{"id":1170,"date":"2010-10-15T15:19:38","date_gmt":"2010-10-15T19:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=1170"},"modified":"2017-07-31T15:21:16","modified_gmt":"2017-07-31T19:21:16","slug":"barbie-goes-binary-code","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2010\/10\/barbie-goes-binary-code\/","title":{"rendered":"Barbie Goes Binary Code"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When Computer Engineer Barbie hit toy shelves in November, she was outfitted with the latest in high-tech high fashion: a form-fitting T-shirt emblazoned with binary code for \u201cBarbie,\u201d pink glasses, pink flats, a laptop\u2014and a Bluetooth headset nestled in her flowing blond tresses. Mattel is promoting her as a \u201cdigital diva.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/barbie_big.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1171\" src=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/barbie_big-170x300.jpg\" alt=\"barbie\" width=\"170\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/barbie_big-170x300.jpg 170w, https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/barbie_big.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 170px) 100vw, 170px\" \/><\/a>Erin Fitzgerald, MSE \u201904, PhD \u201909, isn\u2019t concerned whether or not Barbie is dressed to impress for her newest (and 125th) career. Fitzgerald hopes the doll inspires future female engineers. Tapped by Mattel through the National Academy of Engineering to consult on Barbie\u2019s first-ever foray into computer engineering, Fitzgerald offered input and reviewed sketches throughout the development stage. (One early idea from Mattel she strongly advised against: outfitting Computer Engineer Barbie in a white lab coat. That\u2019s garb much better suited to scientists working in wet labs, noted Fitzgerald, who says T-shirt and jeans are the standard uniform for her and her colleagues.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome people thought it was silly, but this was an opportunity to share what we do,\u201d says Fitzgerald, a research fellow at the Department of Defense in Arlington, Virginia. \u201cBarbie has such broad visibility. This gives girls a different view of what engineering can be.\u201d Considering the power of the Pink, it\u2019s a good bet: 90 percent of girls between 3 and 10 own at least one Barbie doll. In an online Mattel-sponsored contest, which drew 600,000 voters, Computer Engineer Barbie beat out architect, anchorwoman, environmentalist, and surgeon.<\/p>\n<p>Geek didn\u2019t quite meet chic, though. \u201cWhen I first saw the sketches, I thought the leggings were jeans, but they turned out to be black sparkly leggings,\u201d chuckles Fitzgerald, who does outreach with school-age girls to encourage technical careers and was the founder of Hopkins\u2019 Women of Whiting (WoW), a graduate student group.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t imagine programming all day in leggings, but it\u2019s Barbie and she is very girly.\u201d This fits just fine with Fitzgerald. \u201cIt would have been more offensive if [Mattel] changed the Barbie image to a more stereotypical look for this. The idea is that anyone can be an engineer.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ALUMNI MAKING NEWS: Erin Fitzgerald MSE &#8217;04, PhD &#8217;09 was tapped by Mattel through the National Academy of Engineering to consult on Barbie&#8217;s first-ever foray into computer engineering. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-currents","issue-fall-2010"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Barbie Goes Binary Code - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2010\/10\/barbie-goes-binary-code\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Barbie Goes Binary Code - JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ALUMNI MAKING NEWS: Erin Fitzgerald MSE &#039;04, PhD &#039;09 was tapped by Mattel through the National Academy of Engineering to consult on Barbie&#039;s first-ever foray into computer engineering.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2010\/10\/barbie-goes-binary-code\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-10-15T19:19:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-07-31T19:21:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/barbie_big-170x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abby Lattes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abby Lattes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2010\\\/10\\\/barbie-goes-binary-code\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2010\\\/10\\\/barbie-goes-binary-code\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Abby Lattes\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\"},\"headline\":\"Barbie Goes Binary Code\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-10-15T19:19:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-31T19:21:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2010\\\/10\\\/barbie-goes-binary-code\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":351,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2010\\\/10\\\/barbie-goes-binary-code\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/barbie_big-170x300.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Currents\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2010\\\/10\\\/barbie-goes-binary-code\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2010\\\/10\\\/barbie-goes-binary-code\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2010\\\/10\\\/barbie-goes-binary-code\\\/\",\"name\":\"Barbie Goes Binary Code - JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2010\\\/10\\\/barbie-goes-binary-code\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2010\\\/10\\\/barbie-goes-binary-code\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/barbie_big-170x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-10-15T19:19:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-31T19:21:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2010\\\/10\\\/barbie-goes-binary-code\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2010\\\/10\\\/barbie-goes-binary-code\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2010\\\/10\\\/barbie-goes-binary-code\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/barbie_big.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/barbie_big.jpg\",\"width\":360,\"height\":633,\"caption\":\"barbie\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2010\\\/10\\\/barbie-goes-binary-code\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Barbie Goes Binary Code\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\",\"name\":\"JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\",\"name\":\"Abby Lattes\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Abby Lattes\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Barbie Goes Binary Code - JHU Engineering Magazine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2010\/10\/barbie-goes-binary-code\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Barbie Goes Binary Code - JHU Engineering Magazine","og_description":"ALUMNI MAKING NEWS: Erin Fitzgerald MSE '04, PhD '09 was tapped by Mattel through the National Academy of Engineering to consult on Barbie's first-ever foray into computer engineering.","og_url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2010\/10\/barbie-goes-binary-code\/","og_site_name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","article_published_time":"2010-10-15T19:19:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-07-31T19:21:16+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/barbie_big-170x300.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Abby Lattes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Abby Lattes","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2010\/10\/barbie-goes-binary-code\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2010\/10\/barbie-goes-binary-code\/"},"author":{"name":"Abby Lattes","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742"},"headline":"Barbie Goes Binary Code","datePublished":"2010-10-15T19:19:38+00:00","dateModified":"2017-07-31T19:21:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2010\/10\/barbie-goes-binary-code\/"},"wordCount":351,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2010\/10\/barbie-goes-binary-code\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/barbie_big-170x300.jpg","articleSection":["Currents"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2010\/10\/barbie-goes-binary-code\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2010\/10\/barbie-goes-binary-code\/","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2010\/10\/barbie-goes-binary-code\/","name":"Barbie Goes Binary Code - JHU Engineering Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2010\/10\/barbie-goes-binary-code\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2010\/10\/barbie-goes-binary-code\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/barbie_big-170x300.jpg","datePublished":"2010-10-15T19:19:38+00:00","dateModified":"2017-07-31T19:21:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2010\/10\/barbie-goes-binary-code\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2010\/10\/barbie-goes-binary-code\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2010\/10\/barbie-goes-binary-code\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/barbie_big.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/barbie_big.jpg","width":360,"height":633,"caption":"barbie"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2010\/10\/barbie-goes-binary-code\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Barbie Goes Binary Code"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/","name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742","name":"Abby Lattes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g","caption":"Abby Lattes"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1170"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9499,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170\/revisions\/9499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}