From kirby.urner at gmail.com Tue Feb 3 19:31:08 2015 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2015 10:31:08 -0800 Subject: [Edu-sig] more thoughts on diversity... Message-ID: Link to commentary on a blog post: https://medium.com/@kirbyurner/more-thoughts-silicon-forest-valley-2cf5ce838a4 Original article: https://medium.com/thelist/stop-equating-women-in-tech-with-engineers-e928e9fa1db5 I hope no one has to log in to simply view these things. Kirby -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lac at openend.se Wed Feb 4 19:27:42 2015 From: lac at openend.se (Laura Creighton) Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2015 19:27:42 +0100 Subject: [Edu-sig] more thoughts on diversity... In-Reply-To: Message from kirby urner of "Tue, 03 Feb 2015 10:31:08 -0800." References: Message-ID: <201502041827.t14IRgNS019131@fido.openend.se> There is an important number that is being missed here. What percentage of pitches do VCs hear from women? If 2% of the number of pitches that the VC's hear are from women, and 10% of the number that they fund are from women , then women are more likely to be funded than men --- and to get 50/50 equality all we need to do is to get more women to submit bids. If on the other hand, 20% of the number ... and 10% ... then well, either we have discrimination against women or else the women are new at this, and maybe aren't as polished as the men ... If on the other hand 40% of the number .... and 10% ... then we are clear on the fact that there is systemetic discrimination, sex-based, here. But the numbers matter. If it turns out that VCs are not getting pitches from women, because the women believe they will not be funded in any case -- well, that is something that matters too. maybe this was for diversity, not edu-sig Kirby? Laura From kirby.urner at gmail.com Wed Feb 4 19:49:46 2015 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2015 10:49:46 -0800 Subject: [Edu-sig] more thoughts on diversity... In-Reply-To: <201502041827.t14IRgNS019131@fido.openend.se> References:

<201502041827.t14IRgNS019131@fido.openend.se> Message-ID: On Wed, Feb 4, 2015 at 10:27 AM, Laura Creighton wrote: << ... >> > > maybe this was for diversity, not edu-sig Kirby? > > Laura > > Good points Laura. I know from looking over dad's shoulder when he worked for Egyptian Ministry of Planning, that bids would come from firms, not individuals, but of course one would see a list of names attached and today that'd involve Googling up resumes, looking for what's "out there" on so and so, if it mattered. In dad's case, he was looking at bids to build cities a ways from the Nile. If you've been to Egypt you'll know it hugs the river closely, like a shoe string i.e. that big polygon on the map is not what you'd call "developed". Some of the bids I saw looked very unrealistic and a man or woman with their name attached might therefore seem a member of a foolish dreamer firm. Firms, companies, get reputations. Word of mouth matters. In sum, in this era of corporate personhood it helps to remember that corporations start out gender-neutral unless branded by savvy spin doctors to exude one gender or another. So when we analyze discrimination in the workplace, these "new persons" should be included in our midst (that's the law (smile)). Good point re Diversity. Aahz once listed edu-sig as one of the many Diversity-related resources associated with Python.org and many a university and college has a Diversity office, so I think we're within the bounds of education as well. VCs are what makes the discussion seem alien as private sector wheeler-dealers are what "the cloistered" like to wall themselves away from, but we should at least admit they exist, even within academia (universities have hired people to come in and encourage a more patent- minded culture, a trend which those of us in open source often find offensive and worth countering). Kirby -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kirby.urner at gmail.com Thu Feb 5 03:57:42 2015 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2015 18:57:42 -0800 Subject: [Edu-sig] more thoughts on diversity... In-Reply-To: References:

<201502041827.t14IRgNS019131@fido.openend.se> Message-ID: Yikes my "formatting" above sure came out ugly in the archive: https://mail.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/2015-February/011196.html Pardon my line lengths people! Maybe some of those "re-archivers" (mirrors of edu-sig) will make it look prettier, sigh. Kirby -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kirby.urner at gmail.com Sun Feb 8 16:40:19 2015 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2015 07:40:19 -0800 Subject: [Edu-sig] more thoughts on diversity... In-Reply-To: References:

<201502041827.t14IRgNS019131@fido.openend.se> Message-ID: On Wed, Feb 4, 2015 at 10:49 AM, kirby urner wrote: < . . . > > > Good point re Diversity. Aahz once listed edu-sig as one of the many > Diversity-related resources associated with Python.org and many a > university and college has a Diversity office, so I think we're within the > bounds of education as well. VCs are what makes the discussion seem alien > as private sector wheeler-dealers are what "the cloistered" like to wall > themselves away from, but we should at least admit they exist, even within > academia (universities have hired people to come in and encourage a more > patent-minded culture, a trend which those of us in open source often find > offensive and worth countering). > > Kirby > > I did think of a 100% diversity oriented type post just this morning and sent it over to Aahz's list. Lets see if it generates further discussion. Continuing my thinking above, I do like that this superbowl commercial escaped most criticism, other than an earlier version has been on the Internet a long time so it wasn't actually novel. Still good though, though I'm sure interesting criticisms abound and I could invent some of my own e.g. too much power is given to "film directors" reinforcing a stereotype that we should be bossed by such people. In my view, people need to ask themselves: Am I trying to brand the genders a certain way (e.g. women are more the sweet talkers and guys more the rough talkers. If that's so, I should be prepared to acknowledge I'm doing that. Or: am I trying to erase all idea of gender distinctions mattering and we're not to look at either / any gender "a certain way". I find some people in the latter group rather easily offended when they come across people who think its OK to brand along gender lines i.e. see nothing wrong with a blue aisle and a pink aisle or whatever equivalent (to have cross-gender you need gender in the first place or what's to cross?). Me? I like variety so like being able to hop a jet and find a place where gender matters, sure, but in a different way. And when that gets oppressive, fly somewhere else. Or maybe I just need to make some new friends now and then, expand my bubble. Portland, Oregon abounds with ethnicities, but sometimes one needs to seek them out. We have Newar for example, from Kathmandu valley (my own circle is greatly effected by that fact -- in a good way as I'm showing on Facebook again these days (Lindsey has a new skull cup she just made, wants to eat spaghetti from)). Finding groups where gender really doesn't matter that aren't just cyber can be difficult but if you find one, you may go there to "refresh your rockets" as it were, meaning you'll likely be reinvigorated and be ready for more life in the "real world" as they say. Kirby -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kirby.urner at gmail.com Mon Feb 9 01:53:45 2015 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2015 16:53:45 -0800 Subject: [Edu-sig] more thoughts on diversity... In-Reply-To: References:

<201502041827.t14IRgNS019131@fido.openend.se> Message-ID: On Sun, Feb 8, 2015 at 7:40 AM, kirby urner wrote: > Continuing my thinking above, I do like that this superbowl commercial > escaped most criticism, other than an earlier version has been on the > Internet a long time so it wasn't actually novel. > A link would have helped I think: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2015/02/01/always-super-bowl-2015-commercial-redefining-throw-like-a-girl/ http://youtu.be/XjJQBjWYDTs A lot of us Facebooked an earlier version of this promo earlier. Background comments: I'm interested in commercials, advertising, which of course bleeds over into propaganda of all types, memetics, and so on. Many of us are. To put it casually: some of us watch the superbowl, with a hundred million viewers, to see what the paid-for messages will be, with the game a way of attracting attention to them. Others of us care about the game. I'd say it depends on the game, the most recent one noteworthy (I live in Seahawks country, but congratulations Boston). Kirby -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kirby.urner at gmail.com Thu Feb 19 18:20:05 2015 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2015 09:20:05 -0800 Subject: [Edu-sig] Another Class / Instance metaphor Message-ID: I'm finding a useful metaphor that resonates with my students is the fast food franchise, or really and chain store, petrol station chain or whatever. class KFC: """defines how long to cook the chicken in what batter, also signage, branding""" >>> restaurant_on_sandy_blvd = KFC(lat_long) # from Google KML file shows a specific restaurant getting stamped out by the cookie cutter class template. Here in the USA, we define ourselves in terms of strip malls with franchises. "What's America without White Castle?" Or at least that resonates with some people. Organized religions work the same way. Kirby -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kirby.urner at gmail.com Thu Feb 19 18:28:17 2015 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2015 09:28:17 -0800 Subject: [Edu-sig] Another Class / Instance metaphor In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Thu, Feb 19, 2015 at 9:20 AM, kirby urner wrote: > > I'm finding a useful metaphor that resonates with my students is the fast > food franchise, or really and chain store, petrol station chain or whatever. > sentence = sentence.replace("and chain", "any chain") Here's the illustration to go with the previous post: https://flic.kr/p/owivJq (Anywhere, USA) Kirby -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kurner at oreillyschool.com Sun Feb 22 20:47:46 2015 From: kurner at oreillyschool.com (Kirby Urner) Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2015 11:47:46 -0800 Subject: [Edu-sig] Another Class / Instance metaphor In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Twas pointed out to me off list that just about all the industrialized nations have this same strip mall look and feel, the same franchises everywhere. So where do Americans get off thinking it expresses their culture in particular? I think USAers are uniquely prone to identify all that "lo glo" of neon lit freeway signs ('Anywhere, USA' below) as "American" because they recognize the lifestyle as what they celebrated post WW2 and evangelized during an expansionist era, with one of the biggest McDonald's in Guam. But of course Ben & Jerry's is a subsidiary of the Anglo-Dutch Unilever and Budweiser is owned by a Belgium-based company. Globalization means i18n i.e. customizing one's image to meet local community wants and needs (or to develop them where necessary :-D). http://listverse.com/2008/10/19/top-10-american-icons-that-are-not-american/ Partly why I advocate using the franchise model to teach class / instance in OO is I'm literally interested in applying Python in the world of burger flippers, in part to rescue these low paid workers from dead end jobs, but also to inspire a few to take their emerging systems analysis skills on a deep dive into a career in whatever company's management. As they say on Twitter, for a CEO of today to admit not knowing about IT, is like admitting knowing nothing of Finance. Running a fast food chain is definitely a job for software engineering, even if some people prefer working in bombs over food (armaments being the USA's hallmark export, fast food much lower on the food chain). Kirby On Thu, Feb 19, 2015 at 9:28 AM, kirby urner wrote: > > > On Thu, Feb 19, 2015 at 9:20 AM, kirby urner > wrote: > >> >> I'm finding a useful metaphor that resonates with my students is the fast >> food franchise, or really and chain store, petrol station chain or whatever. >> > > sentence = sentence.replace("and chain", "any chain") > > Here's the illustration to go with the previous post: > https://flic.kr/p/owivJq (Anywhere, USA) > > Kirby > > > > _______________________________________________ > Edu-sig mailing list > Edu-sig at python.org > https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: