Text
Where are the women gone?
technology and science. Partly because gender is not a detail I keep in mind when following
someone’s work. I also feel there are enough women represented in my
sources of technology and science that it is difficult to single one
out. In a way, and in the context of my paying attention to gender in the
fields of technology and science, thinking about women I celebrate is
akin to asking to celebrate ‘people who wear red’, or ‘people who are of
short stature’. I am aware of the social background and implications of
women in technology and science in the grand context of a world society,
but in my multi-cultural, multi-disciplined interests, it is simply not
an issue. For the record, I will mention Jane McGonigal and Xeni Jardin. I
recommend following their work and careers. Start from their wikipedia
pages, jump onto their websites and follow links that may look appealing
to you. It’s a wonderful experience to welcome the adventure of getting
lost in a trail of clicks across the internet exploring their work,
ideas and the awesome wonderland they envision for our future. Jane’s work in Gaming (and Alternative Reality Gaming) has won awards
and garnered a worldwide following, and her contribution to the
Institute for the Future is fascinating and mind-opening. Pervasive
gaming, alternative reality games, collective intelligence, I Love Bees
and the fact she worked for 42 Entertainment should be dead ringers for
an interesting journey of discovery. Xeni Jardin is my Boingboing.com heroine, always waist-deep into
exciting situations that involve technology and science in one way or
another, with integrity and smarts I wish were more commonplace. She has
contributed to Boingboing, Wired and worked as a guest technology news
commentator for television networks such as CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and
ABC. My favourite image of her is flying in zero-gravity with Dr Buzz
Aldrin in a zero-gravity flight about 32,000 feet above earth. Closer to home, my mother is an extraordinary woman, who pursued science
all her life. So is my sister, working to save the ecosystem and all
creatures big and small. During my university years I had plenty of
friends who studied any number of science careers - from veterinary
science to entomology. Studying multimedia, there were also just as many
girls as there were guys scripting and programming for the Web or for
Macromedia Director, editing video or creating 3D animations. But the other reason I had a hard time with this post was that although
I found no lack of heroines in those I follow, they are currently scarce
in my professional field. Those girls who studied multimedia seem to
have now disappeared. I look around and find that in the field of
interactive advertising, women are few and far between. Where did they all go? It seems out of all science and
technological-oriented fields, computing has suffered a decrease in
women’s involvement.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/business/16digi.html). Blame it on aggressive gaming, the long hours and personal sacrifice
that this industry requires as well as the choice between work or
family, or even in the way mathematics are taught at school - nobody
seems to know for certain. But the fact is that in my office we have 20
men and 3 women dedicated to a technologically-minded creative pursuit:
interactive advertising. We want more women. We need more women. Our job is to create interesting
interactive experiences for people of both genders, and with mostly men
at work we often miss a woman’s point of view. So why haven’t women pursued computers, internet or the interactive
field - and their numbers actually seem on the decrease? Where are all
the women gone? Think about it, share your opinions and spread the word. We need more
women!
Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to celebrate the
achievements of women in technology and science. Find out more at
http://findingada.com/about/
technology and science. Partly because gender is not a detail I keep in mind when following
someone’s work. I also feel there are enough women represented in my
sources of technology and science that it is difficult to single one
out. In a way, and in the context of my paying attention to gender in the
fields of technology and science, thinking about women I celebrate is
akin to asking to celebrate ‘people who wear red’, or ‘people who are of
short stature’. I am aware of the social background and implications of
women in technology and science in the grand context of a world society,
but in my multi-cultural, multi-disciplined interests, it is simply not
an issue. For the record, I will mention Jane McGonigal and Xeni Jardin. I
recommend following their work and careers. Start from their wikipedia
pages, jump onto their websites and follow links that may look appealing
to you. It’s a wonderful experience to welcome the adventure of getting
lost in a trail of clicks across the internet exploring their work,
ideas and the awesome wonderland they envision for our future. Jane’s work in Gaming (and Alternative Reality Gaming) has won awards
and garnered a worldwide following, and her contribution to the
Institute for the Future is fascinating and mind-opening. Pervasive
gaming, alternative reality games, collective intelligence, I Love Bees
and the fact she worked for 42 Entertainment should be dead ringers for
an interesting journey of discovery. Xeni Jardin is my Boingboing.com heroine, always waist-deep into
exciting situations that involve technology and science in one way or
another, with integrity and smarts I wish were more commonplace. She has
contributed to Boingboing, Wired and worked as a guest technology news
commentator for television networks such as CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and
ABC. My favourite image of her is flying in zero-gravity with Dr Buzz
Aldrin in a zero-gravity flight about 32,000 feet above earth. Closer to home, my mother is an extraordinary woman, who pursued science
all her life. So is my sister, working to save the ecosystem and all
creatures big and small. During my university years I had plenty of
friends who studied any number of science careers - from veterinary
science to entomology. Studying multimedia, there were also just as many
girls as there were guys scripting and programming for the Web or for
Macromedia Director, editing video or creating 3D animations. But the other reason I had a hard time with this post was that although
I found no lack of heroines in those I follow, they are currently scarce
in my professional field. Those girls who studied multimedia seem to
have now disappeared. I look around and find that in the field of
interactive advertising, women are few and far between. Where did they all go? It seems out of all science and
technological-oriented fields, computing has suffered a decrease in
women’s involvement.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/business/16digi.html). Blame it on aggressive gaming, the long hours and personal sacrifice
that this industry requires as well as the choice between work or
family, or even in the way mathematics are taught at school - nobody
seems to know for certain. But the fact is that in my office we have 20
men and 3 women dedicated to a technologically-minded creative pursuit:
interactive advertising. We want more women. We need more women. Our job is to create interesting
interactive experiences for people of both genders, and with mostly men
at work we often miss a woman’s point of view. So why haven’t women pursued computers, internet or the interactive
field - and their numbers actually seem on the decrease? Where are all
the women gone? Think about it, share your opinions and spread the word. We need more
women!
