The GPS of AI: Understanding Algorithmic Bias

Hello all,

This week I'm sharing a post from my LinkedIn feed from the amazing Tonya R. Bennett, MLA, ML (She/Her), one of my co-leads in the EDUCAUSE WIT Community Group.

She writes the following:

Let’s break down a term you keep hearing but no one really explains: “Algorithmic bias.”

Think of it like GPS:
You trust it to get you somewhere fast.
But it was trained mostly on highway data, not side streets.
So it keeps routing you the same way… even when a better route exists.

That is algorithmic bias.
The system is not broken. It learned from incomplete data.

Now the jargon, simplified:
🔹 Algorithm = rules the system follows
🔹 Training data = what it learned from
🔹 Output = the decision it gives you

When the data is limited or skewed, the results will be too.

Why this matters:
AI is shaping decisions in admissions, hiring, and student success.
These systems are not neutral.
They reflect the choices behind them.

👉 You do not need to build AI
👉 You do need to question it

Tonya's message is short, straightforward, and a clear call to action. If we want to continue on our path towards an inclusive technology related workplace and society, we need to be paying close attention and taking actions to reduce AI Bias.

All the best,
Holly

Inclusion on Purpose - Snippet #4

Hello All,

We’re now starting chapter 4 of Inclusion on Purpose: an intersectional approach to creating a culture of belonging at work, by Ruchika Tulshyan (2022, MIT Press). This summary below was the result of my AI prompt:

Shine the Light, Then Get out of the Way

• Amplification: Sponsor and credit women of color; create visibility while avoiding performative tokenism.
• Allyship vs. saviorism: Step back so those most affected can lead; support materially (budget, authority, cover).
• Structural support: Build processes that sustain progress beyond individual heroes. [direct.mit.edu]

That is the Gemini summary of the chapter.

“Your crown has been bought and paid for. Put it on your head and wear it.” — Dr. Maya Angelou

This quote is widely interpreted as meaning we should not shrink from using our talents, holding our place, or sharing our ideas…that others fought for the opportunities we now have, and that we ought to use them, and not let them be taken from us.

Tulshyan then shares another story: the story of Laura Gomez, a woman excited for a 2015 meeting with a successful startup founder (p.75). She was looking for a co-founder and technical officer for her technology startup. She showed the potential co-founder her prototype, but he remained silent. He politely thanked her but said he needed more time to think about his next career move.

18 months later, she had raised $2 million in seed funding. Then she discovered that an interested investor had “just invested $5 million in another HR tech company that sounds very similar to yours.” It was the same person she had met 18 months previous. He had been sending "advisors" to absorb her designs and pass them to this competitor. He was actively stealing her ideas. Her legal advisors told her not to pursue action as she could not compete with his financial standing.

Tulshyan says the lesson (p. 77) is not just that there are people who will steal ideas, but that many others might be complicit. When this happens, the system gets rigged against justice. Her message to all of us is not to be complicit! She writes (p.78):

“I urge you to reflect on how you can use your influence to create opportunities for women of color to surface great ideas, advocate for those great ideas to flourish, and most importantly, get duly recognized and rewarded for them.”

Here’s what we need to know:

1. Making sure the right people get credit really matters. (p. 78 to 80)

The prevailing cultural narrative is to be humble and that hard work is its own reward. However, research shows (Williams and Multhaup, 2018) that women of color are often unfairly assigned "office housework" that doesn't lead to advancement. Inclusive leaders must intentionally select women for high-profile assignments.

2. Allies need to use their privilege to advance women of color. (p. 80-93)

I’m going to simply list the actions here, but there are excellent resources online for all of these strategies:

• A. Run inclusive meetings (ensure everyone is at the table/video call).
• B. Designate meeting facilitators to ensure equal speaking time.
• C. Interrupt the interrupters.
• D. Repeat overlooked ideas and point back to the original speaker.
• E. Pass the mic to amplify unheard voices.
• F. Amplify good ideas and credit the original source.
• G. Sponsor women of color for high-visibility projects.
• H. Spread public speaking opportunities equitably.
• I. Redistribute the office housework; rotate these tasks.

Until next month—be well and keep learning!

All the best,
Holly

Protect Your Wellbeing with the Strategic "No"

Hello all,

Do you have trouble saying no? If you're anything like me...and I know I am...the answer is yes.

I've written about this before—but it keeps coming up as an issue for people in IT and IT related fields. The pressure to deliver is intense. The work never ends, the urgent gets conflated with the important, and the pace of change keeps increasing. Despite all our advances in programming and productivity and automation, we can't always keep up.

And what do we often sacrifice in our attempts to keep up? Our own wellbeing. And our long-term success depends on our long-term wellbeing. There are so many reasons for us to protect our time and energy for the tasks and people we value most, and yet we often find ourselves agreeing to things we'd rather not do.

So, we have to be the strategic project managers of our own lives. Being strategic in what we say yes to (assuming we have a choice!) also means being strategic in what we say no to!

There are some resources for us to review as we work to be more strategic in loading up our plates:

The No Club: "Putting a Stop to Women’s Dead-End Work. A practical, timely guide for bringing gender equity to the workplace: unburden women’s careers from work that goes unrewarded."

And here's a bonus Leadership 480 Podcast, where professor of organizational behavior, Laurie Weingart, author of "The No Club: Putting a Stop to Women's Dead-End Work," joins DDI to discuss why saying no at work is such a crucial skill for leaders, especially woman leaders.

Empowering women in tech to say “no”: "Women in tech today still face unique challenges, including the pressure to do more and the need to prove themselves. Simply put, there’s a ‘yes’ problem. Many women feel the need to say “yes” and often the assumption is that we will."

The Gentle Art of Saying “No” At Work: This resource from Cornell University can be one to printout and post in your workplace for regular reference!
"It can be difficult to say “no,” but it’s a critical skill if you are to protect your own priorities, time, and even your mental wellbeing. Saying “no” does not mean you’re rejecting the other person; it means that you’re turning down a specific request that the person is making of your time and energy."

Whatever strategies you use, I wish you all the best,

Holly

Beyond the Spillover: Re-centering Disability in the Curb-Cut Effect

Hello all,

This week's post is focused on the curb-cut effect, defined by B. Reid from various sources in chapter 8 of the book Feminist Cyberlaw (M. Jones and A. Levendowski, 2024) as "an oft-observed phenomenon that occurs when technology designed to dismantle barriers to the accessibility of society for disabled people affords positive benefits - positive externalities or spillovers in economic terms- for nondisabled people." The expressed concern about this is that we can grow to focus on the spillover effects and only prioritize or advance those technologies that benefit everyone.

The chapter argues that there is a real danger of harm to and erasure of the exact needs of disabled people when we rely on the power of the curb-cut effect argument when making accessibility design decisions.

The chapter provides several examples, from actual sidewalk curb-cuts that don't have level transitions or are too steep for actual wheelchair users, to image alt tags used only for the most simplified descriptions, to video captions that fail to describe video scenes without any sound, to audio descriptions that fail to include "visible details about the race, ethnicity, and skin color of on-screen characters" where critical concerns for disabled people are not prioritized. This specific chapter is also referenced in the brief Curb-cut effect wikipedia article.

As we breathe out sighs of either relief or exasperation at the extension to 2027 of the ADA Title II compliance requirements on digital accessibility, I hope that some of us can use this time to assess whether our efforts are paying enough attention to the precise needs of the people we want to serve. Knowing SUNY as I do, I expect that someone has already been thinking that exact thing. As our Plattsburgh EIT Officer John Locke wrote:

"This is not a reprieve from our responsibility to ensure accessibility. Our obligation to provide accessible programs, services, and activities remains unchanged under the ADA, as well as under New York State law and federal regulations tied to funding (including HHS requirements with a compliance date of May 11, 2026). Instead, this extension should be viewed as an opportunity: time to close remaining gaps, strengthen our practices, and continue building the skills needed to create accessible content from the start."

I agree with John!

I'd love to hear more about how our accessibility efforts are mitigating any of the negative impacts of the "curb-cut effect."

All the best,
Holly

Retention by Design: Making Office Inclusivity Part of Your Strategy

Hello all,

This week's message was inspired by a recent Harvard Business Review Management "Tip of the Day" that arrived in my email. As written, it's great advice for companies planning relocations or expansions, or even rethinking a return from remote work policy. And then, I rewrote it to offer some advice for us, as we work to improve our SUNY workplaces using the SUNY WIT Mission: "The SUNY WIT Program's Mission is 'to empower, support, and retain a more gender diverse information technology related workforce within SUNY.'"

---

The HBR Original...

"Make Office Location Part of Your Strategy
Most companies still evaluate office locations using cost, space, and incentives. But those factors miss what actually drives performance. The strongest locations today operate as “knowledge campuses,” where work is embedded in a broader environment of transit, services, and daily life. Here’s how to choose the right location for your organization.

Measure return on place. Evaluate how your location drives interactions, reduces daily friction, and strengthens your industrial and talent ecosystems. Look for environments that naturally create frequent, informal encounters. Assess how much time employees lose to commuting and daily logistics. Prioritize locations that minimize these burdens and surround your team with relevant talent, partners, and institutions.

Build districts, not buildings. An isolated office is a disadvantage. You need an environment that extends beyond your walls. Choose locations that integrate work with dining, wellness, public space, and social infrastructure. These elements signal that you understand what people need to do their best work. Focus on places where employees can move seamlessly between their professional and personal lives.

Manage location as a portfolio. Don’t rely on a single headquarters. Different locations attract different types of talent. Maintain a mix of sites that align with how people want to live and work, and adjust over time as those preferences shift.

Focus on housing. If employees can’t live near work, productivity suffers. Factor in housing access and commute realities when choosing locations, even if you can’t control them directly."

Now, what if we thought about how to apply these principles to the way we configure our SUNY workplaces? And explicitly thought about how to increase inclusivity and the potential for allyship as part of the concept? Here's my start on a reworking of this message.

Holly's Rework: Make Office Inclusivity Part of Your Strategy

Most organizations still assign office space and meeting space access by function, random available spaces at the moment of hire, proximity to service functions, or according to some privilege factor based on hierarchical rank. And although some of us work remote part of the time, we still rely primarily on in-person workplaces. But these factors miss what actually drives retention and inclusivity. The most inclusive organizations leverage differences in knowledge and experience to create the best services and programs for their intended users. Here's how to choose the best connections for your organization.

Measure return on interaction: Evaluate how staff space assignments and access to shared spaces drive innovation, service improvement, cultural knowledge exchanges, reduce conflicts, and promote allyship. Look for configurations that encourage cross-pollination of ideas through casual interactions. Track how frequently employees connect with folks not in their exact area of work, and document the impact of any improvements and changes that result.

Build communities, not silos. An isolated function is a disadvantage. Focus on creating workplace "mixed use neighborhoods" that include elements of the work life that support multiple activities, such as flexible meeting spaces, conference rooms that are shared by support staff and the executive teams, dining and wellness spaces, and possibly even customers. Small changes can open the doors to interoffice community and appreciation for diversity wide open.

Manage locations as opportunities. Don't rely on single buildings for your organization. Different locations offer a multitude of opportunities to see customers and colleagues in a new light, inspire creativity, encourage collaborations, and provide choices that can increase a sense of belonging and improve retention. Maintain a mix of sites that align with the different needs of your organizational groups.

Focus on retention. If employees can't be themselves at work, connection suffers. Factor in preferences for light, sound, privacy, commuting times to other work obligations when assigning workspaces, even if you have limited options. Do what you can with what you have.

So, that's my version. I'd love to hear from folks who have other ideas or have made gains in this area at their SUNY's.

All the best,
Holly