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> Actually the article has a section on "Why it matters". Including this: There's a huge shortage of software developers in the UK, the number of software de

by jdp23 16y ago

> Actually the article has a section on "Why it matters". Including this: There's a huge shortage of software developers in the UK, the number of software development roles is increasing by approximately 10,000/year. The UK just isn't producing enough talented software developers to meet the demand. When it comes to expanding the talent pool it makes sense to target the groups who are most under-represented. But it is also an issue for society as whole. Having a 90:10 ratio of males to females for software development should be as shocking as having a 90:10 ratio for literacy. Software development is fast becoming one of the fundamental skills of the 21st century as technology starts to dominate every industry. Of the 26 billionaires the web has produced in the last decade, only one has been female. Only a tiny fraction of technology companies started today are started by female technologists. By neglecting female adoption we're creating the potential for huge disenfranchisement issues in the future.

gaius 16y ago
But that is completely spurious. Let me tell you a story. I get coffee every morning on the way to work, in London, and at the place I go, everyone who works there is Polish. Now, my fondness of all things Eastern European is well known but even so - is it not insane that we apparently have such a "shortage" of coffee makers in the UK that we have to fly people in from 700 miles away to do it? And as for your next point, that's spurious too. Was there ever a time when the UK - or any country - fretted that not enough people were being trained to make paper and pens? That people can read and write, sure. But don't confuse the tools (computers) with the results (economic productivity).
- jdp23 16y ago
  Wow. In the US, coffee-makers are low-payed jobs with no benefits -- as opposed to omputing and IT, which are good jobs. So your first analogy doesn't apply. And on the second point, the field of gender HCI has shown that there tend to be differences in how men and women use computer programs. Yes, these are contextual and more likely to be due to societal norms, social pressures, and encouragement with technology than any innate gender difference. Still, they're real. And when software is constructed by almost-all-male teams, those preferred usages get embedded in it.
  - yummyfajitas 16y ago
    And when software is constructed by almost-all-male teams, those preferred usages get embedded in it. Yet somehow, men successfully make software used by women. For example, Facebook, Zynga, Polyvore (or Bingo Card Creator, if you want to ask an approachable man how he does it). Of course, if we follow your logic, it's actually a good thing if app developers at (for example) Bloomberg are mostly male. After all, trading desks are also mostly male, so it would be bad if female preferred usages were embedded into market research software, right? And it's also irrelevant for any part of IT where the HCI doesn't matter much (e.g. data analysis, systems, CRUD apps with a captive audience). At best, your second point applies only narrowly to UI designers.

by jdp23 16y ago

gaius 16y ago

But that is completely spurious. Let me tell you a story. I get coffee every morning on the way to work, in London, and at the place I go, everyone who works there is Polish. Now, my fondness of all things Eastern European is well known but even so - is it not insane that we apparently have such a "shortage" of coffee makers in the UK that we have to fly people in from 700 miles away to do it? And as for your next point, that's spurious too. Was there ever a time when the UK - or any country - fretted that not enough people were being trained to make paper and pens? That people can read and write, sure. But don't confuse the tools (computers) with the results (economic productivity).

jdp23 16y ago
Wow. In the US, coffee-makers are low-payed jobs with no benefits -- as opposed to omputing and IT, which are good jobs. So your first analogy doesn't apply. And on the second point, the field of gender HCI has shown that there tend to be differences in how men and women use computer programs. Yes, these are contextual and more likely to be due to societal norms, social pressures, and encouragement with technology than any innate gender difference. Still, they're real. And when software is constructed by almost-all-male teams, those preferred usages get embedded in it.
- yummyfajitas 16y ago
  And when software is constructed by almost-all-male teams, those preferred usages get embedded in it. Yet somehow, men successfully make software used by women. For example, Facebook, Zynga, Polyvore (or Bingo Card Creator, if you want to ask an approachable man how he does it). Of course, if we follow your logic, it's actually a good thing if app developers at (for example) Bloomberg are mostly male. After all, trading desks are also mostly male, so it would be bad if female preferred usages were embedded into market research software, right? And it's also irrelevant for any part of IT where the HCI doesn't matter much (e.g. data analysis, systems, CRUD apps with a captive audience). At best, your second point applies only narrowly to UI designers.