By Jean J. Ryoo & Jane Margolis, Civics of Technology
We recently published ¡Conectados! – the Spanish version of our graphic novel, Power On!. From the start, our goal for publishing Power On! was to translate our prior research – about why so few students of color and women were learning Computer Science – into a medium that would be engaging for a diverse population of youth, families, educators, and friends. We wanted to talk about why underrepresentation of Students of Color and women in tech really matters and share the story of Computer Science (CS) education through the perspectives, lives, and voices of the students themselves.
But as soon as we published the English version, we knew that “translating research” wasn’t enough: We wanted to translate the book into multiple languages and accessible formats too. Translation into Spanish was particularly important to us because in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest district in the country where we have conducted years of research in partnership with CS teachers and administrators, 73% of students identify as Hispanic and 44% speak Spanish at home. Furthermore, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the US (specifically 23% of the population speaks Spanish). At the same time, Latine students are some of the least represented in Computer Science and tech fields due to institutionalized racism and segregation in schools. We wanted to make sure that the ideas from the book about equity and computing were reaching the communities which the story is meant to serve.
The story of Power On! and ¡Conectados! is centered on four friends about to enter high school. Scrolling through their cell phones while at their favorite diner, one friend reads a news alert about a police shooting in their neighborhood caused by a biased AI facial recognition system. Upset, the friends ask: “Who makes this stuff?” And, “Can AI and robots be racist?” Investigating further, they find out more about technology gathering vast amounts of private information without us realizing it. One of the friends, Christine, becomes worried and alarmed at how this new world of AI and technology could be used by ICE for racially motivated purposes against her father, who is an undocumented immigrant. The friends make a pact to all take Computer Science classes when they enter high school to learn more about how this technology works and what they can do to address these growing problems with computing and AI.
