As developers, we have power to be constructors of social justice. If we are members of tech community, then we inherit a chain of responsibility for addressing intersections between our work and its sometimes profoundly local effects on communities. We can choose to engage in debugging and fixes. We start by engaging in introspection about the inequities that our industry imposes on groups who have fewer privileges than we have access to. We’re going to walk through some of these issues, and review methods for implementing change. Date: August 22, 2014 Author: Carina C. Zona Video: https://youtu.be/aRf9w0UJPTM Conference: Madison+ Ruby Location: Madison, WI

1. August 22, 2014
Debugging Tech's
Class Issues Carina C. Zona

2. @cczona

6. Detecting
• "What was it originally designed to do?"
• "Why didn't the design go as planned?"
• Home in on actual culprit
• Identify its cause
"Debugging: The 9 Indispensable Rules for Finding Even the Most Elusive Software and Hardware Problems" by David J. Agans
Debugging is

7. Debugging applies to technology.
!
Also to tech's socioeconomic issues.

8. class.
Understand the (Structural) System

9. class.
system of ordering a
society in which people are
divided into sets based on
perceived social or economic status
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/class

10. https://nonprofitquarterly.org/policysocial-context/23301-infographic-the-impact-of-stem-education-on-students.html

11. class + race
Regardless of child's
individual class
!
• Majority-poor schools:
82% students are black
or Hispanic
• Majority-middle-class
schools:
76% are white
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-green/high-poverty-schools_b_862869.html

12. STEM in majority-poor schools
Course options
Instructors
Computer lab
Laptop
Broadband
CS AP
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED494820.pdf & http://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/jan/26/internet-luxury-low-income-americans &
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/school-segregation-sharply-increasing-studies-show/2012/09/22/5b34111a-04c6-11e2-91e7-2962c74e7738_blog.html

13. High schoolers' access to advanced
math & science classes
81% of Asian-Americans
71% of whites
67% of Hispanics
57% of African-Americans
47% of American Indians & Native Alaskans
http://ocrdata.ed.gov/Downloads/CRDC-College-and-Career-Readiness-Snapshot.pdf See also: final slide.

14. Advance Placement
69% of high schools have
AP courses
• earn college credits
• waive college prereqs
!
• 30,000 students take
AP computer science exam
• no Hispanics in 6 states
• no African Americans
in 11 states
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2014/01/girls_african_americans_and_hi.html

15. diversity.
variety; differing

16. diversity scholarships
Current enrollment
Accenture "full-time student in at least 2 semesters"
Box "sophomore or junior year of 4-year post-secondary
institution"
Xerox "full-time student enrolled in a 4-year
institution to receive a BS, MS, or PhD"
http://www.boxdiversityscholarship.com/ & http://www.xerox.com/downloads/usa/en/q/qualifications_and_process_steps.pdf &
http://careers.accenture.com/us-en/your-future/development/graduate/internships/Pages/scholarship-program-minorities.aspx

17. community colleges
• 45% of all undergrad students
• 44% of low-income students
• 50% of Hispanic students
• 31% of African American students
• 38% of students whose parents didn't graduate college
http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/Community-College-FAQs.html

18. diversity scholarships.
sometimes come with constraints that make
underrepresented people least ineligible.

19. learn-to-code
workshops & bootcamps.
assume life can be temporarily rearranged to accommodate goals

20. https://twitter.com/jwoodum/status/227105668295954432://

21. UX Gentrification
"Old phone" by Ellison Leão https://www.flickr.com/photos/br4k/5155287404

22. Shiny!
84%
90%
99%
http://www.pewinternet.org/data-trend/mobile/cell-phone-and-smartphone-ownership-demographics/
Own a mobile phone at all
$30,000
$50,000
$75,000
>$75,000 98%
42% of US adults
don't own a
smartphone

23. 70% of adults have broadband at home
Sept 2013 http://www.pewinternet.org/data-trend/internet-use/connection-type/

24. disruptive.

25. disruptive.
•causing a disturbance or problem.
•drastically altering or destroying the structure of something.

26. disruptive technology.
replaces old technology.
scales by applying more technology.

27. disruptive business model.
strategy isn't focused on making technologies that replace old
technologies.
!
strategy focuses on individual communities.
!
!
!

28. disruptive startup business.
individual physical communities.
!
convenience service for local people with disposable income.
!
scaling requires expanding to a new town or city
!
scaling requiring adding more people on the ground.

29. Disrupt via
Technology Innovation
Disrupt via
Local Service Enhancement
Twitter Uber
Facebook Instacart

30. Uber
benefits local consumers benefits uber undercuts local businesses
price war (future) price war
more options less regulation higher operating costs
(depends on
consumer protections)
lobbying for new laws unequal competition

31. Are systemic barriers

35. Thank you.

36. Carina C. Zona
!
@cczona
cczona@gmail.com
http://cczona.com

37. Intersectional: income + race
More reading
• http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/rtn/10th-annual/10th-annual-ap-report-subject-supplement-computer-science-a.pdf
• http://diversity.berkeley.edu/the-new-age-segregation
• http://newamerica.net/sites/newamerica.net/files/policydocs/Merit_Aid%20Final.pdf
• http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/expansive-survey-americas-public-schools-reveals-troubling-racial-disparities

38. CORRECTION
In "High schoolers' access to advanced math & science classes",
the figures I cited in the slides/presentation were incorrect.
Corrected figures are:
+1% (81% total) for Asian-Americans
+1% (71% total) for whites
-3% (67% total) for Hispanics
The point stands; moreover, shows that their gap in access to
advanced math & science courses is wider than presented.
http://ocrdata.ed.gov/Downloads/CRDC-College-and-Career-Readiness-Snapshot.pdf
Slide