Inclusive, Accessible Tech: Bias-Free Language in Code and Configurations
A talk given by Adrienne Moherek from Cisco DevNet at the 2024 Austin API Summit in Austin, Texas.
Heard of suss? You can suss out more information or you can find someone’s information to be suss. “Suss” shows the flexibility of language. It’s an ongoing process to change how we use certain words. It’s important to choose words carefully to convey the correct meaning and avoid harmful subtext or exclusion. Let’s explore some of the tools and triage methods that it takes from an engineering viewpoint to make bias-free choices. How can you ensure that biased words do not sneak into code, UI, docs, configurations, or our everyday language? First, let’s walk through how to take an inventory of assets from code to config files to API specifications to standards. Next, by placing those findings into categories, prioritize the work to substitute with inclusive alternatives. Let’s examine some examples using both API and code assets. Next is a demonstration of how to automate analyzing your source code or documentation with a linter, looking for patterns based on rules that are fed into the tool. What’s in the future for these efforts? Inclusive language should expand beyond English and North America efforts. To do so, let’s organize the work with automation tooling, as engineers do.
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