Addressing Social Inclusion in the IS Field through Theatre

A play, iDream, was written to communicate through characters, plot and dialogue the results of NSF-funded research about young women experiencing, internalizing and overcoming barriers to inclusion in the information technology fields. The purpose of using theatre is to create awareness, stimulate attitude change, and inspire action about the IT profession and who can participate in it. This panel employs the play, iDream, as a vehicle to inspire dialogue among members of the SIGMIS community and beyond about ways to address social inclusion issues in the information systems field. A staged reading of selected scenes from the play is performed by members of the ACM SIGMIS community. This is followed by a panel discussion with the actors/panelists and members of the audience about the themes in the play and what can be done to address them.