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May 9, 2006, 04:03 PM ET
A Game to End IT's Gender Gap?
Carnegie Mellon University's decision to implant video-game characters in a technology-training program geared toward high-school students might seem, on first glance, like a savvy PR move. But the institution has good reason to hope that avatars from The Sims will pique young women's interest in information technology.
The Sims is rare among video games in that more than half of the people who play it are women, according to Electronic Arts, the game's maker. That makes the program tantalizing to IT-department deans -- most of whom have struggled to cut through the oft-violent, oft-nerdy gaming culture that, experts say, dissuades women from pursuing computer-science degrees. (The New York Times)
Each day on Wired Campus, The Chronicle's technology reporters highlight key IT developments and put them in perspective.
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