IT Service Status
Inclusive Language in Technology
All Northwestern IT staff are expected to utilize inclusive language in work-related conversations and documentation. Outlined below is a list of approved, commonly accepted alternative terms to replace oppressive terminology. Anyone looking to propose additional alternative terms or replace an oppressive phrase can submit a request at any time by emailing the IT Communications team. Staff are also expected to review and utilize the University's Inclusive Language Guide.
A special thanks to the Anti-Racism in Academia program and the EDUCAUSE IT Communications Community Group members for their pioneering efforts to introduce more inclusive language into the technology sector.- Inclusive Language Glossary developed by Anti-Racism in Academia
- Eliminating Oppressive Language Coffee Shop Presentation
| Oppressive Term | Inclusive Term(s) |
|---|---|
| Blackbox | Closed box, mystery box |
| Blackhat (hacker) | Criminal, unethical hacker |
| Blacklist | Block list, denied, deny list |
| Dummy Value | Placeholder value, sample value |
| Grandfather | Legacy |
| Grayhat (hacker) | Hacktivist |
| Man hours | Person hours, engineer hours, hours of effort |
| Master/Slave | Primary/replica, parent/child, active/passive, primary/secondary, trunk/branch |
| Mob Programming | Team, swarm, troop |
| Native (feature) | Built-in |
| Red Team | Cyber offense |
| Scrum Master | Agile Lead, Agile Program Manager, Agile Coach, Agile Team Facilitator, Scrum Coach, Scrum Teacher, Scrum Leader, Scrum Facilitator, Servant Leader, Scrum Custodian |
| Webmaster/web master | Web product owner |
| Whitebox | Open box, clear box |
| Whitehat (hacker) | Ethical hacker |
| Whitelist | Allow list, approved, safe list |
| Whitespace | Empty space, blank |
| White Team | Cyber exercise cell |
| Yellow Team | DevSecOps team |