Computer Scientists, are we showing all the role models?

 

If you do a search in google with the term “computer scientist” you will realise that at first glance most of the results you get are men, and all are white. 

Image 1: Google search results “computer scientist”. Source: google search, 4th Feb 2020

However, with little research one will discover that this does not represent with fairness the story of computer science. William Lau, a computer science teacher who has a great amount of excellent resources for Computer Science teachers in his page, did a great poster which shows the diversity of the pioneers in tech, highlighting that there were and are many women and non-white people that have done a huge contribution to what today computer science is. 

  

Image 2: BAME Pioneers in Tech. Source: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/5/folders/12VdfGYg1eLV1vCxXHtV-5xMbJRg7BzZ4

 The poster is fantastic, showing clearly how pioneering work comes from different places, and that there is representation from all genders and races. Because it talks about pioneers, you might think that this is part of the past, but even today if you would ask a student to name a relevant computer scientist, if he can think of one, you will probably hear the likes of Mark Zucherberg, Bill Gates or Steve Jobs.

 But it is not about the name, or if his biggest achievement is really linked with computer science, or if it is more about marketing, is the fact students have them as the image of successful computer scientists. And the reason is what they have learned, mainly from what they have seen on the internet or in the news. That is why everyone, and especially computer science teachers, need to emphasize and teach from early ages the diversity present in computer science and technology.

Perhaps the first example that needs to be highlighted to address diversion and inclusion is Alan Turing. Wait a second, but why, isn’t he white and male? Firstly, I think he is the most influential person in modern computer science and artificial intelligence. I must admit that as a proud adopted Mancunian I might be a little subjective as he lived in Manchester for the last part of his life and is still well remembered in this city . But what is most important, is that if he was living today, he might not consider himself He. In his imaginary Twitter account, it might say: Alan Turing, “She, her, hers”. (You can read this article from bbc or this other one if you want to understand more about why people are including “he, his, him”, “she, her, hers”, “ they, them, theirs” in their signatures). I think that just saying the most influential computer scientist is a white man and not mentioning he died as a criminal for his homosexuality is a lost opportunity to teach students some history and a role model that will improve inclusion in computer science. 

In this link you can find good examples of the most influential computer scientists that can be included in lessons and resources. It is not fully balanced, but there is representation of all genders and races.

Furthermore, and understanding that young people might be more impressed by figures who also have an impact in the marketing and business side of technology, and not only with those that have had an impact only in the scientific part of it, there are also plenty of good examples in that area too, as it can be seen in this year 40 under 40 fortune list . In the following table you can see a selection of the ones that have captured my attention (ordered alphabetically by name):  

	Carmela Troncoso	Professor at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, she helped lead the push to build a system that stores temporary, anonymized contact data on a user’s phone, rather than on a central server, making hacks or misuse much harder. The system’s design (along with similar ideas) helped guide Apple and Google’s development of a shared contact-tracing protocol, which is now being used by contact-tracing apps across Europe and the U.S.
	Elizabeth Hamon Reid	Head of engineering for Google’s “geo” university, she has led Google Maps’ technical response to the coronavirus pandemic, adding critical features, such as the ability to locate COVID-19 testing centers, to find restaurants with takeout and delivery services, and to support local businesses through donations and gift card purchases.
	Erin Thomas	VP, head of diversity, inclusion, and belonging and talent acquisition at Upwork, a Silicon Valley platform for freelancers.  She is making her mark on the tech world by pushing her company and the industry around her to hold themselves accountable and to embrace actions and metrics, not just intentions and words.
	God-is Rivera	Twitter’s global director of culture and community. As per her LinkedIn summary: A passionate inclusion and community advocate determined to utilize a decade of a wide range of experience in digital strategy and problem solving to help affect positive change in the tech, marketing and advertising industries.
	Rebecca Elizabeth Lipon Weekly	An MIT-trained electrical engineer and computer scientist who joined Intel in 2015, Weekly is also a professionally trained dancer and lead singer of a funk and soul band Sinister Dexter.
	Shivani Siroya	Founder at CEO at Tala. With Tala, the mobile lending app she founded in 2011, Shivani Siroya is bringing the fintech revolution to consumers in emerging markets like Kenya, the Philippines, India, and Mexico, by extending microloans to individuals in these markets.
	Vanessa Guthrie	Head of Snapchat Originals. Since joining Snap in 2016, the 39-year-old executive has helped create more than 100 mobile programs that attract a growing audience.
	Ya Xu	Head of LinkedIn’s global data science team, Ya Xu’s role is to create strategies for managing and using all of that information so that users receive relevant job recommendations and hiring updates.

Table 1: Examples of computer science female roles. Source: https://fortune.com/40-under-40/

 

You would have realised that some of the people are not pure computer scientists, but I think that they are still relevant because not only they might have a bigger impact in younger people, but also they have roles over topics which are covered in the computer science curriculum. I am sure there are many other amazing people in computer science and technology, and there may be better examples (see  10-amazing-female-computer-scientists-youve-probably-never-heard and  women-computer-tech-role-models/ ), but I think these illustrate that computer science and technology is much more diverse and inclusive than it is pictured.

  On the other hand, you might argue that there is a clear focus on women, but well, that was the point, and although there is nothing wrong with being men and white, there are too many examples of that already. Moreover, the data shows that girls continue to be heavily underrepresented in computer science, as shown in 2017 Roehampton report. , and not only in the UK, but across all the world ( PISA report shows that in all countries studied  in average only 25% students doing Computer Science are girls ). One of the reasons for this is the lack of role models in computer science (explained in this article ).

Mentioning some of these women in a lesson and/or making them visible in our society can have a huge impact on changing the false perception that computer science is for men. An idea for teachers could be doing a simple starter. Just using the information from the table above the students will have to match the picture with the name and description. It is simple, but it gives visibility to diverse and female role models. BAME pioneers from Image 2 can also be included. 

One final concept to consider is that having diversity in the people that create the technology of the future, will also impact on the products created and will bring new perspectives to the socio-technical imaginaries. An example could be this article of Shivani Siroya,  where she explains that diversity and inclusion was not enough, and how a need for equality inspired her to create her now very successful start-up company

I hope this article helps people understand how inclusive and diverse computer science is and has been, and that also inspires teachers to show it in their lessons. Every little count to make sure we have a diverse and inclusive range of computer scientists, and more needs to be done to make sure it continues to be this way and that it improves in the future.

Luis Escorihuela