Blog post, due Monday 4/15: Reflect on the sessions with the External Speakers so far: Vernelle Noel, Joshua Ogure, or the Recurse Center speakers.
Were there any surprises? Are you noticing any trends in the how these speakers approach the intersection of diversity and technology? Any outliers? Do you think that these speakers require diversity for their work in technology? How so?
- It was really interesting to see each of the speakers' different approach to creating more diverse technology. Vernelle used technology to create art and incorporate the idea of "makers" and "making" something with your own hands while still using technology. She sought to be inclusive of the creatives and those fields and people who still require a human aspect such as in architecture. Joshua Ogure's technology was more clear in how he approached the intersection of diversity and technology. With his app, Map Kibera, he actively worked to put Kibera on government recognized maps, which ultimately sought to include a group of neglected peoples. The app also allowed women and young people of Kenya to get involved with mapping and technology. The recurse center also had a more clear correlation between the intersection of diversity and technology. They established space for people of all educational and socio-economic backgrounds to learn and and advance their programming skill as the help to get their student out into the industry. For me, Vernelle Noel was more of an outlier as it was not as clear what her the intersection between technology and diversity was for her.
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