This text examines in detail the issue of the underrepresentation of women, African Americans, American Indians, and Hispanics in the computing disciplines in the U.S. The work reviews the underlying causes, as well as the efforts of various nonprofit organizations to correct the situation, in order to both improve social equity and address the shortage of skilled workers in this area. Topics and features: presents a digest and historical overview of the relevant literature from a range of disciplines, including leading historical and social science sources; discusses the social and political factors that have affected the demographics of the workforce from the end of WWII to the present day; provides historical case studies on organizations that have sought to broaden participation in computing and the STEM disciplines; reviews the different approaches that have been applied to address underrepresentation, at the individual, system-wide, and pathway-focused level; profiles the colleges and universities that have been successful in opening up computer science or engineering to female students; describes the impact of individual change-agents as well as whole organizations.

Examines the highly neglected subject of race in the history of science and technology Reviews the history of women in computing within a larger social and cultural context not found in other studies by computer historians Discusses efforts in STEM and computing education to broaden participation of women and minorities in these fields Highlights the role of professional nonprofit organizations in the history of computing

Autorentext

William Aspray is Senior Research Fellow with the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He has formerly taught at Colorado (Boulder), Harvard, Indiana (Bloomington), Texas (Austin), and Williams in departments of mathematical sciences, history of science, or information studies. He has also held senior management positions at the Charles Babbage Institute, Computing Research Association, and the IEEE History Center. He has written on the history of computing and information, information policy, and everyday information behavior. Many years ago, he conducted an oral history interview with Anthony Ralston, the principal editor of the Encyclopedia of Computer Science. David Hemmendinger is Associate Editor in Chief of the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing and has served as its Editor in Chief. He has taught at Antioch, CUNY, Kenyon, Ohio State, Union, and Wright State in divisions of humanities and in departments of philosophy and of computer science. He has written on philosophy, history of science, computer science, computing history, and computing education. He was a co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Computer Science and has written over 20 articles for the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Inhalt

Introduction.- Part I: Digest of Relevant Literatures .- Opening STEM Careers to Women.- Opening STEM Careers to African Americans.- Opening STEM Careers to Hispanics.- Opening STEM Careers to American Indians.- Part II: Case Studies .- Organizations That Help Women to Build STEM Careers.- Organizations That Help Underrepresented Minorities to Build STEM Careers.- Organizations That Help Women Build Computing Careers.- Organizations That Help Underrepresented Minorities Build Computing Careers.- Building Educational Infrastructures for Broadening Participation in Computing.