Equity in Computing

Architectural production – from 3D modeling, to writing, to social media – relies upon computing: the use of computers. Computing is made possible by software and hardware, tools with unique histories and logics. These tools are not neutral but rather they are encoded with the biases of both their creators and end users. Understanding and making legible these biases, and how they influence the production of architecture, is crucial to deconstructing, designing, and deploying computing toward a more equitable future.

This was an undergraduate elective 3-credit seminar,  taught by Shelby Doyle, for the first time in Fall 2020 during COVID-19. The course was delivered online and during a shortened semester: 14 weeks of instruction and 1 week for final exams. It consisted of consist of readings, lectures, discussions, and case studies to introduce students to the social context of computing in architectural education and practice.

Since the development of this course benefited greatly from Elizabeth Patitsas’ Critical CS reading list: tinyurl.com/criticalCS  the results are open sourced:

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Assignments + Readings Week by Week: tinyurl.com/EquityInComputing-ISUCCL

Week 01What is Equity?
Week 02Defining Equity in Architecture
Week 03Storytelling + Critical Social Theory
Week 04Politics of / as Pedagogy
Week 05Representational Equity: Secret Life of Scale Figures
Week 06Professionalization and / as Exclusion
Week 07Digital Literacy and Architecture
Week 08Epistemology and Decolonizing Architecture
Week 09Pipeline Problems
Week 10Redefining Equity
Week 11ACADIA Conference
Week 12 
Week 13 
Week 14 
Week 15Final Project