 So this is a talk about UX and diversity. We're going to dive right in. But before we start, let's all get on the same page when we're talking about diversity within UX. So of course, we start with the Google. And let's see what the Google can say for us. Basically, it says the state of being diverse. Thanks, Google. That doesn't help. But if we look a little bit further, we get this definition. This is a little bit more standard of what we think about when we think about diversity. So we think about different national origin. Now, side note, how many people, when you saw this first, thought, well, that's upside down? Who says that north is up and the world is round? So why does the United States always show up in the most prominent position above all the other countries? Just a spoiler that's about some bias, which we'll talk more about later. We talk about shades of melanin, different colors, which is another place where bias is detrimental in product design sometimes. Again, we'll talk more about that later. We think about difference in religion, especially when it comes to some of the outwardly present things, like places of worship, types of worship, and dress. And then we have the LGBTQAA. I don't know. We keep adding more letters. So I just like to call it the beautiful, wonderful rainbow alphabet soup. Well, although I suppose it's more like a cob salad. No. Jambalaya. I like jambalaya. Because you can see each of the ingredients. They're their own thing. But they come together in this amazing meal. And now I'm hungry. OK. So we think about that as a standard definition there. But with UX, I think there's some key things that are missing here. So this, et cetera, we're going to dive in a little bit more on some things that I think is very important. One, gender. Gender is very complex. And it doesn't always get the attention that it deserves. So I don't know if you've seen something like this, some sort of a cartoon or gender unicorn or genderbred person, all that kind of thing. Where it kind of goes through some of the different things and different pieces that what we kind of simplify down into this gender binary is really much more complex than that. And each of these arrows is independent of each other. So it's one of those things where you can't really can assume anything. But one of the most important things, even if you don't remember any of these other pieces of this gender spectrum, just knowing that the gender is not a binary. Because think about how many products, websites, and services that they ask for a gender and they give you the choice of male and female. So my friends that don't identify with either, that's pretty alienating. Like there's no place for me here. And the other thing to note is that the gender identity and gender expression are not necessarily connected. So it's best just not to assume and ask for people's preferred pronouns or just call them by the name that they gave you. So age and generation. I know people think about this as like young people versus old people or millennials versus anyone in a technical level, like technical ability. But my 94-year-old grandmother can download photos and print them that I email her better than my Gen Z college students. So it's not about that. But it is about the things that shape our viewpoints, the things that we have lived through as different generations. So it's something that like what we have seen or not seen shapes the way that we view and navigate the world. So for example, I was teaching a class at UW-Milwaukee a couple of years ago. And I graduated from UW-Milwaukee many years before. And I was telling the story because I lived in the dorms for a while. And I said, so I lived in the dorms and I was in temporary housing. The phone number was one number off of the county jail's phone number. So we got calls all through the night asking if so-and-so was in custody. You know what my students were shocked about? You had phones in the dorms. And I was like, that's what you got from the story? But it makes sense. Like, well, there's no phones now. Everyone has their own. But on the flip side, I remember going through a lot of tornado drills, not one active shooter drill like they have. So and we have different levels or varying levels of physical and or cognitive abilities. Notice I didn't say disabled or a disability. We'll talk more about that later. And finally, when I think that is one of the most overlooked things of diversity when it talks about mental illness, mental illness, emotional sensory disorders, all of these are very, very common in the world. And think about the devices we use and how much they affect us personally. So by not considering things like this, I think it's at a huge detriment of why we have so much social media addiction and those kinds of things that really affect us in a negative way. So in short, really, diversity is about inclusion and belonging. And especially us who are creating products, creating web, all of these things, it requires us to constantly, consistently notice and question why we are making the decisions we're making and always bringing back like this shiny spotlight on our own biases, which we'll talk more about, and question why a lot more and bring more and more diverse voices to the table. And always, always keep an eye for that. So where do we start? Let's start with the ABCs. Assumptions, bias, and consequences. So let me tell you a story. So it's a couple of years ago. And Facebook started kind of cracking down on their real name policy, requiring that everyone use their real name on Facebook. So they asserted that authentic identity is important to the Facebook experience. Our goal is that every account on Facebook should represent a real person. That's a good goal there. But what did that look like, actually, in practice? So here's some stories. There's an Ethiopian LGBT activist and leader in the community that would use Facebook to create communities that were safe places for education and community and support for the LGBT community in Ethiopia. Now, in Ethiopia, it's very dangerous to be gay that it was very common for people to be jailed, beaten, or killed. So he had to. Why, for death reasons, use an alias on social media? But he was blocked out of his Facebook account because he wasn't using his real name. Another example, in Egypt, there are stories where police will actually use things like Facebook and dating apps to trap LGBT individuals and jail them. And a pretty dangerous situation there, too. These are just a tiny sampling of some of the consequences that can happen from this. Now, on the flip side, let's meet Shane Creepingbear. He is of the Kayoa tribe of Oklahoma. He and many Native Americans, including Dana Lonehill of the Lakota tribe, they suddenly found themselves locked out of their Facebook accounts, claiming that Facebook said that their names did not meet the standards, the Facebook standards, because their names didn't fit that what they thought was the requirements. And not only the Native American community, but other cultures where, let's say, you don't have last names in the culture. Well, now you can't create a Facebook account because they don't fit the standard or the norm. So it really forced a lot of people into this lengthy verification process where they had to send them three forms of verification of their identity. And they had to wait for a Facebook employee to personally approve of their name. Whoops. So well, now, Facebook's intention of enforcing this rule was all positive. It was meant to combat the issue of bullying, hate speech, and spam accounts. Because if our identities are attached to our actions, it's supposed to have more accountability. But that assumes two things. That one, all the users had the privilege of safety in their country, city, or family. And two, that they, as in the Facebook development team, would possibly be able to create a system that was completely non-bias in order to enforce the rule. So now both of these assumptions were incorrect. And you can see that the consequence can be life or death. Accessibility. Now, it wouldn't be Tracy App's talk without some accessibility talk here. So now, accessibility. We hear accessibility in conjunction with the word disability or disabled. Like I said earlier, we don't like this word, because it just creates this otherization. Which I'm excited to see how they spell that, because I made that word up. But it kind of separates us. It's like, oh, well, I'm not disabled. That's a small group over here. And that just makes sad Keanu sad. Makes me sad too. But instead, I propose we reframe our thinking, really, and talk about this as different levels of ability. Because that includes all of us. Because spoiler alert, accessibility is for all of us. So example, let's say you're an able-bodied individual. You have a full vision. You can communicate. You can hear everything. You are not limited by a cognitive or physical disability or ability, a level of ability there. You have all 10 fingers. And you have a smartphone that has a data plan that you can afford and all of these things, right? You may be even technical savvy. Well, now you go and take your recreational soccer game and you break your good arm. And someone runs over your other hands with their cleats. Now, I couldn't find a good photo, so please enjoy this ridiculous stock photo that I purchased just for you all. You're welcome. I mean, I don't know if you break your foot that you then put your foot on your desk when you're using your computer, but whatever. But now, you're in bandages and a cast. And now, you're trying to find the internet and to find a doctor for some follow-up visits or to look for some remedy for all the pain. Well, now you're struggling to use technology like you normally do. So I think you'd be very appreciative for those companies that don't treat accessibility as just an afterthought, but actually keep it very in the forefront in the development. So usability, we talk about usability. Usability is like one in the same. It's what we talk about with user experience, right? So pose a question to you. Is it possible to have usability without accessibility? Well, I will challenge anyone that wants to, but I absolutely say no. I think they are literally one in the same. So and just a side note that triple equals in development world, it's like instead of like a regular dare, it's like a triple dog dare. It means really, really, really equal. So not only is usability and accessibility just one in the same. There's a strong link between products that are more accessible and usable and diverse teams. So and that would make sense, right? So now speaking of diverse teams, there's a huge reason why we need to have some of these on our teams and make sure to kind of keep an eye on this. One of the big things is cognitive bias. So I'm going to look a little bit into this because this is a big thing. So what is cognitive bias? Well, this is actually kind of an umbrella term here. This is a way our brain processes information. So it's way we create our own subject reality based on the input that we receive. So if you think of what we have, there's so much that our brain is inundated with every time. So they're not necessarily a bad thing because it's a shortcut of how to not get eaten by a bear. So I don't have to think through all of these things. I act automatically. That is an example of a cognitive bias. So now, while they're not all bad, they do control our decisions and influence and the way we act everything. So these biases, there's some examples, include something like the anchoring bias, where we rely too heavily on the first bit of information that we receive. There's the optimism bias, where we inflate the good and kind of just diminish the bad. We've got the social default bias. If we don't know what to do, we copy what other people do. And then the sunk cost effect, too, is another example where the more effort we put in, the more money we put in that house or something, the less and less likely we're going to be logical and reasonable about letting go of that. And these are from a website that I recommend you check out. cogload.com. It's really amazing little tidbits of information and fascinating to read through. And those are in the slides. But there's a lot of them. So there's a test on this afterwards. Just kidding. So this is a chart of all different cognitive biases. I encourage you, I made a short link and I put them in the slides, which I will tweet out later. I encourage you to take a look at this. And it's fascinating. It'll explain a lot about, oh, that's why I think that way. That's why I made that decision. Oh, that's interesting. I want to point out one that is really key, especially in user experience, is the unconscious bias or implicit bias. So this cognitive bias is where we make sense of the world by we categorize things. We put things in groups. So that includes people and groups of people. And it's one of those things that happens in our subconscious mind. So we all do it. Now, one thing, a big trick within UX is to, yeah, we all have this. But this is why we always ask the question why. Why? Why? And to dig down and to figure out, oh, well, I'm being affected by this implicit or unconscious bias. So there's some examples where this creates a big disconnect, if that's not questioned. So you know 40 years ago, that color film was designed to work perfectly with white skin and not dark skin. These are Shirley cards. These were used as the standard. They would test colors against these, color correct against these cards. And not only the film, but the sensors were not made to pick up and to distinguish, well, dark skin. And this isn't just something that's from long ago. There's examples now where sensors won't recognize dark skin, including things and soap dispensers, fitness trackers. There's all of these things that were not tested well. Definitely because of no diversity is a huge factor in this. And another example, there was a Chinese man in New Zealand who was not able to get his passport because online they kept getting the error. The user's eyes are closed. So these are examples of systems that are being, they're being programmed, but not being programmed for diversity. And I am no expert, but I'm 99% sure that these teams that created, designed, produced, and tested did not include the diversity needed in order to avoid things like this. Another example, even larger companies, larger companies that have more diversity. This is the family emojis from Facebook. Do you see something missing here? Well, not only is there the kind of gag worthy blue and pink used to distinguish between the gender binary, which, by the way, in biblical times it was switched. But other than that, but what about biracial families? Yes, that's a lot of different options. Windows says it's 52,000. But they did a pretty good job of including a lot of these. So this is actually in the Windows release. Their emojis, their family emojis, are much closer to the mark. OK, how many people thinking, no? All right, well, this is big. But how am I going to do anything? Well, I'm not a technology creator. I don't do these things. Or I don't even work in technology. I don't know if I can influence these things. Well, no. This is something that applies to everything, everyone and everything in every industry. So if we have some big, epic, inspirational, pivotal film music score, no, don't have any of that. But basically, it comes down to show up, speak up, and make room. So as UX designers, when we create products, this means being in those planning meetings. It means speaking up and kind of almost being like that toddler asking, why? But why? But why? But why? Because remember that you're not your user, so you always want to kind of keep diving deeper down. And for those that don't have part in creating some sort of product, make your voice heard through user testing. Even if you find a problem, you see an issue with some sort of product, and you think, well, but I'm the only one that this affects. You're not. Then make the product owner or designers aware of those issues. So I know what you're thinking. But diversity only exists in these cheesy stock photos. There's some truth to that, especially in technology. I don't, that's nothing new and pretty evident that there's not the diversity that we need in, well, most industries, but especially the tech industry. So companies just throw tons of money in order to create diversity. And they use stock photos like this to say, look at us. We're so diverse. We're so open. We're so wonderful. Or to attract more diversity. But has it worked? No. Not at all. So why? Well, diversity is hard. And why is that? It really includes, instead of not just using a stock photo, it requires real change. It forces us to ask why on a lot of different things. So we need to change our environment. So accessibility is your workspace accessible for those that have limited ability to physical abilities or ADD? How about for those that pray multiple times a day? Language. Now, you have to change the language, not meaning, OK, now we learn Portuguese and we speak that. But look at the language and the words that you use within the company on your marketing materials. Are there inside jokes or things that are tailored to a certain demographic and could be offensive to others? Avoiding, trying to avoid use idioms that could have negative connotation, like whitelist and blacklist. For thinking that subconsciously connects white with good and black with bad. So being aware of those things, because those things, those are in the company culture and you don't even notice. But it creates a place that is not welcome for diversity. Systems and processes. Again, so why are the rules at your workplace or in the industry or whatever situation you're in? Those processes, who do they benefit? Who were they created by? Who do they not benefit? Who do they leave out? So one thing, like a typical work day might be great for some people, but it is really not possible for others. What do you define as good and desired and valued? Who defines that in an employee, in a work, or in anything? So and these rules is a kind of a spoiler. Unconscious bias has a big part in the creating of these rules and systems. And changing attitudes. So like I said, we've noticed there's a real big lack of diversity within the tech industry. Now, like I said, we put lots of money into this, but it hasn't gone any better. But why? Well, the lack of diversity isn't a technical problem. And tech companies solve problems with technology. But lack of diversity is a people problem. It's all about these things, like the environment, language. All of those, those aren't technical issues. Those are people things. So really, it comes down to empathy. So empathy, especially in you hear a lot of that in user experience. So let's look at this real quick. Empathy. The ability to understand and share the feelings of another. This sounds like pretty much the crux of what user experience is, right? Everything that a user experience person does is in order to find out and understand the user much better, because we are not our user. There's a talk on that that I did. So you can look that up later. But user testing, user research, analyzing all the data, all of that stuff is to do this. So empathy is pretty much needed in UX. And I hope from this talk you understand that diversity is crucial for a user experience. Well, you know what? There's a direct link between empathy and diversity. Empathy fosters diversity, and diversity fosters empathy. There's studies that show, because we all have the unconscious bias, but they show that if you spend more time just living along people that look different than you, some take any one of those things that we talked about in diversity. If you take yourself out of your normal little bubble and really spend time with another, it's shown that while it can't completely change our unconscious bias, it does tweak it and really makes us question why we jump to some conclusions and why we decide on certain things. It shines that light on, well, but why? And really, let's think about it. This is everything in life, too, right? Because this isn't just a UX problem. So I know you came for diversity in UX, but you're getting to talk about diversity in life, diversity in every industry, because it's so crucial. So if we focused on really living into this, into empathy and diversity, and being conscious about that in our lives, that's going to make a huge difference in the world or wherever you are, in whatever industry you are, whatever position you are in. That's going to make a big difference. And it kind of looks like a bow tie. And bow ties are cool. Thank you. Any questions? No questions for Tracy? Yes. There is. I'll just... So I haven't really dove that much into Gutenberg, but I know one of the big issues with it on the admin side, especially, is accessibility. And I know this is a talk about diversity, but it sounds like it's everything. So I just want to know what your thoughts on that were, specifically the admin side in Gutenberg and accessibility, usability, diversity, however we want to approach that. Yeah, absolutely. So with Gutenberg, I actually... I was like, all right, no, I'm going to... Because I'd noticed, absolutely, there's way too much that relies on the user having more full abilities, like being able to use a mouse. And even though... But I'm like, all right, I'm going to keep an open mind. I'm going to try and I was using it for a site just last week, actually. And I was even having problems, like deleting some of the things and stuff like that. I'm like, so I do think it needs some work, a lot of work within the accessibility. I heard that there is a fundraising campaign to do a full accessibility audit on it, which is really good news, because that means that the developers and the people at Automatic are really committed to... Okay, yeah, we see there is an issue here, but we're going to really put our money there and fix it. So I do think there are some big issues with the accessibility, but I'm hopeful that those will be fixed, hopefully short, hopefully very soon, so. Other questions for Tracy? I'll get over there as quickly as I can. No? One on the back. Did I see a hand go up? I did. I just wanted to make a comment about the diversity of women in the tech world. So I got my computer science degree in 1983. About 30% of my colleagues were female then, and we were fine. I had no problems with my male colleagues, with being a coder, with being in the tech world. I worked in the field for about 10 years, and then I became a stay-at-home mom for 16 years, completely got out of it. Like, wasn't paying any attention to what was going on. And then when I came back into it, and I found out what had happened, I was appalled. And so this idea, I liked what you said about that this is a people problem, because women coders are amazing. Like, we are really, really good at it. I agree. At school, my male peers were coming to the women for help, because we were good at it. So this idea that women can't code is completely invented. And you can probably tell by my shaking voice that it's a really big issue for me. It really makes me mad. That women have been pushed out of this field that we should be in. And so I just appreciate your talking about it. And I sort of, I try to talk about this whenever at conferences like this, because a lot of newer people in the field don't know this history, don't know the fact that women were very strongly in this field, very well accepted, and somehow or another got pushed out. And it just infuriates me. Well, the first computers were women that, we wouldn't be to the moon, right? The women that led the team and got us, got NASA, got us to the moon. It's very, yep. Oh, that's awesome. Well, congratulations. I wanna talk to you more. That sounds fast. I love it. That's so great. Thank you for your comment. Other questions? There is one to give me a sec. Hi, I'm a design educator here locally. And what I would wanna know is, I guess from the entrepreneurial side, when you take on a new client, or somebody comes to you and asks you to help them out, where do you start in educating the client on how to be inclusive? Wow, that's a really good question. I mean, especially coming from, I guess somebody in this so-called minority class, and they have assumptions of who you are and what you do. So how do you? Well, honestly, someone, I wanna say it was probably my parents, love them, they're very supportive, but they said something like, oh, well, you need to tone down yourself to get clients. Or no one's gonna hire you like that. So my way of rebelling is doing exactly the opposite. And I don't have a business Twitter account. I have my own account that I rant about things. I talk about gay things. I talk about all of these things. So one, if a client's working with me, they have to, they're going to see that. I don't hide that. And I'm very, well, I wear a bowtie every day. And it's interesting, because some people just don't know how to take me. Like, it's like, it doesn't compute. And so like, I just, I get this like kinda tilt and then they treat me like a guy. Like, it's interesting, but it's interesting. So like, just even being very visible is one piece of it. When I am, most of my clients, it's usually something about like web design or some sort of marketing or a product that I'm helping with like the user experience of that. And in that case, I do educate a little bit, but I mostly, sometimes if the client isn't really kind of open to it, sometimes it's a matter of framing it in a way that they find value of that. So talking about, well, always bringing it back to like the bottom line. Like, you know, because business people like, oh, well this is in order to include a much larger demographic. And maybe not the nuances behind it, but that they know that this is why that they're doing it. And it also helps prevent them from saying, well, no, I don't wanna do that. I don't wanna do accessibility testing. Well, no, but did you know good accessibility helps you with the Google? You can be on the first page of Google. You know, like those kinds of things, you know, like framing it in a way of something that they're very, you know, they find very important. And that really helps with that, so thank you. Anybody else? Doesn't look like it. Tracy, thank you for so much. Thank you very much, thank you. Thank you.