Jane Margolis, Allan Fisher: Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing (2003)
Filed under book | Tags: · computer games, computing, gender, hacker culture, history of computing, history of technology, technology, women
“The information technology revolution is transforming almost every aspect of society, but girls and women are largely out of the loop. Although women surf the Web in equal numbers to men and make a majority of online purchases, few are involved in the design and creation of new technology. It is mostly men whose perspectives and priorities inform the development of computing innovations and who reap the lion’s share of the financial rewards. As only a small fraction of high school and college computer science students are female, the field is likely to remain a “male clubhouse,” absent major changes.
In Unlocking the Clubhouse, social scientist Jane Margolis and computer scientist and educator Allan Fisher examine the many influences contributing to the gender gap in computing. The book is based on interviews with more than 100 computer science students of both sexes from Carnegie Mellon University, a major center of computer science research, over a period of four years, as well as classroom observations and conversations with hundreds of college and high school faculty. The interviews capture the dynamic details of the female computing experience, from the family computer kept in a brother’s bedroom to women’s feelings of alienation in college computing classes. The authors investigate the familial, educational, and institutional origins of the computing gender gap. They also describe educational reforms that have made a dramatic difference at Carnegie Mellon—-where the percentage of women entering the School of Computer Science rose from 7% in 1995 to 42% in 2000—and at high schools around the country.”
Publisher MIT Press, 2003
ISBN 0262632691, 9780262632690
182 pages
PDF (updated on 2012-7-17)
Comment (0)McKenzie Wark: Gam3r 7h3ory, v. 1.1 (2006)
Filed under wiki book | Tags: · computer games, game studies, game theory
“Together with the Institute for the Future of the Book, I created this website as a way to think to about games. Games, as in computer games, are the subject of my next book, GAM3R 7H30RY. I am interested in two questions.
1. can we explore games as allegories for the world we live in?
2. can there be a critical theory of games?
I thought it would be interesting to share the book in its draft state to see if these questions are something other people might have ideas on or might want to pursue.” (author)
A project of the Institute for the Future of the Book.
Published under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 2.5
Miguel Sicart: The Ethics of Computer Games (2009)
Filed under book | Tags: · computer games, ethics, game studies, gaming
Despite the emergence of computer games as a dominant cultural industry (and the accompanying emergence of computer games as the subject of scholarly research), we know little or nothing about the ethics of computer games. Considerations of the morality of computer games seldom go beyond intermittent portrayals of them in the mass media as training devices for teenage serial killers. In this first scholarly exploration of the subject, Miguel Sicart addresses broader issues about the ethics of games, the ethics of playing the games, and the ethical responsibilities of game designers. He argues that computer games are ethical objects, that computer game players are ethical agents, and that the ethics of computer games should be seen as a complex network of responsibilities and moral duties. Players should not be considered passive amoral creatures; they reflect, relate, and create with ethical minds. The games they play are ethical systems, with rules that create gameworlds with values at play.
Drawing on concepts from philosophy and game studies, Sicart proposes a framework for analyzing the ethics of computer games as both designed objects and player experiences. After presenting his core theoretical arguments and offering a general theory for understanding computer game ethics, Sicart offers case studies examining single-player games (using Bioshock as an example), multiplayer games (illustrated by Defcon), and online gameworlds (illustrated by World of Warcraft) from an ethical perspective. He explores issues raised by unethical content in computer games and its possible effect on players and offers a synthesis of design theory and ethics that could be used as both analytical tool and inspiration in the creation of ethical gameplay.
Publisher MIT Press, 2009
ISBN 0262012650, 9780262012652
Length 280 pages