On May 30, 2008 the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota will present a day-long public conference devoted to a much-needed examination of gender and computing. While the National Science Foundation and other policy actors have devoted immense resources to increasing women’s participation in computing, over the past two decades there has been a striking drop in women’s participation in computing education and a corresponding tail-off in the U.S. workforce. Clearly, an important “missing piece” is yet to be discovered. This international conference examines gender and the diverse uses of computing in offices, libraries, schools, mass media, and the computing profession.

I will be presenting a paper called “Making Programming Masculine.”

Registration for the conference is open until 20 May 2008. More information can be found here.