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 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 American efforts. To do so, let's organize the work with automation tooling, as engineers do.
Inclusive, Accessible Tech: Bias-Free Language in Code and Configurations
1. Anne Gentle, Developer Experience Manager, Cisco
CodeMash
January 12, 2023
Bias-Free Language in Code and Configurations
Inclusive, Accessible Tech:
8. Human Rights by Design
Advise & Train Product Teams on
Human Rights throughout the
Product Development Lifecycle
Accessibility by Design
Advise & Train Product Teams on
Accessibility throughout the Product
Development Lifecycle
Inclusive Naming
• Implement Cisco’s Inclusive Language Policy
• Build Employee Awareness about Inclusive Language
• Drive Compliance across Cisco’s Functions
• Engage Community and share Best Practices
• Embed a Culture of Belonging via Governance Models
Social Justice in Product Development
9. Inclusivity encompasses multiple aspects
• Gender neutrality including
pronouns, non-binary typing
• Respectful language without
drawing upon stereotypes
• People first, humans are humans
not abilities or diagnoses
• Inclusive representation and
avoiding idioms like "up in the air"
• Accessibility including screen
reader experiences
18. Category #1
Variable names
or comments that
are internal to
code. No impact
to customers and
no external
visibility.
Asset Categories
Category #2
CLI (config, show),
API, or schema
use. Deprecate
the old use and
create a new one
with a text alias.
This is complex
and customer-
facing; new and
old must work.
Category #3
Logs, telemetry,
monitoring:
Support old and
new (don’t break
customer scripts).
Deprecate the old
but cutover to
new.
Category #4
Documentation
changes: Simple
cases are easy to
do. Complex cases
(like documenting
a CLI) must follow
product changes.
Code and Configuration Examples