Girls like to share...

In researching, I discovered that girls crave social interaction and use technology as a mode of communication. They also like to work collaboratively and seek approval for their capabilities. A great way to encourage inclusion is to not only dispell the myth that all computer careers lead to solitary confinement in an office cubicle, but also to build classroom or extracurricular communities using social media and gaming.

Heo and Myrick (2007) reported on a successful "Girl's Computing Club" project for high school girls centered on the exploration of Computer Science as a career through a wiki and IM with mentors. The girls responded positively to mastering new technologies and overcame a chief barrier in domain identification and eradicated a negative professional prototype. As one member noted: "I thought it would be all about coding and boring things. But now I know that it's a lot of fun and would like to incorporate it into my future job."

In Norway, teens increasingly attend computer parties. Girls describe themselves as "chatterers", where boys dub themselves as "programmers". Interestingly, although the girls also game and program they "do gender'' and dissasociate with what is perceived a male domain (Faulkner & Lie, 2007). Though girls aren't metacognitively able to see that computers do not inherently have a gender attribute, these parties might merit further exploration by educators.

Gaming also provides an avenue for breaking barriers; I discovered two projects that involve girls in game design. The first is SITCOM (Simulating IT Careers for Women); the role-playing game, utilizing a participatory design with girls ages 12-16, highlights six careers in scientific careers that have a strong IT component (Zauchner & Zens, 2007). The educational game available in eight languages, designed for teen girls; though sometimes evaluated as too easy, did win an award and should send a strong message to game developers that digital inclusion is important.

The second initiative in gaming is the "Games 4 Girls" program through the University of Illinois. Here female IT students act as mentors by creating games to inspire girls in high school to pursue IT careers. The game design competition, held annually, is judged and awarded by its target audience. Sonya Harris, the outreach coordinator for the Department of Computer Science speaks positively of the program: "Many of them are already interested in CS, but are misled to believe that it is difficult and boring. When they play the games designed by college woman (sic), they become inspired to want to learn how to do the same thing."

(Please see the sidebar for gaming links)