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Google Conducted Hollywood 'Interventions' To Change Look of Computer Scientists (usatoday.com)
theodp writes: Most TV computer scientists are still white men," USA Today reports. "Google wants to change that. Google is calling on Hollywood to give equal screen time to women and minorities after a new study the internet giant funded found that most computer scientists on television shows and in the movies are played by white men. The problem with the hackneyed stereotype of the socially inept, hoodie-clad white male coder? It does not inspire underrepresented groups to pursue careers in computer science, says Daraiha Greene, Google CS in Media program manager, multicultural strategy." According to a Google-funded study conducted by Prof. Stacy L. Smith and the Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Google's Computer Science in Media team conducted "CS interventions" with "like-minded people" to create "Google influenced storytelling." The executive summary for a USC study entitled Cracking the Code: The Prevalence and Nature of Computer Science Depictions in Media notes that "Google influenced" TV programs include HBO's Silicon Valley and AMC's Halt and Catch Fire. The USC researchers also note that "non-tech focused programs may offer prime opportunities to showcase CS in unique and counter-stereotypical ways. As the Google Team moves forward in its work with series such as Empire, Girl Meets World, Gortimer Gibbons Life on Normal Street, or The Amazing Adventures of Gumball, it appears the Team is seizing these opportunities to integrate CS into storytelling without a primary tech focus." The study adds, "In the case of certain series, we provided on-going advisement. The Fosters, Miles from Tomorrowland, Halt and Catch Fire, Ready, Jet, Go, The Powerpuff Girls and Odd Squad are examples of this. In addition to our continuing interactions, we engaged in extensive PR and marketing support including social media outreach, events and press."
Google's TV interventions have even spilled over into public education -- one of Google-sponsored Code.org's signature Hour of Code tutorials last December was Gumball's Coding Adventure, inspired by the Google-advised Cartoon Network series, The Amazing Adventures of Gumball. "We need more students around the world pursuing an education in CS, particularly girls and minorities, who have historically been underrepresented in the field," explains a Google CS First presentation for educators on the search giant's Hour of Code partnership with Cartoon Network. "Based on our research, one of the reasons girls and underrepresented minorities are not pursuing computer science is because of the negative perception of computer scientists and the relevance of the field beyond coding." According to a 2015 USC report, President Obama was kept abreast of efforts to challenge media's stereotypical portrayals of women; White House Visitor Records show that USC's Smith, the Google-funded study's lead author, and Google CS Education in Media Program Manager Julie Ann Crommett (now at Disney) were among those present when the White House Council on Women and Girls met earlier that year with representatives of the nation's leading toy makers, media giants, retailers, educators, scientists, the U.S. Dept. of Education, and philanthropists.
Google's TV interventions have even spilled over into public education -- one of Google-sponsored Code.org's signature Hour of Code tutorials last December was Gumball's Coding Adventure, inspired by the Google-advised Cartoon Network series, The Amazing Adventures of Gumball. "We need more students around the world pursuing an education in CS, particularly girls and minorities, who have historically been underrepresented in the field," explains a Google CS First presentation for educators on the search giant's Hour of Code partnership with Cartoon Network. "Based on our research, one of the reasons girls and underrepresented minorities are not pursuing computer science is because of the negative perception of computer scientists and the relevance of the field beyond coding." According to a 2015 USC report, President Obama was kept abreast of efforts to challenge media's stereotypical portrayals of women; White House Visitor Records show that USC's Smith, the Google-funded study's lead author, and Google CS Education in Media Program Manager Julie Ann Crommett (now at Disney) were among those present when the White House Council on Women and Girls met earlier that year with representatives of the nation's leading toy makers, media giants, retailers, educators, scientists, the U.S. Dept. of Education, and philanthropists.
More SJW bullshit. Or course, we now know that's really the only thing Google cares about, now that they proved it by firing an employee who voiced an opinion they didn't like.
In real life most blacks are either criminals, crackhead welfare mammies with 7 kids from 7 different men, or just lazy and worthless. Why should television be any different.
In real life, very few women are competent at anything technical and ever fewer are willing to put in the hard work and long hours needed to advance a career. Why should television be any different.
You're suggesting that computer geeks aren't primarily male, or primarily white/asian... In other words, you're a delusional moron.
First, look around you. We all know people who fit the stereotype, and they seem to cluster around tech more than other fields, because tech is a "safe space" for guys who are inept at interacting with others, especially with women. That there are fewer women is secretly, to them, a huge bonus. Far fewer reminders of their inadequacies, of what they can't have.
As for your question of why would teenagers want to go into such a career, there are plenty of alienated, self-isolating teenage boys who are attracted to the idea of working somewhere without the social challenges that rub their noses into the fact that someone who spends all their time on computers and video games with like-minded and like-afflicted guys is, over the long term and in the larger scheme of things, a loser.
Before tech, these guys would have gone into other socially isolating jobs, as a reassuring distraction that they've got nothing much going on otherwise.
It's not just IT - take a look at all the guys now in their 20s and 30s (and 40s) whose "social life" is limited to playing video games with other guys or by themselves.
In the past, these guys didn't have such activities (coding and video games) to retreat into, so often life would eventually intrude insistently enough that they'd develop at least some wider interests, and by dint of continuous exposure lose some of their fear of women. Not any more.
We're conducting a vast experiment in eugenics - will those "bros" who fail to breed in sufficient numbers eventually drop out of the gene pool, leaving the human race more resistant to becoming compulsively focused on a very limited set of activities, or is it like gambling and other addictions, where there will always be a sucker born every minute? Or will women, who hold the keys to future generations, continue to exercise their prerogative of barring entry to those they find unsuitable as partners? This, as much as the toxic environment towards women in much of tech, may help explain why women tend to look to other fields.
After all, how many women want their children to grow up socially isolated and with limited soft skills due to their nerd father's example?
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.