The Information Asymmetry of "Color-Blind" Computer Science Curricula: Confronting Racism Through Community, Criticality, and Citizenship

• In Event: Centering Equity in STEM+C Education

Abstract

The unexamined power and prejudice embedded within technologies and societies has led to direct harm to individuals of color, minoritized groups, and the US ideal of a multi-racial democracy. Rather than an accident of AI or a “glitch” of the system, these inequities highlight the invisible and oppressive architecture, a “New Jim Code” (Benjamin, 2019) encoded into the bones of the technology. At the same time, computer science education has grown considerably over the last decade. In this paper, we argue that CS instruction needs to center justice, anti-racism, and community using information asymmetry and lead user innovation.

Authors

• Aman Yadav, Michigan State University

• Marie K. Heath, Loyola University Maryland