Specific subjects of study or work

Information technology and software development

Background:

Some workers in software development and information technology have been pushing since at least 2003 for technical documentation to use more inclusive terminology. During racial protests starting in 2020 after George Floyd’s murder, this movement gained more momentum, and technology professionals began suggesting alternatives for terms such as “master” and “slave,” which were commonly used to describe a variety of hierarchical systems and which can normalize and trivialize slavery when used metaphorically (see also “Avoid language that perpetuates racial or ethnic stereotypes or is rooted in violence against these groups”). Groups such as the Inclusive Naming Initiative have looked at terminology holistically, reviewing whether terms exclude people on the basis of gender, disability, and other factors.

The leadership of the Internet Engineering Task Force, an internet standards organization, has voiced support for inclusive language, as has the Academy Software Foundation, a branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Several universities have followed suit and developed their own inclusive language projects, such as the University of Washington’s IT-specific guide and the Northwestern University IT department’s strategic initiative.

Using more inclusive terms can make people feel more welcome and accepted and be clearer—using straightforward terms instead of metaphors makes the meaning more widely understood. In some instances, regardless of whether a term is exclusionary, a replacement is more precise. For example, people have debated whether “dummy value” is ableist—whether it reinforces stereotypes against people with disabilities because of the historical use of “dummy” as an insult. But an alternative, “placeholder value,” is clearer regardless of whether “dummy value” is exclusionary. Similarly, some groups also think violent words like "kill" and "nuke" should be replaced because their violent associations are distracting, but on top of that, alternatives like “halting a process” and “deleting files” are more direct.

Recommendation:

See the table below for a selection of terms to use in place of problematic ones in IT. This is not a comprehensive list of all exclusionary terms in IT or software. Rather, the list is intended to highlight the main problematic terms and spark reflection on the impact of language used in IT. When deciding when to replace terms, think critically about whether the term excludes people or reinforces stereotypes and whether an alternative would be clearer. Consider adopting a set of principles, like the framework of the Inclusive Naming Initiative, to help guide decisions about terminology.

Avoid	Use	Notes
black box	closed box mystery box	Context: A device, system, or object that produces useful information without revealing any information about its internal workings See also “Avoid associating ‘black’ or darkness with bad, and ‘white’ or lightness with good.”
blacklist and whitelist	block list and allow list reject list and accept list prohibit list and permit list deny list and safe list (or any combination of these)	Context: Permissions, publishing See also “Avoid associating ‘black’ or darkness with bad, and ‘white’ or lightness with good.”
cripple	hinder	Context: Cybersecurity See also “Avoid using disability-related terms to describe something negative.”
dark pattern	deceptive pattern	Context: Thread signaling, user interface and user experience design See also “Avoid associating ‘black’ or darkness with bad, and ‘white’ or lightness with good.”
dummy value	placeholder value sample value	Context: Testing
male and female connectors	plug and socket	Context: Hardware Note: Framing “male” and “female” as opposites enforces the gender binary. See also “Not implying that gender is a binary construct.”
man hours	person hours	Context: Resourcing and scheduling See also “Gender-neutral language.”
man in the middle	attacker in the middle machine in the middle	Context: Cryptographic attacks See also “Gender-neutral language.”
master and slave	primary and secondary main and replica parent and child	Context: Hierarchal services See also “Avoid language that perpetuates racial or ethnic stereotypes or is rooted in violence against these groups.”
mom test, girlfriend test	test with novice users usability test	Context: User testing Note: Associating a mom or girlfriend with beginners perpetuates the stereotype that women aren’t skilled with technology.
sanity check	quick check confidence check coherence check	Context: Quality control See also “Avoid using disability-related terms to describe something negative.”
Scrum master	agile lead agile team facilitator Scrum leader Scrum facilitator	Context: Project or product management See also “Avoid language that perpetuates racial or ethnic stereotypes or is rooted in violence against these groups.”
webmaster	web product owner	Context: Website development See also “Avoid language that perpetuates racial or ethnic stereotypes or is rooted in violence against these groups.”
white hat, black hat, and gray hat	benign, malicious, and hacktivist	Context: Security hacking See also “Avoid associating ‘black’ or darkness with bad, and ‘white’ or lightness with good.”

Resources on inclusive language for specific subjects of study or work

Inclusive Naming Initiative.
Knodel, M., and N. ten Oever. “Terminology, Power, and Inclusive Language in Internet-Drafts and RFCs.” Internet Engineering Task Force Internet-Draft draft-knodel-terminology-10, July 11, 2022.
Lee, Angeline. “It Starts with Words: Unconscious Bias in Gender, Race, and Class in Tech Terminology.” Medium, Aug. 19, 2020.
UK Finance, EY, and Microsoft. Use of Non-inclusive Language in Technology and Cybersecurity and Why It Matters. 2021.
University of Washington. “IT Inclusive Language Guide.” Last modified Aug. 8, 2022.

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