Due to illness and other commitments, I’m just sneaking in under the bar for the last couple of hours of Ada Lovelace Day, celebrating the achievements of women in science and technology.
Being born in 1815, you probably wouldn’t have guessed she wrote the world’s first computer programmes for the Analytical Engine designed bu never built by Charles Babbage. (If you like your steampunk/sci fi, then you probably already know about The Difference Engine
So who would I pick as heroines? My choices for the inaugural day in 2009 still stand, and I’ll always be a big fan of my former colleague Danielle West (@batgirl13uk), former colleague Charlie Watson, Pistachio Consulting and oneforty.com and Charity:Water fundraiser Laura Fitton, and Twestival (taking place tomorrow!) founder Amanda Rose.
Who to add for 2010? Well, there are plenty of worthy candidates in my RSS subscriptions, Twitter follows, LinkedIn connections etc.
And it’s a tough one. Here’s one list of 25 women in social media, for example, but for each one of the mainly American ladies mentioned, there’s a European counterpart I can think of, and most likely many in other countries and languages I don’t even know about yet.
And do we include people who use social media, or marketing, in the definition of science and technology? Or do they have to be coders or physicists to get a look in? If so, then a quick look through places like Make magazine show either an increasing number of women involved in technology, or an increasing recognition of them, whether it’s building circuit boards and a business from home or being a professor at MIT.
Possibly the growth of social networks has prompted more interest in technology – there’s a perhaps steroptypical assumption borne out in several bits of research that women are more social online than men. And that could lead the social and non-social alike to see a reason to start tinkering in some way with technology which can then grow. Because it’s tinkering with a purpose (Rather than the general male version of tinkering for fun, breaking something, and then attempting to ignore it until it fixes itself).
Maybe it’s the utopian idea that in technology, programming and Web 2.0 that it’s about meritocracy rather than sexuality. Although the fact that so many successful scammers still rely on images of half-clothed models undermines the idea men aren’t still primarily stupid at times.
Or maybe it’s just a simple fact.
Whether you’re male or female, the internet has meant that for a reasonable percentage of the world, you don’t need to conform to tradition to puruse your area of interest. You can find information, order supplies and publicise your results without having to work for a traditional organisation where there might be a conscious or subconscious bias. If you’re female and want to build your own circuit boards, or male and want to run a flower shop, there’s absolutely no barrier that can’t be overcome, and you’re more able than ever to find other likeminded souls for support and advice.
In fact, maybe we won’t need to see Ada Lovelace Day as a way to promote and encourage more women in science and tech – maybe we’ll be able to celebrate it as the start of a far too lengthy process which means everyone is able to pursue the career or interest they’re passionate about.
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