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Google Conducted Hollywood 'Interventions' To Change Look of Computer Scientists (usatoday.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the don't-judge-a-book-by-its-cover dept.

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.

9 of 644 comments (clear)

  1. Well... by argStyopa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    " 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.."
    So it's not INACCURATE, just uninspiring.

    Because *everything* needs to be about achieving purported social justice agendas?

    --
    -Styopa
    1. Re: Well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I saw a video a few weeks back that made a lot of sense: women are more risk averse than men.

      So the solution is for Google to stop going after the best of the best. Cut everyone's salary by 10, and hire 10 times more people with no expectations that any of them will be more than middling. Rather than keep all the jobs in high risk high reward silicon valley, set up low cost work sites in every major city, McDonald's style.

      So, what have we accomplished here?

      1. You don't need to risk moving to California.

      2. You don't need to risk getting a degree you might not like.

      3. You don't need to risk applying for a top job where you have to take all sorts of crazy tests to prove you're the best of the best of the best.

      You have a career at Google as a normal, boring, low risk low reward career. You can apply for it out of high school and have a good chance of getting one of the many Google jobs in every city.

      How far is Google willing to get more women in tech? Are they willing to do this?

    2. Re: Well... by doctorvo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      While those types of developers do exist, they are not the norm. But they are the norm in Hollywood, which is what Google has been trying to fix.

      And by "fixing" you mean replacing an inaccurate stereotype with social-justice propaganda that is even more removed from reality?

  2. Yeah hollywood by guruevi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    At least make it consistent with reality and either put in a Chinese undergrad or underpaid Indian dude.

    --
    Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    1. Re:Yeah hollywood by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 5, Interesting

      At least make it consistent with reality

      The whole purpose of this is NOT to be consistent with reality, and NOT show things as they really are. The goal is to create an illusionist Utopia la-la land where everyone rides winged unicorns, where minorities ARE the majority, all races just absolutely love each other, Muslim terrorists drop the van keys and mount flowers on their machetes and swords, etc.

      Hmmm . . . so they call this practice "Intervention" . . . I'd call it censorship++. This is stuff the former East German Stasi Secret Police used to do with televisions programs there. The scripts were inspected and "re-written be conform with Socialist Ideology.

      TV shows that are reality-space-time-Schrödinger's-Cat-In-Your-Laptop-warped crazy propaganda tend to be unintentionally funny.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  3. rappers by musikit · · Score: 5, Insightful

    i dont see many white males represented in rap videos. i guess that is the reason that there is a under representation of white males in rap. we should start a change.org petition demanding that white males be equally represented in rap videos in order to grow the number of white males in rap

    1. Re:rappers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They are in the minority? Given that whites outnumber blacks about 5:1, shouldn't we expect - nay, DEMAND - that rap stars also have the same racial background proportions? For every black rapper, we need 5 white rappers. For every black basketball player, we need 5 white basketball players.

      And don't even get me started on gender and teachers and nurses - or even college students! Right now, there is a massive imbalance in gender in college, with women making up about 64% of all undergrads, but just 50% of the population, meaning we need to kick many of them out and replace them with men! And fat people, we need MORE representation of fat people EVERYWHERE, given they are the majority of US population. Models, TV/film actors, CEOs, soldiers, etc.

      We need to make sure that each demographic is proportionately represented in any aspect of society. After all, white male lives matter. We need equal rights for all, and we must use the SJW metric of equality - that every race, gender, religion is equally represented in all aspects of life, according to their prevalence in society as a whole! Until we have 100% strictly-quota-aligned employment in society, then society is inherently evil and must be torn down. Right?

  4. Will this effort target the "other direction" too? by bogaboga · · Score: 5, Insightful

    According to a 2015 USC report, President Obama was kept abreast of efforts to challenge media's stereotypical portrayals of women...

    This news piece talks of the absence of male teachers.

    I'd like to have an effort targeted to this imbalance too. Google, anyone?

  5. Power corrupts by fyngyrz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Power corrupts.

    Back when Google behaved well - text ads, "do no evil", non-commercial search result ranking - they were new, and essentially powerless.

    However, Google acquired considerable power consequent to its abandonment of those good behaviors. Corruption breeds more corruption; corruption also breeds power.

    It's no surprise that they have now decided to impose social engineering on the population at large. The only remaining question is if the current trend in their behavior will be impacted by any challengers. Doesn't really look like it.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.