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Fiction is a feminist issue

Yesterday we saw some friends and I gave the female half of the couple a bag stuffed with books. Her husband looked downcast and said “Don’t you have any books for me, Bethanne?” I explained to him that I did …

Permission to be horrible and other ways to generate creativity

Author and web design consultant Denise R. Jacobs reveals lessons she learned about creativity while writing her first book. She also discusses her efforts to give women and people of color more visibility in the tech world.

Confessions of a not-so-public speaker

Stepping out of our comfort zones and into the spotlight at events (and encouraging others to do likewise) can help address the perception that the tech community is solely populated by young white guys.

Women helping women get into tech

Computer science programs have an iffy track record recruiting women into the tech space. Sara Chipps, co-founder of Girl Develop IT, has a new approach: create an inclusive environment where dumb questions are encouraged and practical application is key. In this Q&A, Chipps discusses her project and the pressures women face in the tech world.

Four short links: 28 July 2010

The end of the road for the Nexus One (LWN) -- The pessimistic among us can be forgiven for concluding that the battle for open handsets is being lost. The carriers determine which devices will be successful in the market, and they have absolutely no interest in openness. Customers are irresistibly drawn to heavily advertised, shiny devices with low...

How the Network is Helping Women Be 'Architects of Change'

I attended the Womens Conference today and was inpired by the women and the change in the world today. It was not a surprise when Madeleine Albright pointed out that with all the new enabling technologies available to us today, the old paradigm of punching a time clock no longer need apply. The network is playing its role in supporting women as they evolve their roles...

OSCON: Standing Out in the Crowd

Kirrily Robert gave the first keynote speech this morning, entitled "Standing Out in the Crowd." She spoke about the gender imbalance in open source and shared her experiences working on open source projects that have a higher-than-average percentage of women participants. She laid out statistics about the current gender balance of various projects, looked at trends in open source,...

The Women of XML

I've long been a fan of Lady Ada Augusta Lovelace. She was not only one of Charles Babbage's biggest patrons, but she also was one of the first to suggest the use of "Jacquard Loom" type cards as a way of programming the Analytical Engine as well providing what may have been the first software programs. Lovelace, the daughter of the infamous poet Lord Byron, was also herself a "free spirit", albeit one with an astonishingly brilliant intellect behind it.

Expanding The O'Reilly Forums

Forums have become an integral part of many communities over the years - as a webmaster on a number of different social sites, I found that the sites tended to live or die on the strength of their forums more than on any other component of the site. They provide a way for people to express their feelings, to communicate with one another, to explore deep concepts (and silly ones) and to learn, and as such they often form the vibrant backbone of communities regardless of the subject matter expressed.