Issue 19

the Week of April 6, 2015
Dark red sunset over a body of water.

In this issue, we feature articles on corporate surveillance, cultural appropriation and exploitation of Asians in tech, and how the learn-to-code complex pushes people into developer roles. We discuss domestic violence and online spaces, tech’s harmful attitudes towards sex work, and accessibility in social media. Plus, ageism in technology, the truth about open source culture, and gentrification and power dynamics as human context. Photo CC-BY Pedro Ribeiro Simões, cropped and filtered.

A ruler in the sand, with 34, 35 and 36 inch demarcations.

Silicon Valley’s Other Diversity Problem: Age Bias in Tech

The open-mindedness that permits very young people to succeed in tech goes out the window when it comes to the other end of the age spectrum.

Rainbow-toned smoke coming from recently-extinguished candles.

Things Left Unspoken: Erasure in Online Discussion of Domestic Violence

In speaking about domestic violence online, we must be inclusive of those that do not fit the traditional narrative.

A street in Cuba, electric wires hanging in between lines of storefronts and residences. It's a beautiful sunny day and people are walking down the street in the distance.

Context as Crisis: The Street is a Book

The changing faces and storefronts reveal another chapter in the long ugly history of race and power.

Stencils on the wall reading 'stage right' and 'stage left', with arrows.

Opening the Tech Pipeline to Non-Developers

What message are we sending about the tech industry to people who don’t want to be developers, after all?

A mobile phone with various social media icons, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest and others.

UX of People with Disabilities: Advancing Accessibility in Social Media

The power and promise of social media is still out of reach for some people with disabilities who do not have the same ease-of-use and benefits as non-disabled users.

A miniature of a hazmat zone, with small figures dressed in containment suits investigating a spill.

Feminists in Tech: Please Stop Treating Sex Work as a Contagion

We love to talk about diversity and bringing marginalized women into tech. But our biases against sex work are biases against the very marginalized women we wish to include.

Railroad tracks.

Damaged Karma: Commoditization and Exploitation of Asians in Tech

Cultural appropriations perpetuate stereotypes, disrespect and exploit Asian culture, and reflect an industry-wide disdain for Asian people and culture.

This issue is made possible in part by some of our generous readers: Henry Joseph, Paul Mederos, Matt Rogish, Mike Hall, James Turnbull, Normandie Wilson, Shelly Carpenter, Erik Cunningham, Brian V. Hughes, Zee Spencer and Jez Humble.