Geek Tragedy?Lack of Diversity in Computer Science
Demographic “Crisis”
• Written about almost as long as the Software “Crisis”.
• 88% of CS graduates are male
• Only 10% of graduates are non-asian minorities, despite making up 30% of the population
• Self-reported reasons to choose another major:– Too “nerdy”– Too male dominated– I am not good with computers
• Geek/Nerd/Fan culture consistently theorized to be a large part of the problem– False Stereotype– True Stereotype
Theoretical Problems• Geek culture is mainstreaming
– Nintendo Wii– Comic book movies
• Most geek culture is demographically more diverse than computer science– Con attendence is almost gender balanced– 1 out of 2 black men own game consoles– Black men are more likely to read comic books than
their caucasian counterparts
• Producer ceiling
Are the Stereotypes true?
• Three populations:– General– Engineering– CS Majors
• Two Stages:– Categorize items (activities, media) as more
likely to be enjoyed by CS or non-CS majors– See how the three populations actually feel
about these items
• Correlation with stereotype:– CS: .122
– Eng: -.01
– Gen: -.05
• CS Majors; correlation was significantly different than the general population
• CS Majors’ correlation was not significantly differen than their fellow engineers
• Stereotype accounted for less than 1% of the variance