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corinna.bath@gmail.com
Corinna Bath is a doctoral candidate at the Computer Science Department at Bremen University, Germany. One of her long standing goals is to implement gender studies, feminist theory and social studies of science and technology as subjects of science and technology at universities. Her dissertation thesis will provide theoretical foundations constituting the field of gender studies in computer science.
Corinna is mathematician by training (Diploma in mathematics/ logic at the Free University of Berlin). As a research assistant at the Technical University of Berlin, the University of Applied Sciences Anhalt, and Bremen University, all in Germany, she did research and teaching in mathematics, logic, theoretical computer science, applied computer science, computer science and society as well as gender studies in computer science. Furthermore, she is a guest lecturer at the University of Klagenfurt and the Technical University of Vienna, Austria. Corinna recently finished the research project “Sociality with machines” at the Department of Philosophy of Science at Vienna University, Austria, which focussed on aspects of anthropomorphizing and gendering in current software agent research and robotics.
Her main research areas are gender studies in computer science, feminist science and technology studies, foundations of computer science, and transdisciplinarity. She is particularly interested in the design of human-like, socio-emotional software agents and interfaces.
Abstract
Towards a De-gendered Design of Information Technologies.
Feminism, Computer Science, and the Paradigm Shift towards ‚Interaction’
Gender studies in computer science is often understood as the problem of increasing the number of women in the field. This view is based on two shortcomings. First, ‘gender’ is reduced to ‘women’. Second, computer science is regarded as gender neutral. Technology seems to be a ‘given’. Neither the discipline, its culture, its images, nor its theories, methods, basic assumptions or products are questioned.
Contrary to this view, my dissertation thesis examines how ‘gender’ is inscribed into the discipline and its artefacts. The main objective is to provide a careful analysis of gendering processes, in order to explore strategies and methods to design IT “otherwise”. Thus, the thesis focuses on three topics of inquiry, which are fundamental to constituting the field of gender studies in computer science:
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The gendered shaping of the computer science discipline: In which way are academic discourses in computer science gendered (e.g. the debates on methods of software development, disciplinary foundations and the understanding of technology)?
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The gendered shaping of information technologies (IT) as artefacts: How is gender inscribed into IT (e.g. the gendered division of labour, ‘male’ developers’ dreams, gendered assumptions about users, gender representation)? How can technology designers avoid these gendering practices?
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Critical design methodologies for a “feminist” technology design: Which technology design methods in computer science may be applied or adopted in order to model and build “de-gendered” technologies (e.g. participatory design, critical technical practice, reflective design)? What does “de-gendering” in that context mean? Are there limits to such an approach?
Along with the recent paradigm shift in computer science from algorithms to interaction chances seem to arise for a feminist intervention into technology design. Nevertheless, the results of the thesis call for fundamental changes in the methodology and foundations of computer science.
Selected Publications
Corinna Bath: Overcoming the socio-technical divide. A long-term hope in gender studies of computer science. To appear in: TripleC – Cognition, Communication, Co-operation. Open access online journal for the foundation of information science. Special Issue on the European Conference on Computing and Philosophy. http://triplec.uti.at
Jutta Weber, Corinna Bath: "Social" Robots & "Emotional" Software Agents: Gendering Processes and De-gendering Strategies for "Technologies in the Making", in: Jaqueline Archibald, Judy Emms, Frances Grundy, Janet Payne, Eva Turner (eds.): The Gender Politics of ICT. Middlesex University Press. July 2005; 121-131
Corinna Bath, Yvonne Bauer, Bettina Bock von Wülfingen, Angelika Saupe, Jutta Weber (eds.): Materialität denken. Studien zur technologischen Verkörperung. Transcript: Bielefeld 2005
Corinna Bath, Jutta Weber (eds.): Turbulente Körper, soziale Maschinen. Feministische Studien zur Technowissenschaftskultur. Leske + Budrich. Opladen 2003
Corinna Bath: Einschreibung von Geschlecht: Wie lassen sich Technologien feministisch gestalten? In: Jutta Weber, Corinna Bath (eds..): Turbulente Körper, soziale Maschinen. Feministische Studien zur Technowissenschaftskultur. Opladen 2003, 75-95
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