Making grooves with needles: Using e-textiles to encourage gender diversity in embedded audio systems design
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Stewart, Rebecca
Skach, Sophie
Bin, Astrid
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
Historically, women have been excluded from engineering and computer science disciplines, and interactive audio is no exception. Relatively few women are involved with the designing and building of embedded audio systems with traditional tools such as microprocessors, but when embedded audio systems are built using e-textiles, much larger proportions of women become engaged with technology. In this paper we review theories for this gender disparity and the barriers women face in working with audio technology, and then present a comparison of survey data between an e-textile audio workshop and an audio platform user group. Extrapolating from the case study and the surveyed literature, we propose that flexibility in learning, communal dissemination of knowledge, and gendering of tools are prominent reasons why women engage with technology via e-textiles.
Date Issued
2018-06-09
Date Acceptance
2018-06-09
Citation
Proceedings of the 2018 on Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2018 - DIS '18, 2018, pp.163-172
ISBN
9781450351980
Publisher
ACM Press
Start Page
163
End Page
172
Journal / Book Title
Proceedings of the 2018 on Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2018 - DIS '18
Copyright Statement
© 2018 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM.
Source
2018 Designing Interactive Systems Conference
Publication Status
Published
Start Date
2018-06-09
Finish Date
2018-06-13
Coverage Spatial
Hong Kong
Date Publish Online
2018-06-09