Valley. In my experience, people with power don’t like to give it up or even share it. Bogost calls computing professionals “a tribe separated from the general public,” but he misses a chance to explore this idea further. We need to shine the flashlight into the faces of the leaders of the tribe, the CEOs who are shaping every aspect of society, and put them on the spot. Ask them: “What did you do this week to give up some of your personal wealth or power to make your company or the tech industry more diverse and inclusive?” In my view, these leaders have a professional and personal responsibility to work on the problem, and until we hold them accountable, the problem will remain.

Discussion Questions Week of 7/5

1) I have appreciated the opportunity to read everyone’s posts and their interpretation of this assignment.

As a student in Knowledge Management with classmates from around the world, I found Julia’s issue of “Reproducing inequity: the role of race in the business school faculty search”, to be of statistical interest.  The article proceeds to enlighten us that an overwhelming 67% of full-time faculty at business schools are white. The research noted that to be effective in creating an inclusive environment, everyone must be enthusiastic and open to change. Exactly! Without reading about this research, I might have assumed (and you know what happens when you do that)…that highly educated individuals might embrace diversity and all that it contributes to a school’s educational value. As the students so eloquently discussed in the YouTube video, in the business world they will encounter diversity as well as different mindsets. By having a diverse faculty as instructors their education would reflect the world in which they’ll be working. I also found the graphic with data from the opinions of white and black faculty to be quite eye opening. White faculty members consider their department to be more committed to inclusion while black faculty may believe that department efforts to promote inclusion are unsatisfactory. As a result, many feel as though the department does not take inclusion seriously. 

So Julia your article got me thinking…I found this in the Daily Orange from March 2021

In early March, the Board of Trustees special committee announced a $50 million investment toward faculty diversification. The university has also increased the number of learning communities geared toward underrepresented communities and hired additional counseling professionals from marginalized identities.

Students question SU’s commitment to diversity, report shows

I guess we’ll see Syracuse University!

Another contribution that I enjoyed reading was Kayla’s contribution on “The association between unemployment status and physical health among veterans and civilians in the United States” by Than V. Tran, Julie Canfield, & Keith Chan. I appreciated increasing public awareness of the struggles of marginalized people face. In my classes at Syracuse, so many of my classmates are military or former military. In addition to unemployment health concerns for veterans the TED talk pointed out that two thirds of veterans struggle to adjusting to civilian life. This has definitely opened my eyes to the great challenges of veterans and I’m glad that Syracuse University has the National Veterans Resource Center that can assist our military in their educational endeavors.

In our Expanding the Canon posts, classmates offered many different aspects of diversity and organizational culture. I enjoyed exploring these differences in a safe and positive environment. This unit has been about understanding each other and moving from an environment of tolerance to celebrating the diversity within each individual.

3) Transitions allow you to signal clearly when you are changing direction. This change could be in the subject or emphasis.  One thing that should be noted Bogost could never be accused of using too many strong transitions. There was not a however or nevertheless to be found…his transitions were very slick and seamless. I kept re-reading the article to find transitions, they were not overly obvious and strong.

I’m about to demonstrate my quantitative nature right now which might not score me points with a qualitative writing teacher but … but is utilized as a transition word to begin paragraphs four times as well as in countless sentences. I just found that interesting.

As far as transitions, I noted the first one at the first but… “But that’s an aspirational hope. This is when Bogost emphasizes a viewpoint. Another transition I noted is after (yes another but) “But their impact might be a drop in the bucket”. This transition has particular emphasis by utilizing that strong phrase. The writer is contrasting good efforts however realistically those efforts have a minimal impact.

Another transition is “But integration is much harder than diversity.”  Since this transition is at the start of a paragraph, it signals a connection (in this case a contrast) between idea segments.

I noticed that Bogost used Webb’s name as a transition to connect paragraphs…

“When Amy Webb, Webb, who is a professor at New York University, Webb’s experience is, Webb points to China, In Webb’s view, But to Webb, For Webb”

It appears that Webb is the transition between many parts of Bogost’s writing. Bogost in his writing has the ability to connect with his audience. The situations are relatable and by using smooth transitions it is an easy read.

5 Rhetorical Moves

Narrates a short story

Before Bogost jumps into his argument, he engages the reader with a story. This story is an account of what happen to Amy Webb who experienced sexism at an airport. This incidence occurred due to an injury Webb had that put her in a walking boot. Because of this, she had to go through a backscatter machine with X-ray imaging instead of the normal metal detector. The machine picked up on her hair and breast area as a weapon. She claims that when developing these machines, they have these issues because “someone like me wasn’t in the room”. Her experience ties into the entire point of Bogost’s article about the lack of diversity in the world of technology.

Explaining

Bogost also provides a simple explanation and solution for the readers. He says that  “computer systems that don’t anticipate all the types of people who might use them” . He follows up by saying,  “Increase the diversity of representation among the people who make these systems, and they will serve the population better”. This straightforward explanation to the topic of his article helps the reader narrow their focus on this issue and the end goal which pushes the argument forward.

Comparing and Contrasting (They Say)

Bogost pulls quotes and opinions from multiple people in his article. In one section he references both Amy Webb and Kamau Bobb. He compares their opinions back to back in a section. This allows the readers to see the relationship between different people’s opinions. This helps the reader figure out where they stand on an issue.

‘In Webb’s view, that argument is unlikely to ever gain traction among big, wealthy tech companies. “A moral imperative is unlikely to motivate public companies,” she told me. Bobb agrees—Google’s focus on the “next billion users” entails a better understanding of people of color, he said, but only because the company finally understands that they represent an untapped market for advertising.’

But to Webb, that doesn’t mean those companies are hopeless. The problem, she said, is that scale, market share, and speed matter more than anything else. She believes the problems that arise in computational social infrastructure, such as backscatter X-ray devices and facial-recognition systems, are caused by the ferocious competition between these companies. Webb thinks a better approach to solving the social ills in artificial-intelligence systems would come from some kind of federal office or consortium that might encourage collaboration between tech firms; one such project could be revising data sets that don’t fully represent the general public.

Quoting

To keep the article flowing, the author incorporates many quotations. Following the guidelines of TSIS, Bogost frames his quotes. This is an important move that carries his argument because it provides the reader with more insight about a topic as well as spark questions or new ideas.  

Poses questions to the reader

To keep the reader engaged, Bogost throws in questions throughout the piece. These questions push the reader to analyze their stance on certain issues before continuing to read. Additionally, Bogost asks questions (like the one below) that are easy for the reader to agree with (which builds some common ground between the author and the reader).

If everyone is focused on the nuts and bolts of making software quickly at scale, where will they learn to design it with equity and care?

I also used this website to help come up with rhetorical statregies…

https://wwnorton.com/college/english/write/read12/toolbar/set02.aspx

Bogost’s Rhetorical Moves

  1. The first rhetorical move that I noticed in Bogost’s article “The Problem with Diversity in Computing” was in the first few paragraphs.  It begins with a personal anecdote and the fifth paragraph sums it up nicely when it quotes Webb, the storyteller, stating that “her airport experience can be traced back to the fact that “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”.  This experience sets up the focus of the article and leads into the main argument.
  2. Another rhetorical move that I noticed was that Bogost uses the device logos frequently throughout his article, but specifically when he states, “At Google, for example, more that 95 percent of technical workers are white or Asian”.  This quote helps solidify the argument that the reader has seen so far.
  3. “It will also give more people of color access to the economic opportunities the tech industry offers.  But there’s a risk of tokenization; inviting a black man or a curly haired woman into the room could make a difference in the design of the systems that produced Webb’s experience at airport security”.  This quote from the article shows the Bogost started off with a sentence that helps his argument, but in the next sentence we see that he actually contradicts his previous statement.
  4. When Bogost quoted Isbell, he made me rethink the article thus far and contemplate what the argument in now trying to prove. “Diversity is just membership,” Isbell said. “Integration is influence, power, and partnership.”
  5. The final rhetorical move that I noticed was when, in the last paragraph, Bogost goes back to Webb’s anecdote in the beginning stating “For Webb, the underrepresentation of women, black people, and others is a real problem, but it’s not the fundamental one. “We’re all discriminated against by computing.”” Bogost reaches his final argument the computing discriminates against everyone which leads him to wrap it up in the last paragraph.

Discussion Questions wk 7/5

  1. After reading all the posts I can say that I definitely enjoyed reading everyones work and have learned a lot from them. The post that stood out to me the most was Kayla’s post titled “The Life of a Veteran:What Comes After Service”. One thing that stood out to me the most is when she mentioned that many veterans have trouble assimilating back into their pre-war lives.Kayla mentioned that “health issues (as a result of military service) have on unemployment amongst veterans which intern makes it harder to re-enter the workforce.” She then mentioned that because of unemployment these veterans also develop many mental illnesses which also makes it more difficult for them to get jobs. The Ted-Talk she included reminded me a lot of “Soldiers Home” by Ernest Hemmingway which told a story of a man who had a lot of trouble fitting in once he returned home from war. He had trouble communicating with others, and he felt like he did’t have a place anywhere. In the Ted-Talk Brian O’Conner mentioned that after the military he didn’t know who he was anymore and struggled with assimilating into civilian life. This has made me realize that there should be a form of support for Veterans who are transitioning back to normal life. There are many challenges that come with their transition so I feel like there should be a system in place where they are accommodated in the workforce.
  2. In the article “The Issue with diversity in Computing” Bogost mentions that computing culture has made it so ” everyone is focused on the nuts and bolts of making software”. I agree that this is a hinderance to equity and care within this software. I would also point out that these conclusions which Bogost discusses, add weight to the argument that computing as a whole is the entire issue.

For my TSIS I decided to agree . I initially wanted to tie it back to Margaret Heffernan’s Ted-Talk from last week since she mentioned that technology cannot do what humans can, and I thought it connected to the quote “critical thinking is what the computers won’t be able to do” from Bogost article. I couldn’t figure out how to properly set it up so it my statement would make sense so instead I combined two TSIS templates (one form chapter 4 and the other from chapter 5) so that I could make my statement.

Bogost’s Rhetorical Moves

Rhetoric and the Information Technology Industry

In The Expressive The Problem With Diversity in Computing (2007), Ian Bogost describes the connections between rhetoric and the information technology industry, demonstrating how the processes and systems of the computer represent a form of persuasion and communication. Ian Bogost writes this article as an author and game designer. Additionally, his background includes serving as the Ivan Allen College Distinguished Chair in Media Studies and a Professor in Liberal Arts, Computing, Business, and Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology; Founding Partner at Persuasive Games LLC; and a Contributing Editor at The Atlantic. To make his point, Bogost writes in an informal, story-based narrative style. This serves to convey the writer’s point while keeping the reader interested.

Sexism

Bogost starts out by associating the notion of sexism with computers. The computer program has a somewhat sexist analogy in the backscatter machines by identifying women’s underwire bras as problematic. Apparently, the system sometimes can’t distinguish Victoria’s Secret from potential weapons. Webb says her airport experience can be traced back to the fact that “someone like me wasn’t in the room” when the system was designed. One can surmise that the creators of the system were male. I see this as Bogost’s use of a pathos-based rhetorical device in which he relays the emotional story of a woman feeling vulnerable. He’s using this vulnerability to get us (the audience) to agree that his argument is a persuasive one.

Racism

By sharing personal stories that the reader could feel a connection to…once again going through the TSA at the airport, the pathos-based rhetorical device is utilized. It’s pointed out that discrimination based on hair texture appears to be at play with the computer systems confused by ethnic hair. Unfortunately, having mop of thick, curly hair results in additional screening and cranial pat-downs for individuals based on what I perceive as the long-standing Eurocentric views of hair style. One can surmise that the creators of the system were not racially diverse. This description puts the audience in an emotional frame of mind as they can relate to being pulled aside due to discriminatory treatment that could derail an individual’s confidence and cause public embarrassment.

Teach Concepts Not Coding

Bogost is clearly attempting to get his audience to think about the time and effort being utilized by the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing. The center’s goal is to increase access to computer-science education among women and people of color. Among its activities, it has funded and supported computer-science classes in Atlanta public schools primarily teaching students coding. Bogost’s point is that when you teach a kid to code, what benefit do they actually get? For example, teaching students Python isn’t necessarily going to help them get an IT job in 10 years because Python probably won’t be the premier language in a decade. However, if students are just learning Python, that’s the real issue. Learning Python should teach concepts and create intuition about the methodology that computers utilize to solve problems. That is the enduring skill and what the focus should be. As Amy Webb is quoted as saying, “If everyone is focused on the nuts and bolts of making software quickly at scale, where will they learn to design it with equity and care? “Critical thinking is what the computers won’t be able to do,” she said.”

Bogost relies on logos as a rhetorical move during this part of his article. He is utilizing logic and objective evidence to appeal to the audience. His argument appears to be non-biased so that enhances the feeling of logos.

Diversity and integration

According to Aristotle, “More than any other technique, the use of metaphor will help you achieve a unique, clear, and interesting style” (2017) and Bogost uses this rhetorical move in his writing style. Bogost quotes Charles Isbell by noting that “Diversity is just membership and “Integration is influence, power, and partnership.” I think of the urban area that has an immigrant and refugee population that brings in individuals with different backgrounds.   These areas are diverse however are they truly integrated?

Diversity may stimulate cultural understanding of unique backgrounds and viewpoints, but it doesn’t encourage inclusion.  Keep in mind though this cultural understanding will only grow if these individuals intermingle with each another.

The rhetorical move of an implied metaphor is utilized in two ways diversity is compared to membership while integration is associated with partnership.

Computers as judges

Personification is a rhetorical move in which human attributes are given to animals, objects, or ideas. These human attributes can be in classified in form, behavior, feelings, attitudes, or motivation. Bogost makes use of this when he comments that computers have started issuing prison sentences. By assigning computers the title of judge we can recognize human behaviors and emotions in this inanimate object.

Conclusion

As Horace once said, “I will aim at a friendly style that others will think is easy enough to copy. But those who try will grind their teeth in frustration. What they don’t know is that it is the arrangement of the words that adds both power and elegance to the friendly style” (Harris, 2017).  As I read the article, I appreciated not only the rhetorical moves but rather the friendly style as well as power in which Bogost conveyed the information and convinced the audience of his point of view as well as the power of interactive technology.

Reference

Harris, Robert A. (Robert Alan), 1950. (2017). Writing with clarity and style: A guide to rhetorical devices for contemporary writers. Routledge.

Bogost’s Rhetorical Moves

Throughout the article, Bogost usage os several rhetorical strategies to capture the attention of the audiecne so he can clearly convey his message.

Bogost begins by introducing Amy Webb, a woman who had to go through a backscatter machine at the airport due to her broken ankle. As she went through the machine she noticed that her “cast ,head, and breasts were big blocks of yellow” which meant she need to be pat down. This is because the machines were unable to distinguish between her underwire bra and a weapon. Bogost the includes that this was due to the lack of anticipation by the computers of the diversity in the people that will be utilizing this technology. By providing us with this story at the beginning of the article, it allows the readers to imagine this situation and see the connect to the title “The Problem with Diversity in Computing”.

Another way Bogost conveys his message is when he includes the rhetorical question posed by Charles Isbell who is the incoming dean of computing at Georgia Tech. Isbell states “The real question is:Are we interested in diversity, or are we interested in integration?”. After integrating this rhetorical question, he then goes on to explain the difference between diversity and integration. This allows readers to understand whether the focus should be on integration or diversity in these computing communities.

Bogost incorporates Webbs statement that we as a society have put such importance on STEM education which can result in more harm than good. Bogost then goes on to explain that if everyone is focusing on building software quickly, they won’t spend enough time to design their programs with equity and care which will result in situations similar to Amy Webbs situation at the airport

Bogost inclusion Webbs statement that the issue is not just the underrepresentation of women, black people, and others, but “We’re all discriminated against by computing”. He then goes on to explain that computing professionals create a tribe based on the “exclusive culture of computing education and industry.” By including this, Bogost explains that due to this culture, computing professionals disregard everything else such as including different types of people, and instead focus solely on “the pursuit of technological solutions at maximum speed.”

To end off the article Bogost states “…the problem with computing is computing” . The inclusion of this statement serves to tie everything Bogost mentioned in the article together. The culture developed in computing and the way STEM education prioritizes the creation of software rather than other important aspects such as inclusion, have made it so that computing as a whole is essentially the entire issue. The only way to improve is by changing computing.

Bogost’s Rhetorical Moves

It is very likely that those who read the title of Ian Bogost’s article, The Problem with Diversity in Computing, are not expecting it to open with the following paragraph:

“When Amy Webb broke her ankle, she was forced to hobble around on a walking boot. That inconvenience spawned others: among them, she couldn’t pass through the metal detector at airport TSA PreCheck lines any longer. Instead, she had to use the backscatter machines that produce X-ray images of passengers.”

Bogost’s first rhetorical move gets the better of the reader’s curiosity by making them wonder “what does this have to do with diversity in computing?” Their interest has been piqued and they are now invested in reading more.

Next, the author introduces us to Ms. Webb’s background where we find out “Webb, who is a professor at New York University and the author of The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity, took the inconvenience as a firsthand opportunity to watch how this technology, which uses computational methods to mark possible risks on the body, really works.”

Now we are starting to get the picture! Amy Webb has some expertise on how people are affected by technology and uses this knowledge to enlighten us on how technology can be discriminatory at the airport. “I’m looking at the screen,” she says of the image that appeared from her scan, “and my cast, head, and breasts were big blocks of yellow.” “It was because of underwire bras, she later learned, which the system sometimes can’t distinguish from potential weapons.” Here, the author’s rhetorical move is to use Webb’s authority on the subject matter to help the reader buy into whatever he writes next.

Although Bogost doesn’t explicitly say so, we realize he probably agrees with Webb’s sentiment about technology because he utilizes a third rhetorical move where he states, “Webb’s experience is among the more innocuous consequences of computer systems that don’t anticipate all the types of people who might use them.” He also cites a fact that “Computers have started issuing prison sentences, for example.” to further point out how things have just gone too far.

Later, the author employs the “twist it” move in TSIS, where he agrees with Webb’s initial assessment that “someone like me wasn’t in the room” when the system at the airport was being developed. Yet his evidence supports a contrary position. The author opines “For years, companies and educators in the tech sector have framed diversity as a “pipeline” problem.” “We’ve had this obsession with STEM education,” he quotes Webb as saying. “It’s reached fever pitch, manifested in these programs where every kid has to learn to code.” Then Bogost further quotes Webb stating “If everyone is focused on the nuts and bolts of making software quickly at scale, where will they learn to design it with equity and care? “Critical thinking is what the computers won’t be able to do,” she said.”

Finally, Bogost illustrates to us that solutions are more complex than we thought, and, in the end, it may not be about gender, ethnic or racial diversity, but about an exclusive computing education and culture that discriminates against us all. The author writes “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.” This last rhetorical move implements a TSIS template for agreeing on one view and challenging another; if X is right that___, then the problem is___.

Fancy that. Even a professional journalist has made use of a template!

Discussion Questions Week of 7/5

1.

I found Joanna’s article and interpretation of Is it safe to bring myself to work? Understanding LGBTQ experiences of workplace dignity to be very interesting and informative. Discrimination against people with different sexualities has gone on for a while but is more recently being brought into the light. I think that knowing how to be a good ally is definitely important is supporting people who are being discriminated against which is why the video she included was so important. However, I found the excerpts of people explaining their experiences to be more powerful because it really brings to light how people are treated and for something that should not matter to anyone but themselves.

I also enjoyed Sherri’s interpretation and ideas of Algorithm-Driven Hiring Tools: Innovative Recruitment or Expedited Disability Discrimination? I think that people who do not have disabilities might not be able to see how people with disabilities are discriminated against and bring the topic into the light is important for companies as well as people who are discriminated against for something they cannot control. I found the statistics that Sherri included to be very helpful and eye opening. Seeing the actual numbers and percentages of how many people are affected, especially when it should really be no one, makes the issue much clearer and supports her ideas of the article very well.

3.

Bogost’s transitions were so clean and smooth that they are almost hard to pin point. He has one argument, but different types of evidence to support the argument. When moving between the first couple points of evidence he uses small phrases that can be related in a way to everything that he is saying like “But that’s an aspirational hope” and “Those efforts have merit”. Both of these comments conclude what he is saying in a way that the reader might not even see it as a transition. His next point after each transition relates to the previous point which is what causes the transition to not feel like one.