Welcome to the course

Welcome! Thank you so much for choosing to join us on this course. We can’t wait to explore the potential of creating gender-inclusive technologies with you over the next three weeks.

In this video, you’ll be introduced to Andrew Mallinson, co-founder of Feminist Internet and Lead Educator for this course. Andrew explains that while technologies have become increasingly inseparable from our lives, they have, on the whole, been designed by and for men and in many cases have been found to replicate some of the prejudices and inequalities found in society.

This course has been designed to help you be critical of technologies, and the inequalities they can reinforce. You’ll learn a range of different tools and techniques that will help you to create or advocate for gender-inclusive technologies. The course is a co-learning space and you’ll be engaging with each other as well as hearing the perspectives of some incredible people along the way.

In week 1, we will be introducing you to key concepts that will be present throughout the course. By the end of this week you will be able to:

• Reflect on the role gender has played historically within technology
• Assess the need for gender inclusion in technology now
• Explain why working with an intersectional lens is important
• Assess the need for holding ourselves and our organisations accountable
• Reflect on the impact of gender inclusive technologies

In week 2 you will learn about gender-inclusive design processes, from inclusive research methods, involving the people that matter and being responsive to feedback. Finally, in week 3, we will put our work into practice, looking at how to manage data and privacy and advocating for gender-inclusive approaches to build towards more inclusive futures for technology development.

We encourage you to be self-reflective as you move through the course, be open, and share your thoughts with other learners. We ask that you follow FutureLearn’s Code of Conduct, and agree that as a FutureLearner:

“You are respectful of others and do not use words or share content that is offensive or inflammatory. This includes, but is not limited to, language, names or content that is sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, antisemitic, Islamophobic, sexually explicit, abusive, contains swearing or is otherwise likely to cause offence.”

The process of building gender-inclusive technologies is a collective one and we are so happy you’re here to do that with us.

Before we begin our exploration of gender-inclusive technologies, let’s get the conversation started! If you’d like, use the comments section to tell us more about yourself, where you are from, and why you have chosen to join this course. You can also like comments, and choose to follow other learners.