CCI is a community-based innovation ecosystem where residents, businesses, local governments, and academia tackle our region’s challenges. We support civic innovation that leads to a more equitable and sustainable community. |
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Fellowship Applications Open |
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To intentionally foster civic innovation, including equity-related projects, we've developed our Fellowship program to give innovators the space, network, and support to realize success. Applicants are individuals who have a civic project or idea that is ready for a pilot phase up to micro-organizations (budgets under $10,000). Projects do not need to be tech or data related, but participants should be open to how tech and data can support their goals. This is a leadership development program, meant to build the foundation to become a civic innovator, with focus on growth mindset, design process, business education, technology/data literacy skills, government and community relations, intervention practices, and other topics to build problem solving skills. Interested in applying? Find out more and apply today! |
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Book Review: Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, by Caroline Criado Perez |
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"One of the most important things to say about the gender data gap is that it is not generally malicious, or even deliberate. Quite the opposite. It is simply the product of a way of thinking that has been around for millennia and is therefore a kind of not thinking. A double not thinking, even; men go without saying, and women don’t get said at all. Because when we say human, on the whole, we mean man." From Invisible Women |
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Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men (2019), by Caroline Criado Perez (award-winning writer and feminist campaigner) makes the case that women are systematically excluded from consideration in all aspects of life, including personally, at home, in the workplace, and in public life; to the detriment of women, but also to society. This is in large part due to our failure to collect gender-specific data as well as ‘sex-disaggregated data’ when conducting the studies and analyses that impact public policy, medical research, politics, and business.
Criado Perez lays out her argument clearly and articulately, supported by many examples. She starts with the assumption of the default male, by which she means the general acceptance that the term “human” implies “male.” This assumption dates back to our understanding of prehistoric times. Criado Perez observes that the general assumption is that men created cave paintings, even though recent evidence suggests that the majority of paintings were actually made by women.
In a more modern example, Criado Perez highlights the example of gendered languages, like Spanish, where all nouns are either male or female. In this case, a group of 100 female professors is the feminine ‘las profesoras,’ but the inclusion of a single male in the group changes this to the masculine “los profesores.”
Criado Perez presents a litany of examples of the assumption of a “generic masculine,” where the subject is considered male by default. These include emojis, scientists, stuffed animals, television characters, film roles, statues, and video game characters. The male experience is perceived as universal, while the female experience is niche, even though women make up half the global population.
Read the rest of the review |
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Wondering why you're receiving this email? Over the past several months, our organization has been transitioning from Smart Cville into the Center for Civic Innovation. As a subscriber to the monthly Smart Cville newsletter, we’ve brought you along with us into this exciting new phase in the life of our organization. The newsletter looks a little different now because our name and logo have changed, but you can expect updates on our ongoing projects as well as new initiatives as we step into our new role working to empower problem solvers in our community. |
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