<i>Activist Technical
Communication at Girls’ Technology Camps: Building Girls’ Confidence in Digital
Literacies</i>
presents a mixed-method empirical study investigating the capacity of a girls’
summer technology camp, Girls Go Digital, to foster girls’ confidence and
interest in STEM subjects. I build on the work of a growing number of
university technical communication and composition programs hosting local
digital camps for middle school-aged girls, responding to the gap in STEM
confidence that grows between boys and girls after middle school. My
dissertation works in partnership with a large, national, for-profit version of
these camps, and I utilize a community engagement approach. Though some may see
the aims of a for-profit tech camp as incompatible with engagement ethics, I
argue that we ought not to ignore the potential for community impact offered by
their resources and reach. With a camp design targeted to reach girls who may
feel discouraged by a mixed gender setting, a week of camp at Girls Go Digital
leads to statistically significant positive impacts on girls’ confidence in
their technology skills, as well as attitudes relating to technology. These
findings contribute not only to strategies for technofeminist interventions,
but also to the growing body of technical communication scholarship with social
justice aims. In order to build girls’ confidence at camp, technical
instruction is intertwined with instructors’ roles as emotionally supportive
mentors for their campers. Complicating technical communication’s
prioritization of clarity and efficiency, my study suggests that for girls
learning STEM subjects, and for many other disenfranchised audiences, truly
effective technical communication must also be trust-building advocacy work.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/9107933 |
| Date | 02 August 2019 |
| Creators | Carolyn K Grant (7042790) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/Activist_Technical_Communication_at_Girls_Technology_Camps_Building_Girls_Confidence_in_Digital_Literacies/9107933 |
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