Claudia Hilderbrand thinks so. The computer science graduate student in the College of Engineering is working with other students and Oregon State faculty and staff to remove biases in the university’s IT infrastructure and websites.
These biases arise when websites aren’t flexible enough to support the different ways people problem-solve. Further, because of individual differences in the ways men and women problem-solve, the biases affect more women than men. Thanks to a method called the Gender Inclusiveness Magnifier, also known as GenderMag, these biases are now easier to identify.
GenderMag is a method for web and IT professionals. It includes three personas to represent ranges of differences in how people interact with technology. Web professionals choose one of the personas to find problems stemming from how different people interact with the same technology. For example, using GenderMag for a scenario like adding a friend on Facebook, the web professionals may realize that one type of user may have more trouble with the “friend” button due to the website layout, while another finds it easy to follow.
This reveals how the website is inadvertently keeping some people out of the loop.
“This method is eye-opening for developers and others involved in the design of their product,” Hilderbrand says. “They realize they’ve been excluding a subset of the population that doesn’t match their way of thinking.”
Hilderbrand’s graduate work revolves around bringing this method to software development teams. Of everything she’s discovered so far, Hilderbrand says one of the most fascinating revelations was that teams have adopted the practice of displaying these personas throughout the office and keeping them in conversation, as a constant reminder to build gender inclusive content.
Following graduation, Hilderbrand’s work in gender inclusivity will continue. She plans to become a user experience designer and create new interfaces that accommodate all groups of people. Hilderbrand’s research helps us understand how biases influence and impact our daily lives. Better yet, she’s working to eliminate those biases.