Race, Technology, and Communal Healing: Leveraging Computer Science Technologies to Address Black Death and Dying in Exploring Computer Science Classrooms

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 27
  In Roundtable Session: Identity, Activism, and Resistance

Abstract

This study examines how Girls of Color use computer science technologies to understand, address and heal from instances of Black death and dying both in the media and in their communities. The context for the study is a 9th grade Exploring Computer Science classroom in a public high school in Southern California. The study focuses on two self-directed CS projects created by four (4) self-identified Black girls. The first project, which was inspired by the deaths of several neighborhood friends, was a website aimed at reducing gun violence in South Central. The second project, which was a response to the gruesome murder of Nipsey Hussle, was an e-textile mural aimed at educating the broader community about Hussle’s commitment to community activism.

Author

• Tiera Tanksley, University of California - Irvine