Gender HCI: What About the Software?

  • Jeff Running, Microsoft

Although there have been many studies designed to understand and ameliorate the low representation of females in computing, there has
been little research into how software itself fits into the picture.
This talk reports the investigations we have been conducting into whether and how software and its features affect females’ and males’
performance in computing tasks. Our focus is on how “gender-neutral”
software interacts with gender differences. Specifically, we have concentrated on software aimed at supporting everyday users doing problem solving. For example, what if females would be better at problem-solving, using software such as Excel, if the software were changed to take gender differences into account?

    • Portrait of Jeff Running

      Jeff Running

Watch Next