Blog for Ada Lovelace!

Today is International Blogging Day for Ada Lovelace. Ada Lovelace was one of the first computer programmers in the world and she was female! Go Ada! So the purpose of International Blogging Day is to blog about a woman in technology to draw attention to their contributions in a male-dominated field. Here is the link to submit your pledge. http://www.pledgebank.com/AdaLovelaceDay

The article I read for my class today titled 'The Absence of Hackerettes in the Culture of Programming" by Fatima Jonsson (part of the book Cyberfeminism in northern lights: Digital media and gender in a Nordic context) mentions the famous hackers Susan Thunder and Rosie X. "Susan Thunder, known for phone hacking, and Rosie X for hacking into Bulletin Board systems, shatter the myth of the male hacker" (p. 250). I recognized the name Susan Thunder but not Rosie X so I did some searching and I found that she is the editor of the first cyberfeminist zine titled Geek Girl. Here is the link for the blog. http://www.geekgirl.com.au/blog/. The blog contains a gallery of illustrations from the original Geek Girl magazine. Rosie X is from Melbourne, Australia and is also on Twitter http://twitter.com/rosiex.

Her painted portrait was also taken from the geek girl blog. I thought it was very creative.

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Jonsson, F. (2007). The absence of hackerettes in the culture of programming. In M.S. Elm & J Sunden (Eds.), Cyberfeminism in northern lights: Digital media and gender in Nordic context (pp. 243-264). Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Positive Role Models

In one of my Gender and Computerization classes we mentioned two IT females from television programs-- Abby from NCIS and Garcia from Criminal Minds.

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/ncis/

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/criminal_minds/

I personally adore Abby from NCIS. I love that she is promoting that a female is above and beyond capable of working in such a difficult and an intelligent field and I also enjoy how she is also promoting that it's completely okay to be yourself and still work for the government without having to conform to society's expectations. I'm all for that.

But the question was brought up as to if these characters are really possible role models and if they will improve the perception of the IT field? I say yes to both. Both Abby and Garcia are extremely smart in each show and excel in their fields. They are also rewarded for it as well. They are not looked down upon by the men in the show. All of these things are very positive. As for improving the perception of the field... I think that both characters make the IT field look very fun. They are not doing some droning job that they hate and they are definitely not hermity people that hide in their computers and are incapable of social interaction. Abby and Garcia are fun, social, adorable, and quirky. Traits that would indeed help pull in females to the IT field. They beat down the stereotype and make the IT field a little more glamorous.

WOW Watch

Wowowow... good or bad? I have very mixed feelings about this website. I'm happy there is a website geared for women over 40 and I like some of the things the website does especially The Wow Watch. The Wow Watch focuses on women in the news and I like that. This week the top two stories are on Barbara Walters and Nawal al-Samarrai who is the Iraqi minister on women's affairs. Here is a quote from her in the article:

"I was convinced that I could improve conditions for women, but I ran into a wall … the occupation, terrorism, the economy collapsing … all that produced an army of widows, an increase in the number of divorcees, unmarried women, women beggars. Society is falling apart and me, I was a minister in a ministry without means, without power, without offices outside Baghdad. Women’s issues are not a priority for the government. But if women were helped, I think that half of the social problems would be resolved."

Now this is definitely a person that deserves to be highlighted and I'm glad that the Wowowow website did just that. However, some things I don't like about the website is the focus on the homepage of relationships and glamour. It kind of makes it seem just like another women's magazine like Marie Claire.

What do you think? Good for women's need for role models? Better than nothing? Or just plain terrible?

Image taken from www.littleextrasdiecuts.com

Top Secret Rosies

A documentary on the Top Secret Rosies is in post production. Here is a link to their trailer: http://topsecretrosies.wordpress.com/view-trailer/

The documentary is being produced by Leann Erikson and portrays the stories of the female mathematicians who were essentially human computers and aided in the victory of World War II. These women in this documentary worked full day shifts and had to work in total secrecy. I think it is very important that their story is being told especially when we get to follow what these females did after the war. They were probably the catalyst for women in the IT field. Some went on to become great programmers for the first computers. I would enjoy watching this documentary when it comes out. I hope that it gets advertised more as well. More people in the world need to recognize that females and computers do mix!

Also listed on the Top Secret Rosies websites is public presentations of screenings and lectures for the documentary. They are listed for March 17, 2009 at Temple University in Philadelphia PA and at BDPA in Philadelphia PA on March 18, 2009. I'm sure it would be amazing to check that out.

Another point I would like to make is that this documentary also emphasizes the importance of having key role models in this field. I've been thinking that is the direction I may be taking with this blog. By promoting all of these links to these wonderful and impressive women in the IT field someone is bound to click on them and learn more. I will feel that I have done my part in urging this field along a better path.

Image taken from www.arenaflowers.com