Computing for the Barbershop: A Foundation for Broadening the Participation of Black Boys in Computing Education.

Even though there has been over a decade of work to broaden the participation of Black boys in computer science (CS) education, underrepresentation persists. In this Lightning Talk, we propose a new strategy for broadening participation that seeks to design CS education from the bottom up by turning to cultural locations that are already valued at the local community level. In this case we turn to the location of the local barbershop. The histories and cultures of Black barbers and barbershops reveal how they are sources of cultural, social, economic, technological, and political wealth within Black communities. We explain the Barbershop Computing project which builds on these sources of wealth in the design of culturally responsive and relevant K12 CS education. We begin by highlighting the barbershop as a source of wealth and how public health and literacy campaigns have partnered with Black barbers to diffuse skills and knowledge. We then pose the question: In what ways might Black barbers and barbershops contribute to broadening the participation of Black boys in CS? We show two ongoing Barbershop Computing projects that have developed CS educational activities based on the knowledge, skills, and practices of barbers. The first builds on barbers' design knowledge, using a visual programming environment to simulate designs that barbers shave into their clients' hair. The second builds on the mechanical knowledge of barbers in relationship to their clippers and trimmers. Using physical computing, the activities support engineering and CS skills through modeling motors found in clippers and trimmers