Hi Roger,
At the risk of railroading this new Yasmin discussion immediately into a single issue, here are two news articles from this week on the gender dynamics of STE(A)M:
"Computing's Narrow Focus May Hinder Women's Participation"
http://cacm.acm.org/news/177843-computings-narrow-focus-may-hinder-womens-participation/fulltext
"Among Gamers, Adult Women Vastly Outnumber Teenage Boys"
http://games.slashdot.org/story/14/08/24/0328203/among-gamers-adult-women-vastly-outnumber-teenage-boys
The undercurrent of both articles (and the sexist comments that accompany them) is a distinction between "hard-core" STEM and the more contextual/creative/casual use of computers. The ACM article goes so far as to blame the retreat of women from computer science on the rise of personal computers. That strikes me like blaming cars on the declining interest in railroads.
If women are already using computation in fields such as biology or anthropology, do we need to worry that they aren't well represented in Computer Science degrees or the ranks of Google engineers? Should our definition of STEM flex to accommodate Candy Crush and Pinterest as well as Call of Duty and Python? How might society benefit from an expanded definition of what constitutes a technological contribution to society?
jon
On Aug 25, 2014, at 1:41 PM, roger malina <rmalina@alum.mit.edu> wrote:
> Dear Yasminers
>
> This is Roger Malina in Dallas at the moment, your YASMIN moderator
> this week. If any of you are in Paris
> on Friday September 12- I will be presenting at the Google Cultural Center.
>
> During this week we will start a moderated discussion on the YASMIN
> discussion list
> around:
>
> What does STEAM have to do with it ?
>
> exploring some inflammatory discussions such as Is too much STEM or
> the Wrong STEM a bad thing ?
>
> the discussion will engage with the current hot topic of whether we
> need more scientists and engineers: many professionals are arguing
> that government and funding agencies need to increase funding and
> recruit more young people into careers in Science, Technology,
> Engineering and Math (STEM).
>
> But after decades of STEM funding= the result is that only 17% of
> engineers are women, and the statistics for inclusion of ethnic and
> other minorities in western countries are also dismal.
>
> And in the us 70 % of students in the USA who get a degree in a STEM
> field- do not work in STEM professions- why are STEM careers so
> unattractive that most students who get a degree don't work in STEM
> fields ?
>
> In recent years there has been a movement of STEM TO STEAM- or
> integrating the arts, design and humanities - into STEM teaching. I
> recently wrote a discussion that highlights some of the issues:
>
> http://leonardo.info/reviews/aug2014/malina-STEM.php
>
> One of the arguments of STEM to STEAM is that STEM needs fundamental
> rethinking- with the additional argument that many STEM careers are
> now in the arts, design and entertainment, and that STEAM approaches
> are more successful at interesting more diverse students.
>
> Invited Discussants will include: Roger Malina, Nettrice Gaskins:
> Celia Pearce, William Joel
>
>
>
> We are also currently working with Stephen Nowlin who is developing a
> new YASMIN discussion topic
>
> Announcing A Yasmin Discussion: The Problem of the Supernatural: With
> What Science Does Art Pair?
>
> Looking at the way that art-science practice engages with beliefs in
> the supernatural.
>
> Roger Malina
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HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/
