barcamp geelong - why gender should be a text field
DESCRIPTION
This is really about ideas that other people have come up with, but I think they're worth popularising. (See last slide for links.)TRANSCRIPT
why GENDERshould be a TEXT FIELD
Briannaidenti.ca/pfctdayelise
Pros:
●Using the wrong pronoun is very jarring●Helps translators●Helps statistics/metrics●Helps advertisers●How dare you disrupt my neat view of the world! My perspective will rule!
Cons:
●Can alienate potential users
Sarah Dopp:
I’ll give you a hint: If you’re still asking about race in a required drop-down menu, you’re way behind. Because doing it that way says to a user:
●You have a race.●It’s really important to me.●It’s one (and only one) of these listed here.
What do you really want to know?
More reading
●Facebook's decision on gender: http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=21089187130●Sarah Mei on Diaspora: http://www.sarahmei.com/blog/2010/11/26/disalienation/●Gina Trapani: http://smarterware.org/7388/the-case-against-drop-down-identities●Bagcheck asks for pronouns:http://bagcheck.com/blog/01-the-gender-question●Metafilter on analysing their open field: http://metatalk.metafilter.com/20050/Gender-Go-nuts-Somebody-did#838160