Feb. 15, 2024
As the field of computing continues to grow and becomes increasingly diverse, researchers like Dr. Nicki Washington, a professor of the practice of computer science (CS) at Duke University, suggest a new approach is required to make academic and professional settings more inclusive for marginalized groups. Historically, people have been marginalized based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, ability, and socioeconomic status, and marginalization continues to the modern day. Washington explored this marginalization and a new approach in her Feb. 9 talk “Designing to Disrupt in Computing: Why We Should “Color Outside the Lines.””
Washington began the talk by discussing her positionality – how one’s identity influences and biases their worldview – as a Black woman in computing. Washington explained that positionality often ‘others’ people throughout their lives: aspects of one’s identity leads to exclusion, marginalization, or discrimination from others.
“All of us have a unique positionality and a unique set of lived experiences that bring value to what we’re talking about today. But we also have to recognize that our positionality impacts the research we do, how we teach, the policies that we create, and how we interact with each other and with our students personally and with anyone else outside of work or class,” said Washington. “For me, Blackness has been what has othered me in situations throughout my life. I’ve experienced controlling narratives and images that are used to degrade and harm black women. For example, being called aggressive, rude, and disrespectful. These images are used often times to negate our experiences as black women, often because we’re not perceived as subservient or likeable enough.”
Washington then discussed her approach to ‘color outside the lines,’ to create new methods in the field of computing that incorporate the experiences of marginalized groups rather than ignoring or excluding them.
“Marginalized groups have been taught to ‘stay within the lines.’ Traditional solutions are focused on assimilating marginalized groups into the environment that’s already been created rather than working to abolish that environment and create an environment where everyone is included,” explained Washington. “We need to be disruptive in and across spaces. We need to ‘color outside the lines’ – take solutions past the boundaries that have been established in CS of what we can do and what we can teach.”
At Duke University, Washington is implementing this new identity-inclusive computing approach in her course COMPSCI 240: Race, Gender, Class & Computing. The goal of the course is to transform CS knowledge by investigating how identity and positionality affects and is affected by computing.
“We should be thinking about how we can actually incorporate knowledge that students show up with everyday based on their positionality. We should empower students to share their experiences and apply what we’re talking about to what they see in their lives.”
The identity-inclusive computing approach has provided valuable learning experiences for countless of Washington’s students. During her presentation, Washington shared real quotes from students who have previously taken the course.
“This was the first time in the CS department where I felt comfortable and encouraged to share my thoughts with others. I didn’t fear wrong answers, and I didn’t feel ashamed for not knowing something,” said one student after taking COMPSCI 240 at Duke.
Washington also creates systemic change as the director of the Cultural Competence in Computing (3C) Fellows program and through her work at the National Science Foundation-funded Alliance for Identity-Inclusive Computing Education (AiiCE). “Transformation requires a commitment to constant improvement. This is not a mountaintop that you’re ever going to reach,” said Washington. “It’s a consistent, cyclical strategy of always trying to do and be better.”
Learn more about Washington and her work here.
--Alyssa Morales