Lena Reinhard: Works On My Machine, or the Problem is between Keyboard and Chair

You've heard it before: "It works on my machine" and you know the punchline "so your problem isn't real". Sometimes a bug just won't appear on your system: computers are fickle beasts full of subtlety. Humans too, but more so: we have habits, preferences, biases, and our background, opportunities vary wildly. And even the technology industry itself is a perfect example of legacy spaghetti code (without unit tests), and this makes it very hard to debug for a better future. In this talk we will look at the many facets that affect our decision making and interactions, and work out how we can change for the better. Together, we will take a look at the effects that our software has on the daily lives of the thousands of people who are using it. You’ll learn what you can do as an individual to support change into a positive direction, and how you can help debug this system and make a difference in the tech industry. You’ll leave knowing about practical things you can do in your daily life to make the tech industry a better, more inclusive and diverse environment that is a better place for everyone. Trigger Warning: Mention of assault, abuse, rape and death threats, rape, racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, abuse. Discussion of harassment. http://jsconfbp.com/speakers/lena-reinhard.html