Headshot of Amy J. Ko

Amy J. Ko, Ph.D.

she/her/hers Professor Associate Dean for Academics The Information School Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering courtesy University of Washington, Seattle - Editor-in-Chief, ACM TOCE - Co-Director, Reciprocal Reviews - Co-Director, CS for All Washington
📧︎⋅📝︎⋅🦋︎⋅🧵︎⋅🐘︎

Are you a K-12 teacher interested in research next summer? Fill out our interest form.

I blog on my lab's Medium publication, Bits and Behavior.

My beliefs change over time, because I love learning and changing. Don't assume something I wrote years ago reflects my beliefs now. Instead, think of this archive as a record of my reflection and growth.

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HCIK-12academiaaccessibilityadvisingargumentautomationbook summarycomputing educationdesigndiversityed techgendergrant reportindustryinformationpaperpersonalpolicyproductivityprogramming languagesreviewsciencesocietysoftware engineeringteachingtrip reporttutorial

2025 🔗

Fuzzy speckles of red, black, and yellow, with a circular cutout in the center, and stick figure Amy pushing against its edits, with an angry, resistant face.
How is fascism going for you? Here’s how it’s going for me
5/2025
societygenderpersonalacademia
Japanese calligraphy on a white background, with the words "CHI 2025" in black.
CHI 2025: Frayed edges
5/2025
trip reportHCI
A muted, fuzzy photo above the clouds, with the bright sun in the corner, possibly from an airplane window.
We are not bits: AI and dehumanization
3/2025
diversitysocietyautomation
A dark purple stage, a slide that says SIGCSE, and the organizing committee kicking things off.
SIGCSE 2025: Rumination, resistance
3/2025
computing educationtrip report
A thousand people sitting on Capitol building steps, and standing in the street, with grey clouds above us all.
A day at the state capitol
2/2025
societypolicypersonalgender
A photo of a cloudy sky, with a long arc of cloud break showing blue sky above.
Plain language American problems
2/2025
societypolicy
A stage with a Black woman and a keyboard in mics, shrounded in blue.
Horror, joy
1/2025
personalpolicygender

2024 🔗

On the top half, green flowing river water, and on the bottom, fractured rock.
Fragmentation in academic leadership
12/2024
academia
Mount St. Helens erupting in May, 1980
The Coming Storm
11/2024
gendersociety
A tweet by Associate Deans: 'My favorite time of the year! Time to cancel under-enrolled classes and reassign faculty to classes they aren't qualified to teach!
I am an Associate Dean for Academics
9/2024
academiacomputing educationdiversity
A bright pink slide reading the 2nd international trans studies conference
Trans Studies 2024 trip report: academic trans camp!
9/2024
trip reportgender
A tessellation of green triangles and wooden walls with ceiling mounted lights.
ICER 2024 trip report: winter in Melbourne
8/2024
computing educationtrip report
Amy in a white Nike "just do it" t-shirt in front of a boxy CRT and PC with keyboard, speakers, and floppy disks. A small desk lamp lights a corner of a wooden desk.
Pride and shame in hobbyist programming
8/2024
computing educationpersonal
A wide shot of seven rows of seating with more than 300 attendees.
CRA Snowbird 2024 trip report: computing contrasts
7/2024
computing educationpolicytrip report
A stadium full of Information School graduates and proud families in the stands.
CSTA 2024 trip report: mixed messages
7/2024
computing educationtrip report
A stadium full of Information School graduates and proud families in the stands.
I’m a proud professor parent
6/2024
computing educationacademia
Two imposing marble columns, a dimly lit hallway, and a hundred attendees swarming.
AERA 2024 trip report: blight and belief
4/2024
computing educationtrip report
A highly warped, up close photo of Boomy the tuxedo cat, with her nose so pink and large.
Trans day of chores
3/2024
genderpersonal
Photo of the cover of the book, reading "A SHORT HISTORY OF TRANS MISOGYNY" with an image of a dolled up woman behind.
SIGCSE 2024 trip report: always hallways
3/2024
trip reportcomputing education
Photo of the cover of the book, reading "A SHORT HISTORY OF TRANS MISOGYNY" with an image of a dolled up woman behind.
Processing a "A Short History of Trans Misogyny"
2/2024
personalgendersociety
A dark wooded scene with white and pink spheres hovering in the air.
Power, ignorance, and the healing promise of curiosity
2/2024
personalgendersociety
A stick figure with long black hair in a bright red haze running away from a network of nodes and edges in cool blue haze.
Data dependency
1/2024
personalautomationdiversitysociety
Twenty Black residents of Montgomery Alabama walking on a sidewalk in 1955.
Individual and collective recognition
1/2024
personalacademia
A horrendous LA freeway interchange at dawn.
Cars are unjust
1/2024
personalpolicydesign
A sunrise, or possibly a sunset, over silhouettes of hills.
Things I hope for in 2024
1/2024
personaldiversitysociety

2023 🔗

An orange pen held by a hand about to write on grid-lined paper.
More than calculators: Why large language models threaten learning, teaching, and education
12/2023
ed techcomputing educationK-12
A web page with a left, a right, and several footers. The left shows a text editor with colorful computer code, a yellow highlight, and a magenta highlight on top of it, indicating a selection of a "translate" statement that converts a list of symbols into a list of Phrases for display. The right shows a 5 by 5 grid of symbols, one of them fading in to the grid. The footers show a timeline, several file names, and navigation links and settings.
Learning to love and hate democracy
11/2023
societygender
A web page with a left, a right, and several footers. The left shows a text editor with colorful computer code, a yellow highlight, and a magenta highlight on top of it, indicating a selection of a "translate" statement that converts a list of symbols into a list of Phrases for display. The right shows a 5 by 5 grid of symbols, one of them fading in to the grid. The footers show a timeline, several file names, and navigation links and settings.
Wordplay: an accessible, language-inclusive programming language for all
10/2023
programming languagesaccessibilitydiversityK-12
An organic petal-like pattern of three dimensional shapes.
Programming is sculpting
10/2023
programming languagessoftware engineering
Amy holding her smartphone in front of a round mirror, with a print of a woman in sunglasses with red lipstick and colorful tiger wallpaper.
A quiet sabbatical
9/2023
academiapersonalgender
170+ ICER attendees looking toward the end of a dance hall, sitting at round tables.
ICER 2023 trip report
8/2023
academiatrip report
Two Japanese people hugging a human scale godzilla in black and white.
Faculty are Godzillas
8/2023
academia
A sad looking robot like face with a single eye in black and white
That time I wanted to be an AI researcher
7/2023
personalacademiagender
A bright blue sky above a small tree, with the light piercing through its small leaves.
Summer sabbatical update: focus, fleeting
7/2023
academiaproductivity
A slide showing "RESPECT conference" and Tamara Pearson at a podium speaking to the large room.
2023 IEEE RESPECT + NSF CISE EWF PI meeting trip report
6/2023
academiacomputing educationtrip reportaccessibilitydiversityK-12
Five stick figures sitting at a stick table, one with a watercolor pink head and exclamation point above their head, the others with ellipses above their heads.
On moments of toxic silence in computer science
6/2023
academiadiversity
A 10,000 foot view of a big and small cloud, hovering over Michigan, creating a shadow on the plains.
Visiting UMich Again
5/2023
academiadiversitytrip reportcomputing education
A top down view of Amy's feet, shrouded by flared jeans, and resting upon the wet asphalt of downtown Ann Arbor.
Foot frustrations
4/2023
personalgender
A street, a porch, an outdoor ottoman, and Amy's legs wearing black Birkenstocks. The sun shines and the first perspective suggests calm.
A tale of two cities: a sabbatical jaunt to Pittsburgh and Chicago
4/2023
personalacademiaK-12computing education
A tuxedo cat looking concerned on front of a burning house.
Spring sabbatical update: hibernation in war
3/2023
personalacademia
A very tall stack of documents, hoisted by a group of 10 very small stick figures, each using a different strategy to keep the stack lifted. Some use their strength, some use tools, some use a stool, some help others be tall enough.
Sustainable peer review via incentive aligned markets
3/2023
academiacomputing education
A sweeping arc of glowing yellow and blue in the center of an atrium.
SIGCSE 2023 Trip Report: A Chronicle of Ideas, Good and Bad
3/2023
K-12academiacomputing educationtrip reportdiversity
A rainbow watercolor planet earth.
Finding hope in trans diversity
3/2023
personalsocietygenderdiversity
Three child-like humanoid robots frolicking in a field of grass and bright flowers
Large language models will change programming… a lot
2/2023
programming languagesproductivitysoftware engineeringteaching
A robot working on a computer writing something sloppily
Large language models will change programming… a little
2/2023
programming languagesproductivitysoftware engineeringteaching
A screenshot of a table of contents and cover image, with buttons like remove cover image, add author, and other controls.
Bookish.press: a place to write and publish web-based books
2/2023
academiaaccessibility
A pencil illustration, with a small cross-legged woman at the bottom left staring at a horizon, with a thought bubble, and a gentle sun in the top right, hovering above. The canvas is otherwise blank.
Six months unplugged
2/2023
personalacademia

2022 🔗

Amy smiling with her hair down with a a sunset and beach in the background.
Winter sabbatical update: Code, community, huakaʻi
12/2022
personalacademia
White water rapids below a blue sky, lined with trees.
Life off Twitter
11/2022
personalacademia
A blurry collection of unfocused pink lights amidst a background of bluish grey.
Academia needs to dream bigger
10/2022
academia
Amy in sunglasses, a sun cat, against a backdrop of sand, waves, and blue skies.
Autumn sabbatical update: Reconnecting, reinventing, recovering
9/2022
academiacomputing educationdiversityproductivity
A mountain top view of the northwest end of Lake Lugano and the city of Lugano tightly nested around it, with many larger mountain ranges in the hazy distance.
ICER 2022 trip report: Together again, as bits and atoms
8/2022
trip reportcomputing education
A group of researchers and two children standing on tiered steps facing the camera directly.
Dagstuhl trip report: Educational programming languages
8/2022
trip reportK-12teachingcomputing education
A stage with the CSTA logo and a rainbow city skyline.
CSTA 2022 trip report: teaching, equity, and a bit of professional healing
7/2022
trip reportK-12teachingcomputing education
A group photo of the Dagstuhl castle of every attendee in the workshop on a staircase.
Dagstuhl trip report: theories of programming
7/2022
trip reportprogramming languagessoftware engineeringHCIscience
A blue sky with clouds
Sabbatical #2
6/2022
academiapersonal
An illustration of a blue Twitter logo with a white bird and several stick figures climbing a top it into a human pyramid, some falling off, and two people on the other side of the illustration having a conversation.
I'm (mostly) leaving Twitter
6/2022
HCIinformation
A network of circles with stick figure faces inside, some in shock, some in tears, some angry. All of them watch at a distance one while stick figure towers over another with a weapon, and the other is on their knees waiting for the next blow.
On the internet, we are all bystanders
5/2022
societygenderHCI
A view of a stage, a large projector screen, and hundreds of people staring at them.
CHI 2022, ECEP 2022, equity oh my
5/2022
trip reportHCIcomputing education
A group of Google protesters outside a Google building, 'My outrage can't fit this sign.'
A guide to student activism in computing education
4/2022
academiadiversitycomputing education
Amy smiling at the camera with a backdrop of eclectic objects in a restaurant.
I'm a happy trans kid!
4/2022
personalgender
A 1980's photo of a women with curly hair in a recliner nursing a baby with a bottle and a small child holding a stuffed panda on the floor.
Life at the limit
3/2022
personalproductivity
A brick entrance with glass doors and a sign etched Joan and Sanford Weill Hall.
A visit to Ann Arbor to discuss equity, justice, and engineering education
3/2022
trip reportcomputing educationsociety
A foggy illustration of a grey sky and a brow field of empty steel cages.
We will not be caged
3/2022
genderdiversitysociety
The SIGCSE 2022 registration booth.
SIGCSE 2022 Trip Report: Reunited
3/2022
trip reportcomputing education
A child assembling legos.
On pacing and programming pedagogy
2/2022
programming languagescomputing education
A photograph of the in-person Dagstuhl attendees with a screenshot of the virtual attendees in Zoom.
Dagstuhl trip report: People, programs, and programming errors
2/2022
programming languagescomputing education
A photograph of a projector screen showing an Ohyay virtual classroom and several video feeds.
Tinkering towards semi-seamless hybrid classroom discussions
1/2022
teachingK-12academia
A screenshot of a Commodore 64 program printing hello world.
Programming evolves, privilege reigns
1/2022
computing educationprogramming languages

2021 🔗

A silhouette of road signs set against a pink, orange, and blue sunset.
Finding hope in the year 2122
12/2021
societyautomationpolicy
Several applications of computing, including VR, news, robotics, information, and automation.
Critically Conscious Computing — A new book for secondary CS educators
12/2021
computing education
A succession of printed journal issues, fading grey to the left, with a light bulb, question mark, thought bubble, database, and exclamation point leaping out on the right.
I’m the new Editor-in-Chief of ACM Transactions on Computing Education
11/2021
computing educationacademia
A glass jar full of coins and a small baby plant growing out of it.
The price of a gender transition
11/2021
personalgender
Amy laying on white sheet, smiling at the camera.
Post-op peace
9/2021
personalgender
A screenshot of the ICER 2021 Clowdr landing page.
ICER 2021: A daily dose of digital discourse
8/2021
trip reportcomputing education
An illustration of a flame, or perhaps a vulva.
I’m Having Bottom Surgery, Yay!
7/2021
personalgender
An illustration of a grey slanted tower with a stick figure working in front of a screen in the top. The background fades from blue on the top to red on the bottom; the grass at the foot of the tower fades from green to yellow to brown, to black.
Tips for squandering tenure
6/2021
academia
A screenshot of an Ohyay room showing several circular video feeds of student faces, several doodles, and a chat full of banter.
Research, advising, and vulnerability
6/2021
academiadiversitygenderproductivity
A screenshot of the RESPECT Whova landing page, showing navigation and overview text.
RESPECT 2021: Toward justice-focused computing education
5/2021
trip reportcomputing education
A dark grey human form on a light grey watercolor backdrop.
Dark thoughts in trans solitude
5/2021
genderpersonal
"Making Waves, Combining Strengths", with several links to program, sessions, accessibility, sponsors, posters, and more.
CHI 2021 trip report: "trying to establishing connection…"
5/2021
trip report
An illustration depicting an instructor in the center of a circular room with glowing red displays, several circular tables with students with glowing red laptops, and several floating faces at the periphery, also glowing red.
Imagining equitable hybrid learning
5/2021
ed techteaching
A screenshot of Ohyay showing Amy, a slide that says 'What did you think of that activity? (Use emoji reactions)', and several floating emoji reactions.
Ohyay and the pedagogical power of emojis
5/2021
ed techteaching
A four panel strip. Top left: stick figures and virtual attendees all on computers. Top right: Collaboration at a table. Bottom left: independent activities. Bottom right: Out in the world as seen through the window.
My hybrid conference wishlist
4/2021
academia
9 month old Amy smiling and crawling on a wooden deck.
Learning to love myself in photos
4/2021
personalgenderdiversity
A collage of all 18 chapters of the book, showing 90,000 words and dozens of images, arranged in a row with varying height columns of text.
I wrote a book about information!
4/2021
designdiversityinformationsocietyteaching
A three stick figures joyfully dancing on three grey face coverings.
The gender transition that wasn't
3/2021
personalgender
A screenshot of the Pathable platform landing page, showing the SIGSE 2021 logo.
2021 SIGCSE Technical Symposium: Virtual Diffusion
3/2021
trip reportcomputing education
A photograph of the Data Feminism jacket cover, showing the title "Data Feminism", authors Catherine D'Ignazio and Lauren F. Klein, and a backdrop of hundreds of data visualizations.
Decoding Data Feminism
3/2021
book summarycomputing educationsociety
A screen shot of Zoom, showing Amy's screen in the top left and several gray rectangles with student names like 'student1', 'student2', and 'student3'.
Zoom is a vile teaching tool
3/2021
HCIteachinged tech
Women holding a sign that says 'I just had sexism'
Encounters with male fragility, as a man, as a woman
2/2021
genderpersonal
A photograph of a crumbling, dirty school hallway of a school in New Jersey.
The U.S. has categorically failed its K-12 teachers, and thus itself
2/2021
K-12society
A blocky grey robot stands in front of a desk an inelegantly operates a mouse and keyboard.
My robotic pandemic productivity
2/2021
personalproductivity
A photograph of the book over showing a robotic butterfly and the book title, blurred in the background.
A Review of Computer Science in K-12, An A to Z Handbook on Teaching Programming
2/2021
K-12book summarycomputing education
A stick figure laying alone on a large grassy field under a blue sky, all in watercolor.
Work, play, rest, recover
1/2021
personal
A protester holds up their homemade sign on a box that says, 'Black Trans Lives Matter No Justice No Peace'
Anti-Black racism hurts us all
1/2021
diversitygendersociety

2020 🔗

Two wavy horizontal watercolor lines, one purple, one green, woven together.
The shortest day
12/2020
personal
A feminine figure leaning over, head facing down, pushing against two walls grey walls of an enclosure.
What trans liberation means to me
12/2020
personalgendersociety
A screenshot of Google search with the query 'is google oppressi' and the suggestion 'what is oppression google scholar'
Noble’s “Algorithms of Oppression” indexes search engine bias
11/2020
book summarydiversityinformationsociety
A Scratch program that, when clicked, redundantly updates a character's speech bubble to say 'editor!' 28 times.
Block-based what? Differentiating programming languages, environments, and editors
11/2020
K-12computing educationed techprogramming languagesteaching
A photograph of a display showing a slide titled "Critical Computing Education", with an iPad hovering above showing Zoom.
Encouraging more critical computing: A (virtual) trip report
11/2020
academiacomputing educationtrip report
Joe Biden holding the hands of Sarah McBride.
My trans rights wish list for the Biden administration
11/2020
personalgenderpolicysociety
A photo of a Black Lives Matter protest showing a row of police on the left and a row of protested on the right
Having hard classroom conversations
10/2020
computing educationsocietyteaching
An illustration of a Terminator robot with a thought bubble that says IF OBJ.IS_HUMAN DESTROY OBJ
The half life of computing education
10/2020
computing educationsocietyK-12
A sad, scared child hiding in a dark room with yellow light shining under the door frame.
Coming out (of hiding)
10/2020
personaldiversitygender
My daughter at age 2, asking to be held.
My parenting past and present
9/2020
personaldiversitygender
The cover of Black Software, with a Black Lives Matter fist.
Processing the untold histories McIlwain’s “Black Software: The Internet & Racial Justice, from the AfroNet to Black Lives Matter”
9/2020
diversitybook summary
An illustration of an egg, cracking.
What a year for a gender transition
9/2020
personalgender
A figure showing four types of programming language knowledge
Studying programming language learning: a 3-year recap
9/2020
computing educationgrant reportprogramming languages
University of Washington Cherry Blossoms
I led an anti-racist CS education reading group this summer
8/2020
diversitypolicysociety
A screenshot of the book cover of Automating Inequality.
A generational reflection on Virginia Eubanks’s "Automating Inequality"
8/2020
diversitybook summarypolicysociety
A screenshot of the ICER 2020 Discord, showing people introducing themselves.
ACM ICER 2020 trip report: virtual serendipity
8/2020
academiadiversitycomputing educationtrip report
A perspective drawing of a 2-lane track, with a racer on the right with 3 hurdles and a racer on the right with fifty.
Fifty trans hurdles
8/2020
personaldiversityacademiasociety
A woman in a bubble, staring out at three angry men yelling at her.
Taking refuge from the internet
7/2020
personaldiversityinformationsociety
Dark Matters, Artificial Unintelligence, Joy of Search, Automating Inequality, Algorithms of Oppression, Black Software
Computer science taught me that books weren't important. It was wrong.
7/2020
academiapersonalcomputing education
A photograph of Amy when she was an infant, laying on her belly
I turned 40; here’s what I’ve learned
7/2020
personaldiversity
An interpretation of Rodin’s “The Thinker”, a top Ruha Benjamin’s stunning book.
Reflections on Ruha Benjamin’s "Race After Technology"
7/2020
academiacomputing educationdiversitypersonalbook summary
A top row with a series of dots being filtered by narrow funnels, and a bottom row with a series of dots not being filtered.
Our undergraduate program is racist
6/2020
academiacomputing educationdiversity
Angry red white and blue squiggles.
What it feels like to lose civil rights
6/2020
personaldiversitysocietygender
A group of stick figures collaborating in various ways, with a green stick figure in the middle (the designer) participating.
A synopsis of Costanza-Chock’s “Design Justice”: nothing for us without us
6/2020
computing educationdesigndiversitysocietybook summary
Three grey-blue blobs, one vertical, one circular in slight motion, and one oblong, racing to the future.
My strained relationship with radicalism and pragmatism
6/2020
computing educationdiversitypersonalsocietypolicy
A red, green, and blue thread, squiggly and overlapping, terminating in a point on the right.
Ideas from the Code and Cognition Lab (2020 edition)
6/2020
computing educationdiversityprogramming languages
A beast on the left, squatting, and a woman on the right, sitting, with her arm around its back.
My slow escape from gendered self-loathing
5/2020
personaldiversitygender
A crowd of people rushing to a locked safe space to escape a firey cloud.
On the inherent injustice of admissions
5/2020
academiadiversity
Multiple layers of faded colors surrounding a struggling person, with a smear through the top pointing a way out.
Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”: a manifesto on education and social change
5/2020
societydiversityteachingbook summary
Four groups of stick figures chatting in a hallway, but with dashed grey borders around each person.
On the future of academic conferences
5/2020
academia
A comic strip of a stick person pushing the world hello to another person, but it collapses, jumbled.
The motive is the message
4/2020
personalHCI
A photograph of Amy as an infant reaching for books on a bookshelf.
My new appreciation for history
4/2020
personaldiversitysociety
A blue sky with red fragments of digital devices being sucked into a grey cloud.
An autobiographical synopsis of Kentaro Toyama's "Geek Heresy"
4/2020
computing educationpersonaldiversitysocietybook summary
A water color illustration of the Danish geographic silhouette wrestling the Chinese geographic silhouette.
Work ethic and hygge in a time of social distancing
3/2020
academiapersonal
40 small thumbnails of my research, teaching, and service statements and my CV.
I'm a Professor!
3/2020
academiapersonal
A grid of black rectangles with people inside each, doing different activities. In the center, a woman cross-legged.
Gender transition in a pandemic
3/2020
personalgender
A photograph of the Oregon Convention Center.
SIGCSE 2020 Trip report: viral edition
3/2020
academiacomputing educationtrip report
Many fuzzy coronaviruses falling upon a calendar laying flat, with me hanging on the edge of the calendar trying to escape.
The fragile refuge of routines in a time of uncertainty
3/2020
academiapersonal
Several punctuation marks flying towards a stick figure protected by a blue orb.
Dealing with demands for change
3/2020
academiapersonal
A person being electrocuted by red tendrils, but those tendrils transform into straight lines after passing through.
Dealing with academic critcism
2/2020
academiapersonal
A watercolor sketch of Amy's face.
A profile in choosing beauty
2/2020
personalgender
An illustration of a stick figure's thought bubble, with a faded mirror of the bubble in grey.
The false dichotomy of teaching and research
2/2020
academiateachingscience
An illustration of a fuel gauge on empty.
The fuel of discovery
1/2020
academiapersonal
A pencil sketch of a rectangle fading from dark solid black to a diffuse fog.
What is the role of academia in a post-truth world?
1/2020
academiasociety
A locked diary with words 'KEEP OUT'
Writing for myself and others: a reflection on academic blogging
1/2020
academia
A photograph of adolescent Amy programming at her computer.
A autobiographical synopsis of Morgan Ames’ “The Charisma Machine“
1/2020
computing educationdiversityK-12genderbook summary

2019 🔗

An erratic, sharply jumping plot of ups and downs, with watercolor backdrop.
Transition and overcommitment
12/2019
academiapersonalgender
An illustration of hundreds of papers being sorted past a red peer review line.
A modern vision for peer review
12/2019
academia
A panoramic of the Koli National Park.
Koli Calling 2019 trip report: Computing education research at the limits
11/2019
computing educationtrip report
A photograph of me presenting at Koli in front of my slide.
21st Century Grand Challenges for Computing Education
11/2019
computing educationacademiapolicydiversityscience
Blue tendrils interleaved with pink ones.
Finding my voice (literally)
11/2019
personalacademiagender
A photograph of Janet Gordon in front of a slide of CS definitions.
What counts as computer science in K-12 education?
11/2019
computing educationpolicytrip report
A photograph of the Spokane sunset.
Trip report: Bridging CS for All across western and eastern Washington
11/2019
academiacomputing educationpolicytrip report
A photograph of attendees chatting after the workshop.
PLATEAU 2019 trip report: building community around human aspects of programming languages
10/2019
academiadesignHCIprogramming languagestrip report
An illustration showing a stick figure yelling the name 'Amy' at a wall, but it's bouncing off into a pile. A set of corporate logos behind the wall.
100 hours of name change labor
10/2019
academiapersonalinformationHCIgender
A photograph of Amy smiling at her desk.
What coming out as trans should look like
9/2019
academiapersonalgender
A fuzzy trans pride flag, with a small face peeking out of it.
I'm trans! Call me Amy.
9/2019
academiapersonalgender
A photograph of a ballroom of CSEdCon attendees.
CSEdCon 2019 trip report: a deep dive into CS education policy
9/2019
K-12policycomputing educationtrip report
A pink cloud outlined by a sharp pink line.
Human-centered definitions of computer science for public education
9/2019
K-12policycomputing education
A photograph of the standing 2019 graduating class of the MHCI+D program
A graduation speech on responsible design
8/2019
software engineeringsocietyHCIindustrydiversity
An illustration of a smiley face evolving from a shriveled raisin to a happy face.
Changes coming to the ACM ICER conference
8/2019
academiacomputing education
A photograph of the ICER 2019 audience, sitting around round tables.
ACM ICER 2019 trip report: leveling up on theory, statistics, and significance
8/2019
computing educationtrip report
A photograph of the ACM Education Advisory Council meeting.
2019 ACM Education Advisory Council meeting: it’s complicated!
8/2019
academiaK-12teachingcomputing educationtrip report
A stick figure teacher with green good intentions in their mind, perceived as oppressive red lines by a row of scared students.
Teaching, power, consent, and paternalism
7/2019
academiaK-12teachingcomputing education
A photograph of my summer task grid on my whiteboard.
Managing overcommitment in academia
7/2019
academiaproductivity
A sketch of arrows aiming for targets and missing their mark.
The transfer problem in computing education
7/2019
computing educationacademia
A black and white photograph of attendees at the Dagstuhl having conversations.
Dagstuhl trip report: learning and teaching programming language semantics
7/2019
computing educationK-12trip reportprogramming languagesHCI
An aibrushed sketch of a university building with an US flag embedded in its center.
The academic freedom behind American freedom
7/2019
academiasociety
A panorama of the STEM pre-service teacher preparation workshop showing several faculty in conversation.
Preparing future STEM teachers for our computational future
6/2019
computing educationK-12trip report
Four yellow puzzle pieces with different changes, each altered in succession, with little stick figures inside playing.
Some amateur thoughts on change
6/2019
academiasociety
An illustration of Pac Man eating a series of research papers.
Finding time to read in academia
6/2019
academiaproductivity
A sad looking illustrated person's head with a rigid angular red frame outlining it's form
On the academic quantified self
5/2019
academia
A photograph from the ETH Zurich campus.
A visit to ETH Zurich Computer Science
5/2019
academiatrip reportcomputing educationK-12ed tech
A photograph of the CHI 2019 plenary showing a few attendees waiting for the keynote to start.
CHI 2019 trip report: the interlocking threats of HCI and learning
5/2019
academiatrip reported techcomputing educationautomationaccessibility
A stick figure person running from a swarm of letters.
Email, Slack, and messaging, oh my! How I triage email and other requests
4/2019
academiaproductivitytutorial
A stick figure person on the left sitting and reading a book while a group of three others talk.
On being an introvert in academia
4/2019
academiadiversitypersonal
A series of seven stick figure faces, three on each side of the one in the middle looking angry, the middle looking anxious.
Reflections on my academic insecurity
4/2019
personalacademia
A photograph of attendees of the teaching accessibility workshop sitting around circular tables.
Teaching accessibility in higher education computing courses
4/2019
accessibilityacademiacomputing education
A photograph of the organizers of the SCRIPT workshop providing context for the day.
Tips for implementing CS for All in radically decentralized public K-12 education
4/2019
K-12computing educationdiversity
A screenshot of Super Mario Bros.
My evolving relationship with video games
3/2019
personal
A photograph of SIGCSE 2019's projected logo on the hotel wall.
SIGCSE 2019 Trip Report
3/2019
trip reportcomputing education
Two rows, the top with the grades F through A, and the bottom with increasingly happy smiley faces.
Grading is ineffective, harmful, and unjust: let's stop doing it
3/2019
teachingdiversityacademia
An illustration of Microsoft's Clippy avatar, saying 'Hi, I'm Clippy, I'm your worst nightmare because I'm a helper that hurts!'
The problem with learnability in human-computer interaction
2/2019
HCIargument
A photograph of a hearing room in the Washington state senate.
CS education policy: how a (state) bill becomes a (state) law
1/2019
policycomputing education
An illustration of a stick figure person choosing from three paths heading into the horizon.
Competing priorities in doctoral student advising
1/2019
academiaadvisingtutorial
Two stick figures, one tall, angry, and spewing red onto one short, cowering, and afraid, with bloodied paper on the ground.
A critique of academic criticism
1/2019
academiaargument

2018 🔗

A purple silhouette of a mountain range below blue skies with black binary digits transformating into black strokes along the ridgeline.
Big ideas about information
12/2018
informationcomputing educationacademia
An illustration of a website saying 'click me'
A rant about journalism on learning to code
12/2018
computing education
An illustration of four gold stars followed by a light bulb.
Credit versus discovery in academia
11/2018
academiaargument
An illustration of a paper that has been marked up and annotated.
My peer review wishlist
11/2018
academiaargumentscience
A photograph of the opening talk of the DUB 2018 retreat.
The State of DUB: Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Washington
10/2018
trip reportacademiaHCI
A photograph of the Mary Gates Hall commons.
Reflections on a decade of professoring
9/2018
academiapersonal
A profile photograph of the graduating class.
Masters in HCI+Design commencement speech: design, values, and organizations
8/2018
argumentHCI
A photograph of colorful housing Helsinki, Finland.
The 2018 ACM International Computing Education Research Conference in Espoo, Finland
8/2018
trip reportcomputing education
A photograph of Jane Prey leading a discussion.
2018 ACM Education Council meeting
8/2018
trip reportcomputing educationpolicy
A scan of Darwin's sketches of finches.
It's easier to ignore diversity in schools
7/2018
teachingdiversity
Stock photograph of someone exploring some mountains.
Four years of studying exploratory programming
7/2018
academiasoftware engineeringcomputing educationgrant report
A photograph of the opening plenary of the ICSE 2018 conference.
ICSE 2018 trip report: 50 years of software engineering
6/2018
trip reportsoftware engineering
A rendering of the new UW Computer Science building.
The invisible work of equity in higher education computing and information science
6/2018
academiacomputing educationdiversity
A photograph of me giving my invited talk at ICSE.
Ten years after the Whyline
6/2018
software engineeringautomationpersonal
A photograph of me sitting next to two Andy's at a conference.
Research, teaching, and service, oh my
6/2018
academia
A photograph of the crumbling Parthenon in Athens.
Defending truth, one dissertation at a time
5/2018
academiaadvisingscience
The first slide of my keynote showing the talk title.
Grand challenges in program comprehension and software repository mining: my keynote on interdisciplinarity and research relevance
5/2018
academiasoftware engineering
A photograph of the inside of Meow Wolf, an indescribable interior space.
Meow Wolf: the art of immersive, ubiquitous computing
4/2018
trip reportHCI
An ancient illustration of jugglers.
On academic split attention
4/2018
academiaargument
Stock photo of silhouettes of graduates throwing their caps up.
The joys and perils of teaching doctoral students
4/2018
academiaadvising
A photograph of me reading from notes at a Dagstuhl workshop.
How should one year of academic work be judged?
3/2018
academia
A photograph of a talk during the 2018 iConference showing attendees in stadium seating.
iConference 2018 trip report: information science, computing education, and HCI converge
3/2018
informationHCItrip report
Stock photo of a silhouette of a mother holding a baby in the park.
A parenting guide to CS learning
3/2018
K-12computing education
A panoramic shot of the 2018 SIGCSE plenary showing hundreds of attendees in chairs.
SIGCSE 2018 trip report: CS for All!
2/2018
computing educationtrip report
A photograph of the attendees of the Dagstul workshop standing on the stairs.
Designing and evaluating programming languages: Dagstuhl trip report
2/2018
trip reportprogramming languagesHCI
A photograph of a TI graphing calculator.
How I learned to code
2/2018
computing educationpersonalK-12
A selfie of me about to give an invited talk at Stanford's HCI seminar.
A visit to Stanford HCI
1/2018
trip reportHCI
A clip art robot shooting laser eyes.
Why people shouldn't learn to code
1/2018
computing education

2017 🔗

The Fisher Price Think & Learn Code-a-Pillar.
On toys that teach coding
12/2017
computing educationK-12
An image of me nuzzling my daughter Ellen as a baby.
How I (sometimes) achieve academic work life balance
11/2017
productivityacademia
ASCII art of an eye.
What makes software valuable?
11/2017
software engineeringargumentsociety
A greyscale scattering of solid rectangles.
On the short half-life of research prototypes in computing
11/2017
academiascience
A selfie of me with my Northwestern hosts.
A visit to Northwestern University: CS for All, CS+X, and Interdisciplinary Learning
10/2017
trip reportHCIcomputing education
A screenshot of the first slide of Ben's keynote.
What's wrong with blocks languages according to Ben Shapiro
9/2017
K-12computing education
Stock photo of code.
I wrote a short book about human and social aspects of software engineering
9/2017
software engineering
A photograph of Alan Blackwell's keynote slide, showing his head exploding.
VL/HCC 2017 trip report: programming and play
9/2017
trip reportsoftware engineeringHCI
Jonathan Lazar (left), an exemplary public intellectual in HCI, receiving the SIGCHI Social Impact Award at CHI 2016.
On the public in public intellectual
9/2017
academia
Me and my advisor, Brad Myers, graduating with my Ph.D.
Most PhDs aren't professors
9/2017
academiaadvising
My selfie with the Upward Bound students on my last day of class in summer 2017
How Upward Bound guides bootstrapping U.S. teens into higher education
8/2017
K-12diversitycomputing educationacademia
A photograph of the ICER 2017 attendees viewing a talk.
The bleeding edge of computing education research: ICER 2017 trip report
8/2017
trip reportcomputing education
Jackson Pollock’s 'Untitled', a sea of brown splattered paint.
We need to learn how to teach machine learning
8/2017
trip reportcomputing education
A figure from our research paper showing data about who participated in the study.
Informal mentors and teen interest in learning computing
8/2017
K-12computing education
Me and Scott Barker laughing during a photoshoot.
What is it like to chair an undergraduate program in an Information School?
7/2017
informationacademia
A headshot of Seymour Papert.
Mindstorms: what did Papert argue and what does it mean for learning and education?
7/2017
K-12computing education
Stock photo of a cover sheet saying 'syllabus'
How to design a class
7/2017
teachingtutorial
A photograph of a manufacturing robot making a car.
Automation, education, and the looming skills deficit
6/2017
automationsocietysoftware engineering
Two screenshots of Lightbot and Gidget.
Coding tutorials: the good, the bad, and the ugly
6/2017
computing educationpapered tech
A photograph of a bookshelf of technical books for learning to code.
Why learn to code?
6/2017
computing educationargument
Stock photo of teamwork.
Managing software teams in academia and industry
6/2017
software engineeringacademia
A screenshot of the IdeaGarden prototype showing helpful content.
Support programming problem solving with contextual help
5/2017
computing educationK-12
A photograph of the TeachAccess faculty bootcamp.
Accessibility 101: An afternoon at the TeachAccess bootcamp
5/2017
trip reportaccessibility
The ICSE 2017 banquet, in a swanky club full of food stands
ICSE 2017 trip report: people, process, and program analysis
5/2017
trip reportsoftware engineering
The DUB party in a restaurant at CHI 2017 showing hundreds of attendees.
CHI 2017: Automation, Agency, and Learning
5/2017
trip reportHCI
A photograph of my INFO 360 class, showing students working together.
How to be a great (CS) teacher
5/2017
computing educationteachingtutorial
A staged photograph of the team at AnswerDash making a design decision.
Nine factors that shape software evolution
5/2017
papersoftware engineering
Andy Begel giving Paul Li's talk at the CHASE workshop in front of a projector screen.
What makes software developers great cross-disciplinary collaborators?
5/2017
software engineeringpaper
Amanda Swearngin giving her CHI talk at a podium.
Genie: Automatically adding mouse, keyboard, speech, and other input to websites
5/2017
paperHCIaccessibility
A photograph of Jake Wobbrock, Parmit Chilana, and myself.
What five years of early career research funding buys the world
4/2017
academiasoftware engineeringHCIgrant report
A screenshot of a colorful table from a strategic plan.
A glimpse into state-level CS education policy implementation
4/2017
K-12policycomputing education
The book cover of Jonathan Grudin's book on the history of HCI.
Review of Grudin's "From Tool to Partner: The Evolution of HCI"
1/2017
HCIbook summary
A photograph of students sorting notecards on the ground.
How I applied learning sciences to undergraduate design education
1/2017
teachingacademiatutorial

2016 🔗

Stock photo of a multiple choice test.
Assessment is a computing education grand challenge
12/2016
computing educationteaching
A screenshot fo the first slide of my keynote
My SPLASH 2016 keynote: A human view of programming languages
11/2016
programming languagessoftware engineeringargument
A grotesque rendering of Donald Trump's face.
Two truths: how science masked rural decay
11/2016
sciencesociety
A cake of Gidget the robot.
What does $600K in NSF research funding buy?
10/2016
academiacomputing educationgrant report
Stock photo of a person staring at a lake.
A defense of sabbatical
9/2016
academia
A photograph of me with my Upward Bound students.
My sabbatical stretch goal: teaching high school CS
9/2016
computing educationK-12personal
A photograph of Dastyni Loksa giving his talk on self-regulation.
ICER 2016 trip report
9/2016
trip reportcomputing education
A panoramic shot of the Snowbird conference, showing the backs of many CS department chairs.
Snowbird trip report: automation, education, and academia
7/2016
trip reportcomputing education
Silhouettes of elephants.
The invisibility of prior knowledge
7/2016
argumentK-12
Stock photo of a stack of old books.
Textbooks are awesome
7/2016
argumentteachinginformationHCI
What makes a great software engineer?
6/2016
papersoftware engineering
Software and globalism sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g
6/2016
automationsocietysoftware engineering
A panoramic shot of the capacity building workshop.
Why hire people with disabilities? The value of diversity in software teams
6/2016
software engineeringaccessibilitytrip report
My sabbatical research pivot
5/2016
academiacomputing education
Programming, power, and responsibility
5/2016
software engineeringsocietyautomation
If learning to code were like learning to write...
3/2016
computing educationargument
Coding bootcamps versus universities
3/2016
software engineeringcomputing educationacademiaargument
Fifty privileges
2/2016
diversity
The invisibility of failure in computing education
2/2016
computing educationargument
Making money versus making knowledge
2/2016
academiaindustry
Design and the limits of automation
1/2016
HCIautomation
The service implications of interdisciplinarity
1/2016
academiascience
Learning contexts across the lifetime
1/2016
teachinged tech

2015 🔗

A black and white photo of homeless people in Pioneer Square.
Startup good and evil
12/2015
industrydiversity
Privilege and CS1
12/2015
diversityacademiacomputing education
The black hole of software engineering research
10/2015
software engineeringacademia
The Apple Watch on my wrist.
The watch
5/2015
reviewHCI

2014 🔗

I am tenured
10/2014
academia
Illustrations from Gidget.
Gidget, a 21st century approach to programming literacy
9/2014
computing educationed tech
The screen of the TI-82 graphing calculator.
Computer science, information science, and the TI-82
6/2014
computing educationed techK-12personal
An XKCD comic.
Programming languages are the least usable, but most powerful human-computer interfaces ever invented
3/2014
programming languagesargumentHCI
Startup life versus faculty life
1/2014
academiaindustrypersonal

2013 🔗

My family driving into dusty Burning Man.
Off the grid
9/2013
personaltrip report
The economics of computing for all
4/2013
computing educationpolicyargument

2012 🔗

Apple Maps
9/2012
informationHCIargumentreview
Reflections on conference papers and journals
9/2012
academiascience
A data visualization of how much the public spent on my education: each person gave me 4 cents.
A personal note on public funding for education
8/2012
societyacademiadiversity
John Carmack discusses the art and science of software engineering
8/2012
reviewsoftware engineering
Ageism in academia
7/2012
diversityacademia
UW MSR Summer Institute on Crowdsourcing Personalized Online Education
7/2012
trip reportcomputing education
Computing, jobs, and lumps of labor
7/2012
societyautomationsoftware engineering
A photograph of my design class.
Feedback, learning, and massive open online courses
6/2012
teachinged tech
Machining is now coding
3/2012
computing educationsoftware engineeringautomationsociety
The double-edged sword of efficiency
1/2012
software engineeringsocietyautomation
What's in a frame?
1/2012
informationautomation

2011 🔗

What do professors do all day?
11/2011
productivityacademia
Abstraction appropriation
4/2011
societyautomation
Does automation free us or enslave us?
1/2011
automationsociety

2010 🔗

Decision making in software engineering
12/2010
reviewsoftware engineering
What makes code different than other media?
11/2010
software engineeringsociety
Software quality and ideology
8/2010
software engineeringargumentargument
Future me gets all the attention
8/2010
productivity
A photograph of a reception of nearly all men at the Mozilla summit.
Mozilla Summit 2010 and dev culture
7/2010
trip reportindustrysoftware engineering
Mozilla Summit 2010, day 0
7/2010
trip reportindustry
Dealing with teacher guilt
6/2010
teaching
Teaching and presenting with the iPad is broken
4/2010
teachinged tech
What the iPad is and isn't
4/2010
reviewHCI
My juxtaposition on the ipad
3/2010
HCIreview
Spreadsheet error costs time and money, yet again
3/2010
software engineeringsociety

2009 🔗

Managing time management
12/2009
productivity
Emerson interview (part 2); writing software engineering research for HCI venues
10/2009
software engineeringacademiapersonal
Emerson Murphy-Hill interviews me on software engineering research (part 1)
9/2009
software engineeringacademiapersonal
What's surprising?
9/2009
academiascience
The semblance of objectivity in numbers
5/2009
informationscience
On Edward Tufte's flat teaching
4/2009
trip reportreview
Halfway home: The India Software Engineering Conference
2/2009
trip reportsoftware engineering
Halfway to India
2/2009
trip reportsoftware engineering
Why do researchers choose the disciplines they do?
1/2009
academiascience
What up, blog?
1/2009
information

2008 🔗

Sketching with words
12/2008
software engineering
Rhetorical devices
11/2008
academia
Grading rant
11/2008
teachingacademia
Bits (a poem)
1/2008
societyautomation

2007 🔗

Mediated living
1/2007
societyautomation

2006 🔗

On the role of empiricism in applied sciences
12/2006
academiascience
On the static versus dynamic typing debate
10/2006
programming languagesHCI

CC0 Last updated 5/12/2025. To the extent possible under law, Amy J. Ko has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to the design and implementation of Amy's faculty site. This work is published from the United States. See this site's GitHub repository to view source and provide feedback.