Women in Technology

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  So What?
Subject:   So this
Date:   2007-09-06 15:04:51
From:   lauras
Response to: So this

"Computing science" is a branch of mathematics, and properly so. "IT" is running wires and installing and fixing stuff -- it's construction and maintenance, like plumbing. Programming is like commercial art except the artists have their brains installed backward. :-) User Interface design (including website design) is graphic art, and the artists are normal (for artists :-) ."

Yet is computer science properly relegated to a branch of mathematics only? Does not that inherently limit the potential horizons of CS itself? In other words, while the existing academic hierarchies may be convenient for academia, is it really useful in the real world?

Recently one of our developers spoke at a meeting of a CS club at a major university in the area. Out of 15 people, only 3 knew anything about open source. That shocked me when I heard it -- and this was a club, where the students were not just CS majors but hobbyists. That leads me to wonder whether CS as a field of study is well served in its ivory tower.

(More OT: I'd also say that user interface design is a lot more than graphic art. That misconception seems to be why so many things may look good but don't function well. Doesn't proper user interface design involve architecture and human behavior understanding, too?)