I just found out about this very cool idea, a sort of a call to arms to address those old, tired statements "where are the women in tech? why aren't there any women in tech? there are no women in tech! there are no women tech pioneers/innovators/role models because women don't like tech/are not genetically predisposed to be good at tech/can't hack it in our little boys' world".....sorry, got a bit carried away there. Anyway. I give you: Ada Lovelace Day.
From the pledge site:
Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. Women's contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognised. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines. Whatever she does, whether she is a sysadmin or a tech entrepreneur, a programmer or a designer, developing software or hardware, a tech journalist or a tech consultant, we want to celebrate her achievements.It doesn't matter how new or old your blog is, what gender you are, what language you blog in, or what you normally blog about - everyone is invited to take part. All you need to do is sign up to this pledge and then publish your blog post any time on Tuesday 24th March 2009 [Ada Lovelace's birthday].
I have signed the pledge. They are looking for 1000 people to sign up. I encourage you to consider doing the same (especially my techy Sciblings! let's represent!). I'm really, really looking forward to seeing what kind of posts emerge from this.
(and incidentally, I plan on blogging on this topic even if they don't get 1000 signatures...although given that they already have more than 500, I don't see that happening.)
(More about Ada Lovelace can be found here.)
Technology
Comments
I signed. And I also think I'll do it anyway. There's a woman I've been considering writing about for The Giant's Shoulders anyway. I think it would be interesting to some people in my field who don't know much of her.
Posted by: Mary | January 8, 2009 6:57 PM
Cool! Looking forward to reading your post, Mary!
Posted by: Jane | January 11, 2009 10:31 PM
Could it possibly become a good theme for Scientiae that month? Was just thinking about it as I blogged about it then...
Posted by: Podblack | January 14, 2009 1:04 AM
Oooh, Podblack, that's an excellent idea! Do we know who's hosting that month?
Posted by: Jane | January 14, 2009 9:09 PM