Re: where is the blockchain for day-to-day use?

Hi, I think that there are a number of issues here:


  1.  Using any human category as a place-holder for some tech attribute. None of us would think about using ethnicity or religion and I agree that its best not to use any – even eye colour.
  2.  The built-in misconception and unconscious bias that ties age and gender to understanding of tech which is misplaced. E.g. see http://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/digital-natives-do-not-exist-claims-new-paper

  3.  The huge problem of gender imbalance in computing. I for one try change this anyway I can. Inclusive environments help.
  4.  General sexism/ageism tied to how certain terms are used  e.g. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/womens-blog/2014/apr/25/wives-grandmothers-insidious-sexism-women-news-ageism


Given the above I for one try to be careful in the language and images I use – no guarantees that I always achieve this though as it is not always so easy.

Cheers

John



From: benedikt herudek <benedikt.herudek@gmail.com>
Date: Tuesday, 14 November 2017 at 12:47
To: Alexander Garcia Castro <alexgarciac@gmail.com>
Cc: Philipp Schmidt <philipp@media.mit.edu>, Blockchain CG <public-blockchain@w3.org>, Wendy Seltzer <wseltzer@w3.org>
Subject: Re: where is the blockchain for day-to-day use?
Resent-From: <public-blockchain@w3.org>
Resent-Date: Tuesday, 14 November 2017 at 12:48

pls dont use the term, it sounds as if my grandma would just be too dumb to get technology but she isnt. If language is offensive for some it doesn't help arguing, thats what it is to them. Using age as a synonym for not understanding complex technology is no good use of language

On Tue, 14 Nov 2017 at 13:43 Alexander Garcia Castro <alexgarciac@gmail.com<mailto:alexgarciac@gmail.com>> wrote:
you are not misreading. it was not off putting for me, IMHO. and on this I am afraid we will have to agree to disagree. I am not being disrespectful with any one here, I am not attacking anyone and I dont think the use of grandma to make the point diminishes in anyway the role of all grandmas. This is hardly the first time I use grandma to illustrate this point, actually I have a paper "where is the foaf for grandma?" that was presented in a conference and it was not criticized for using grandma in the name. so, I am indeed questioning, ignoring actually,  the whole grandma issue.

On Tue, Nov 14, 2017 at 1:21 PM, Philipp Schmidt <philipp@media.mit.edu<mailto:philipp@media.mit.edu>> wrote:

On Mon, Nov 13, 2017 at 10:30 PM Alexander Garcia Castro <alexgarciac@gmail.com<mailto:alexgarciac@gmail.com>> wrote:
Hi Wendy, and everyone. The interest is in "where is this applicable" and how is this going beyond crypto currencies.

As for "grandma" being "off-putting" or not, from your email I can see that the msg was well understood -off putting or not.

I might be misreading your reply, but you seem to question if the subject line was off-putting. It was,  and I agree with Wendy’s comment. While the email contents may be easy to understand, its subject line is off-putting.

Especially with new technologies like Blockchain, where large parts of the population may lack the technical background to fully understand their implications, we should aim to include and involve as many perspectives and voices as possible. That starts with using inclusive language.

P





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