How can information technology (IT) paradigms and design processes be studied from a gender perspective? What does IT design look like when its construction is informed by gender research? Though gender research and computing science seem like two separate worlds, this book proves how inspirational a confrontation and combination of those worlds can be. A deconstructive analysis of advanced fields of computing shows the multiple ways in which software design is gendered and how gendering effects are produced by its use. Concepts and assumptions underlying research and development, along with design tools and IT products, teaching methods and materials are studied. The book not only offers a gender analysis of information society technologies, it also shows practical examples of how IT can be different. A gender perspective on IT design can serve as an eye-opener for what tends to be overlooked and left out. It yields innovative ideas and high quality software systems that may empower a large diversity of users for an active participation in our information society.

The Information Society is an evolving project, with new 'ensembles' of social practices and of information and communication technologies (ICTs) emerging all the time. But not everyone is equally included in this project. Breaking new ground with its focus on inclusion, and drawing on an extensive body of European research, Technologies of Inclusion: Gender in the Information Society analyses a range of strategies which succeeded in attracting more women and girls as users or designers of ICTs. This reveals a set of underlying dynamics -- what the authors call technologies of inclusion -- by which different strategies work. It also highlights new gender-ICT ensembles which challenge long-held notions of technology as a masculine domain. This book is a must, for scholars interested in shifting gender-technology relations and for practitioners interested in effective digital inclusion. Indeed, for anyone interested in the evolving project of the Information Society.