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Unseen images of Colossus code breaking computer

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Unseen images of Colossus code breaking computer

#21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds contrived to me but I'll give the benefit of the doubt. Is there any evidence that women have more trouble with computer programs or are less well served compared to men? Even if so, wouldn't that require more female product owners etc rather than more programmers?

Things do come up sometimes but it's a question of do you need exact 50:50 representation or is it enough to ensure there's a voice for each sex. danah boyd pointed out to VR researchers she was working with that their product was "sexist" because it made assumptions about vision that were far more true for males than females. But she used the word sexist in a narrow way to just point out that vision fact, not to mak…

VR/AR/XR is a very good example. Meta’s headsets and most 3rd party straps still default to a top strap that runs along the center of the head front to back. For any woman that wears their hair in a ponytail or bun this is a no-go.

That design makes it really hard to demo product to 50+% of the population. I always seek out replacement straps that have an extra front strap instead of a center strap for this reason. And still very few men who work in the industry are aware of this despite that I’ve been working in AR/VR for a decade.

This might seem like a product failure, but in a software company there are far more programmers than product managers. It would only take a couple females writing software for the headset all day to point out how uncomfortable it is.

Re: Unseen images of Colossus code breaking computer

#22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds contrived to me but I'll give the benefit of the doubt. Is there any evidence that women have more trouble with computer programs or are less well served compared to men? Even if so, wouldn't that require more female product owners etc rather than more programmers?

Things do come up sometimes but it's a question of do you need exact 50:50 representation or is it enough to ensure there's a voice for each sex. danah boyd pointed out to VR researchers she was working with that their product was "sexist" because it made assumptions about vision that were far more true for males than females. But she used the word sexist in a narrow way to just point out that vision fact, not to mak…

[flagged]

Re: Unseen images of Colossus code breaking computer

#23

Please note that images of computers from this era nearly always have women at the "terminal". Women are the ones who invented programming. Spread the word. We need more women in our field. See for example https://www.jstor.org/stable/25147356 and https://doi.org/10.7275/yen8-qn18

> We need more women in our field. Why?

Two non-egalitarian reasons might be:

* The kind of teams that are hostile to female programmers are usually hostile about lots of other things too, and hence are less pleasant places to work.

* Female programmers tend to be better communicators than male programmers. While all the “true wizards” I have known have been male, you need wizardry about 1% of the time, but you need to communicate about 100% of the time.

Re: Unseen images of Colossus code breaking computer

#24

Please note that images of computers from this era nearly always have women at the "terminal". Women are the ones who invented programming. Spread the word. We need more women in our field. See for example https://www.jstor.org/stable/25147356 and https://doi.org/10.7275/yen8-qn18

> We need more women in our field. Why?

My own take is if something is that valuable, it should be owned by everybody.

Re: Unseen images of Colossus code breaking computer

#25
post #7

Please note that images of computers from this era nearly always have women at the "terminal". Women are the ones who invented programming. Spread the word. We need more women in our field. See for example https://www.jstor.org/stable/25147356 and https://doi.org/10.7275/yen8-qn18

Maybe the data entry bit was seen as more of a secretarial role, rather than an engineering one?

The voice of the Star Trek onboard computers, Majel Barrett, was romantically involved with the executive producer, Gene Roddenberry, and she was also able to land roles as supporting characters throughout her lifetime.

Re: Unseen images of Colossus code breaking computer

#26

Please note that images of computers from this era nearly always have women at the "terminal". Women are the ones who invented programming. Spread the word. We need more women in our field. See for example https://www.jstor.org/stable/25147356 and https://doi.org/10.7275/yen8-qn18

> We need more women in our field. Why?

To flip the question around: why is it OK to have industries (any industry, really) dominated by men?

Re: Unseen images of Colossus code breaking computer

#27

Please note that images of computers from this era nearly always have women at the "terminal". Women are the ones who invented programming. Spread the word. We need more women in our field. See for example https://www.jstor.org/stable/25147356 and https://doi.org/10.7275/yen8-qn18

> Women are the ones who invented programming.

Hmm?

Re: Unseen images of Colossus code breaking computer

#28

Please note that images of computers from this era nearly always have women at the "terminal". Women are the ones who invented programming. Spread the word. We need more women in our field. See for example https://www.jstor.org/stable/25147356 and https://doi.org/10.7275/yen8-qn18

> Women are the ones who invented programming. Hmm?

Specifically Ada Lovelace described what we’d now call computer programs in her own language while assisting in the creation of adding machines.

She’s widely regarded as the first programmer.

Re: Unseen images of Colossus code breaking computer

#29
The photo of the Wrens has been published before. I was once sheltering from the rain in the doorway at Bletchley Park, along with an elderly lady. She turned out to be Dorothy du Boisson, the woman on the left in the photo. I happened to have a book with that photo on me, and she pointed herself out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Du_Boisson

Re: Unseen images of Colossus code breaking computer

#30
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Women are the ones who invented programming. Hmm?

Specifically Ada Lovelace described what we’d now call computer programs in her own language while assisting in the creation of adding machines. She’s widely regarded as the first programmer.

Sure.

The statement quoted above, however, is childish.

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