Communications of the ACM
Barbershop Computing
Credit: Rez-Art / iStock
Broadening access to and participation in computer science is crucial at all levels of education. But one analogy that might limit our thinking about access and participation is the computer science pipeline. The idea of a pipeline too often frames access to and participation in computer science as an invariant algorithm, which may lead to a narrow "one-size-fits-all" vision of supporting more open, diverse, and inclusive forms of education. This may be especially true for efforts to broaden participation across class, dis/ability, race, and gender at primary and secondary levels. In the context of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) more generally, educator Wendy L. Hill worries that the image of a pipeline is sending the wrong message about who belongs in STEM and that "young people are deciding too early to forgo a STEM career if they don't have the 'right profile'."5 Here, we share alternatives to the image of a pipeline we hope will be more humanizing and conducive for broadening participation in computer science education.
We do this by turning toward our Barbershop Computing project, which involves meaningful engagements with the cultural, economic, historical, social, and technological aspects of Black barbers and barbershops in the U.S. These are sources of inspiration for us in our efforts to reshape computer science teaching and learning. They have also led us to reflect on our own assumptions about what it means to broaden access to and participation in computer science. Instead of making access to computer science a one-way street or an inflexible algorithm, Barbershop Computing seeks to create multi-directional pathways, villages of diverse expertise, and networks of support at multiple scales—all designed with the goal of reaching Black boys. This moves the purpose of computer science education beyond narrow visions of technology workforce preparation to those that are more open and emergent. While our experiences are based in the U.S. context, we hope to inspire people from around the world to think beyond simple notions about students having the "right profile" to participate in computer science.
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