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A Case for Feminism in Programming Language Design by Felienne Hermans

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Manage episode 466972501 series 2343646
Content provided by Ivan Reese and Future of Coding. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Ivan Reese and Future of Coding or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://staging.podcastplayer.com/legal.

In the academic field of programming language research, there are a few prestigious conferences that you must present at to advance in your career. These conferences are rather selective about which presentations they'll accept. If your research work involves proving formal properties about a programming language, you'll have their ear. But if your work looks at, say, the human factors of language design, you might as well not bother applying — and thus, not bother pursuing that work in the first place. Why is the formalistic, systems-focused work elevated, and the human-focused work diminished? And what are the downstream consequences, the self-reinforcing feedback loops that come from this narrow focus?

In this episode we discuss a paper by Felienne Hermans and Ari Schlesinger titled, A case for Feminism in Programming Language Design. It applies the lens of intersectional feminism to reveal a startling lack of "Yes, and…" in academic computer science, where valuable avenues of inquiry are closed off, careers are stifled, and people are unintentionally driven away from contributing to the field, simply because their passions and expertise don't conform to a set of invisible expectations. Through heartbreaking personal anecdotes and extensive supporting references, the paper makes the case that there's a lot of high-value greenfield work to be done, and people who would love to do it — but we will need to collectively identify, understand, and then fix a few broken incentives before it'll happen.

Notes

$ Patreon

  • Polypad, dubbed the "best piece of education software for smartboards" by published academic Luke Wilson
  • Or is it Mathigon? "Looks like a nice Desmos", opines enterprise sales expert Ivan Reese.
  • Market💡Facts.ca
  • Hedy, a multi-lingual programming environment for the classroom created by Felienne.

Welcome to the TALK BLOC:

! Send us email, especially if you're an avid listener who happens to work for a placement agency and knows an AI thought leader who has advised 5000 startups and would be a great fit for our show, share your ideas in the Slack, and:

See you in the future!

https://futureofcoding.org/episodes/75

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/futureofcoding

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  continue reading

76 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 466972501 series 2343646
Content provided by Ivan Reese and Future of Coding. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Ivan Reese and Future of Coding or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://staging.podcastplayer.com/legal.

In the academic field of programming language research, there are a few prestigious conferences that you must present at to advance in your career. These conferences are rather selective about which presentations they'll accept. If your research work involves proving formal properties about a programming language, you'll have their ear. But if your work looks at, say, the human factors of language design, you might as well not bother applying — and thus, not bother pursuing that work in the first place. Why is the formalistic, systems-focused work elevated, and the human-focused work diminished? And what are the downstream consequences, the self-reinforcing feedback loops that come from this narrow focus?

In this episode we discuss a paper by Felienne Hermans and Ari Schlesinger titled, A case for Feminism in Programming Language Design. It applies the lens of intersectional feminism to reveal a startling lack of "Yes, and…" in academic computer science, where valuable avenues of inquiry are closed off, careers are stifled, and people are unintentionally driven away from contributing to the field, simply because their passions and expertise don't conform to a set of invisible expectations. Through heartbreaking personal anecdotes and extensive supporting references, the paper makes the case that there's a lot of high-value greenfield work to be done, and people who would love to do it — but we will need to collectively identify, understand, and then fix a few broken incentives before it'll happen.

Notes

$ Patreon

  • Polypad, dubbed the "best piece of education software for smartboards" by published academic Luke Wilson
  • Or is it Mathigon? "Looks like a nice Desmos", opines enterprise sales expert Ivan Reese.
  • Market💡Facts.ca
  • Hedy, a multi-lingual programming environment for the classroom created by Felienne.

Welcome to the TALK BLOC:

! Send us email, especially if you're an avid listener who happens to work for a placement agency and knows an AI thought leader who has advised 5000 startups and would be a great fit for our show, share your ideas in the Slack, and:

See you in the future!

https://futureofcoding.org/episodes/75

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/futureofcoding

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  continue reading

76 episodes

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