Culturally Responsive Computing: An Introduction into Computer Science, Security, and Technology

Reviewed by Irina Armianu, Associate Professor of French and Literatures, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on 12/18/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This textbook is highly motivated by the author’s educational values which is to offer students with different backgrounds equal chances to education and learning about the latest computational technologies, and to raise awareness on culturally responsive computing.
The author thinks in terms of the financial strain textbooks place on students, especially those from underrepresented and marginalized backgrounds.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The first chapter takes us on an overview of the earliest discoveries on computational technologies since the Mesopotamians to the present. Following World War II, the United States emerged as a crucible for modern computing, driven by military needs and academic curiosity. This era birthed machines like the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer); in UK he Colossus and EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator), which were pivotal in breaking wartime codes and advancing the field of computing.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content underlines some universal realities of our global society: technology evolves because it needs to be in synchronicity with culturally sensitive health and education. Necessary updates would be easy to add as every chapter is organized on subchapters related to specific topics on how technology presents different fields of research and different themes, such as M-Health Apps divided into different medical ramifications or E-Learning Platforms with different local specifics.

Clarity rating: 5

I have never consulted a textbook better organized and easier to peruse than this one. From the start this textbook creates a foundation of the history of computation and how cultural specifics played an important part in the evolution of this science in time. The history of computers presents a cross-cultural collaboration as it comes to understanding how computing came from the communities and their immediate necessitates and how in turn it had a big impact on the evolution of human science and humanity as a global community.

Consistency rating: 4

The content on this textbook is consistent in terms and terminology but it does present an evolution of terminology which is to be expected since it traces the evolution of the science of computing and the birth of different concept and terms along the way. So, it does present consistency with this caveat of placing its content in particular historical contexts.

Modularity rating: 5

This is a highly prized attribute of the textbook. Modularity seems to be at the heart of creating this chapters with subchapters and easy connection from one unit to another.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

There is a clear and logic continuation of the topics presented in each part of the chapters, as if the author was creating one from another. As readers we follow his train of thought easily and this connection among the chapters makes for a nice development of the topics discussed.

Interface rating: 5

This textbook was created, according to the author’s preface declaration, with the purpose of easy accessibility for all students in mind, students coming from different cultures, from different backgrounds, with different levels of knowledge for the topic of computing.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The are no grammatical errors in the text, which goes along with the author’s attempt to show how technology has immediate benefits in education too.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

By the very nature of the discipline discussed in this textbook, which is technology as a bridge and cross-cultural collaboration, the text in itself presents a large awareness of cultural diversity.

Comments

I enjoyed reading this textbook as it is very informal about the matter of computing, but it is also well written. The author has a genuine passion for this topic, and it shows in his writing, easy and explicit, with an essayistic kind of style. Join him in his well-built theories and you will not regret taking this trip through time until the present days of our highly technologized global society.