- The first paragraph of the article is a personal anecdote about Webb’s life experience at the airport, and already there is a clear narrative. Bogost wishes to use these experience stories to explain his point about diversity in tech, and this is the best way to have the reader sympathize with an issue. In the second paragraph, the reader finds out about Webb’s background, and more information is provided. This serves to give credibility to the identity of the subject in the writing.
- The second is the rhetorical question asked by Charles Isbell, “Are we interested in diversity, or are we interested in integration?”. Readers are forced to reconsider their assumptions about the basic necessity of inclusion or whether there is more to the reasons for having a wider range of talent as well as ethnicities that can benefit the market.
- Another rhetorical move would be idiom, where Kamau Bobb talks about how in Silicon Valley, the primary concern for diversity is so that it fits within the current system and not to upset it, and that if there are any bonuses for social and moral responsibility, that would just be gravy. If only the last part is mentioned, the reader would not understand the wider context.
- Metaphor is used when Webb stated her concern with the idea that every kid has to learn to code, using the term of nuts and bolts to describe the actions of basic coding. The reason for that use is to demonstrate the poor quality with the problem of too many young coders.
- The final rhetorical move that I chose is the oxymoron. Bogost wrote about how the tech industry is improving with its diversity, but that overall it is still terrible. That gives the reader the sense of progress that the tech industry still needs to make even with that small glimmer of hope.
Tag: unit2
Research Portfolio – Tim
Discussion 7/5
Response #1
I found Caitlin’s focusing on gender diversity in the police force to be intriguing. In the article, several female interviewees from the Canadian police department were asked about their experiences with discrimination, and various factors were noted which made them feel that way (such as the treatment pre- and post-pregnancy, examinations that give advantages to males, and etc.) For years, the female makeup of the Canadian police force stabilized at 13% and does not correlate to the sex ratio in Canada (from figures 1 and 2). In the TED video that came along, a woman that rose in ranks from officer to police chief pointed out the benefits of having women in the police force. This video was interesting to me because I remember many years ago when I read a report about criminal psychology and interrogation within the police department, and that an outstanding amount of criminals are willing to confess if the interrogator is a woman. I don’t know if studies have changed over the years, but if this maintains to be the case then having more women within the force should become a necessity, not out of social obligation but out of the will to increase the efficiency of the police department.
Response #3
Bogost’s article was a great read since it was similar to Austin/Pisano’s style of writing: a storytelling narrative. The audience follows the journey of Amy Webb, and we have the ability to empathize with her after reading through her experiences at the airport and truly understanding her problems. But writing a post simply in a storytelling method does not guarantee success, and Bogost managed to capture the reader’s attention with his transitions. Strong transitions in the article such as “But that’s an aspirational hope” and “Those efforts have merit” easily helps to bring the reader to the author’s next point.
Discussion 8/9
1.“Individual Change Won’t Create Gender Equality in Organizations” By Alison Wynn is a blog post on the University of Minnesota’s Gender Policy Report page. The purpose of this article is to examin the need for equity in the workplace with a focus on gender. The format of the post clearly outlines key topics of Wynn’s claim through the use of headings. Wynn uses a numbered list in order to map out the “Steps Toward Organizational Change and uses hyperlinks throughout her writing in order to keep the reader engaged and clarify any unknown references. Another interesting strategy that wynn used was the direct quotation of the key pisces from surrounding paragraphs. By making these quotations in a larger font and different color, Wynn uses visuals to stress important aspects rather than rephrasing or adding unnecessary information. I believe that Wynn’s style of writing and meshed well with the form of media she was producing as well as the audience she was trying to reach. Most of the people who would seek out blog posts as a source of information would be more receptive to short engaging writing rather than long winded an impersonal texts. Because of this, Wynn is able to reach her target audience and spread awareness about the need for equity as well as the step needed to achieve it.
2.The topic of LGBTQIA+ equity in the workplace encapsulates a wide variety of both modern day and historical issues, Because of this I am going to create a one-pager that narrates the history and affects of inequity for queer indiviuals within corporate AMerica. I also plan on listing some helpful resources for members of the LGBTQIA+ community as well as articles for anyone who wants to become an ally. At my internship, one-pagers are extremely useful in conveying relevant information through brief bullet points and images. I plan on using some of the skills I have gained to create one about a Queer individuals in the workplace and spread some much needed awareness on the topic. If I feel as if there is more information than can fit on the one-pager, I will likely expand my project into an infographic so that I dont skip over any key details while keeping visual and concise elements of a one-pager.
Research Portfolio
Discussions / Homework Week of 8/2
Response # 1
As the title implies, the article “Why Most Performance Evaluations are Biased, and How to Fix Them” by Lori Nishiura Mackenzie, JoAnne Wehner, and Shelly J. Correll, imparts some solid advice. Nishiura, et. al, researchers at the Stanford VMWare Women’s Leadership Lab, conducted studies of performance review procedures at three U.S. companies. These studies revealed patterns of ambiguity in evaluations for women. Research has shown that ambiguity or vagueness in procedure leads to implicit bias on performance reviews. It turns out that the most problematic area filled out on a performance assessment was the “open box” area where a manager can write the answer to an open-ended question like “Describe the ways the employee’s performance met your expectations.” The authors report that ambiguous questions like that often illicit a biased answer. The reasoning is that since there are no clearly established parameters in which to judge if the employee met expectations, managers fall back on their perceptions of the employee’s gender, race or other identity information to answer the question. Nishiura, et. al, offer several solutions to “constrain” the open box. They recommend creating a checklist to refer to when filling in boxes. That way, managers are consistently using the same criteria for all of their employees. Another key suggestion was for managers to establish a rubric by which employees will be evaluated by before the performance review. This ensures that the manager is basing their evaluation on actual evidence, not subjective feelings. Overall, this article is invaluable to anyone who is working. Afterall, every one of us will be evaluated and some of us will also be providing evaluations. As a side note, several of the managers written about in the article were relieved to finally have some structure and uniformity in the review process because they wanted to be fair but didn’t know how to. This piece provides an expanded lens in which to see how one of Alison Wynn’s six stages of the “employee life-cycle” in the “The Gender Policy Report” has a domino effect on what comes after performance reviews – Pay, Promotion and Termination Decisions, the crux of inequality issues for women and underrepresented groups.
Response # 2
I think company leaders would benefit most from reading Alison Wynn’s “The Gender Policy Report”. Wynn, a Research Associate at the Stanford VMWare Women’s Leadership Lab, puts forward several meaningful strategies for handling inequality in the workplace. Ms. Wynn has surely been successful in catching the eye of company executives when she states, “It may be easier to think of individualistic solutions—such as training ourselves to think differently and change our own behavior—or to blame larger societal forces we can’t control, rather than to change the intricate organizational procedures and practices that contribute to employment outcomes in complex ways. However, my research suggests that we must address organizational forms of inequality as well.” In this sentence, the author goes out of her way to include statements that reflect how executives she examined in a year-long case study understood what constituted inequality in an organization. It most likely will cause executives’ interest to be piqued and to wonder what Wynn’s suggestions are because they mistakenly thought they were already doing everything they could to reduce inequality.
Research Portfolio- Kayla
Research Portfolio- Caitlin
Sherri Holmes Research Portfolio
When preparing my portfolio, I sought to include sources that supported my goal of providing meaningful suggestions and dialogue on how to make workplaces more equitable and inclusive of Black workers. Despite my initial resistance to using the SU library databases, ultimately, I found more articles than anticipated on this topic. As a matter of fact, on several occasions, one article led to another and so on. I didn’t necessarily decide in an orderly fashion as to what I would need, rather as I saw what kind of information was available, it informed what direction my research would take. I knew that I needed to explain why America is in this space of devaluing Black people’s labor and disrespecting our humanity with micro and macroaggressions. I realized I would need a source that provided historical context on Black labor in the U.S., which serves as a foundation for understanding how Black workers are perceived today. I knew that data showing statistics on the state of Black employment trends would align with many Black people’s experiences, therefore validating them. Then I thought it was imperative for people to understand how it feels to be a Black person in the workplace, so I’ve included sources that detail personal recollections of Black people’s experiences at work. Later after doing some of the research portfolio exercises, I realized I needed information from the opposition detailing how they might feel about diversity and inclusion initiatives. Finally, it was of course necessary to include sources that provided an answer to my research question – what are solutions for being inclusive and equitable to Black workers? This is a topic close to my heart because I have both experienced and seen in others the consequences of lack of equity and inclusion. Black people have contributed so much to this country and to its economy. We deserve better.