Hi all,

Catch us this Friday, October 19th for our Intro to Tech Research Panel featuring current research faculty at UMBC! (12:00-12:50pm, ITE 237)

Don't miss out as we answer questions about what research is like and how to get started- each faculty member's discipline will be covered, including Human-centered Computing, Big Data Analytics, Data Exploration, and Intelligent Interactive Systems!

Keep an eye out later today for the reveal of who these faculty are- some of them may even have been (or will be) your professors! Stay tuned,

Your ISCOM Executive Board

Get ready for Critical Social Justice: Ignite with our What You Need to Know series. Written by Courtney Hobson, Coordinator in the Dresher Center for the Humanities.

When you need to look up information on the internet, Google is the number one site we typically go to. If you type in “Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” or “Aretha Franklin,” the first result will likely be an article on Wikipedia.

For those of you not in the know, Wikipedia is a free open-source encyclopedia which means that anyone can edit it. Most of the editors consist of academics or hobbyists who, with time, a computer and a steady internet connection, are generating informative articles that are viewed by millions all over the world.

As one of the top ten visited internet sites in the world, Wikipedia is not merely a tool to record facts; it is helping to shape our collective knowledge. Winston Churchill once remarked that, “history is written by the victors.” Knowing our history is important, but knowing the authors is even moreso. This brings us to editing articles on Wikipedia.

Less than 10% of Wikipedia’s editors identify as cis or trans women and the editors that do identify as women are more likely than men to have their edits reverted.

What does this mean? This means that women are not seen or valued as notable contributors to our society. The statistics are similarly dismal for POC.

Editing Wikipedia is a step towards challenging systemic structures that tell us what information is important enough to know. It is a step that I realized that anyone could take when I attended my first edit-a-thon in 2016 at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The edit-a-thon focused on expanding or creating articles about Black artists. With just 30 minutes of writing and research, I was able to create an short article or stub. I am now one of those hobbyists who edit articles for fun, but I focus on adding content about people from Baltimore, especially Black women.

For the CSJ: Ignite Wikipedia edit-a-thon, we will have a chance to discuss these issues in greater depth, as well as explore resources available through our library. But most importantly, we will inject Wikipedia with a bit of Baltimore and shine a light on figures and events who have shaped our city.

Further reading below:

• Gender bias on Wikipedia
• Wikimedia Foundation releases gender bias report
• Why didn’t Wikipedia have an article on Donna Strickland, a Nobel Prize winner?
• Doing the work: Editing Wikipedia as an act of reconciliation
• How Does Political Wikipedia Stay Apolitical?
• Why I’m making it My Feminist Mission to End Wikipedia’s Notability Policy
• Art and Feminism
• afroCROWD
• Women in Red Wikiproject

Professional Graduate Programs Open House, Sat. 10/20

The Fall Open House for UMBC’s Professional Programs (Main Campus offerings) takes place on Saturday, October 20 in the first floor of PAHB from 9:30-11:30am. Students interested in exploring and/or pursuing these graduate programs (degrees and/or certificates) or just want to learn more about these fields are encouraged to register and attend. CSEE students interested in pursuing a BS/MPS option for selected programs (such as CYBR or Data Science) are especially welcome.

Programs represented include

• • Cybersecurity
  • Data Science
  • Health Information Technology
  • Engineering Management
  • Systems Engineering
  • Instructional Systems Development
  • Integrated Product Development & Manufacturing
  • Technical Management

Faculty program directors will be presenting in individual breakout sessions and relevant support staff will be on-hand to provide administrative overviews, answer questions, and mingle. Refreshments will be provided.

If you are interested, please RSVP at https://openhouse.umbc.edu/. If you have questions contact: *protected email*

The post Professional Graduate Programs Open House, Sat. 10/20 (CYBR, DATA, …) appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

Hi everyone, here is an October volunteer opportunity for you. This was shared with us by Charm City Connection, another service org on campus. They're hoping to get a big group of UMBC students to come!

"Join the Aquarium Conservation Team to remove harmful marine debris from the shoreline at the Masonville Cove Environmental Education Center campus. Learn about sources and effects of marine debris, and what you can do to help! Debris data collected at this event will contribute to the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup.

Volunteers must be at least 10 years old. All volunteers under 18 years old will need to be supervised by an adult. Please contact Andrea Van Wyk at avanwyk@aqua.org or (410) 576-1079 if you have questions or need transportation to the cleanup site"

If you are interested, register at this link.