Wearing separates: The stripper & the hacker

If the world were a logical place, men would ride side saddle. ~ Rita Mae Brown

Last year the FastCompany nominated (a mere) 'TOP eleven' women as the 'most influential in Web 2.0'. Immediately causing outcry about the chosen and the not chosen. In the UK, it is estimated of the near 460,000 strong IT workforce those who are 'ICT Professionals', less than 15% are women.

The technology industry has a history of overlooking or missing out altogether the female counterpart to the traditional male Geek. Nowhere was this distinction more sharply drawn than in the visibility of the girls at the Yahoo! hosted TwOpenHack09 yesterday.

Still today (that's a long time in digital circles) the event is continuing to cause controversy.

I thought that we were a long time from the days when the sight of a 'mere' woman at a commercially led (thanks Yahoo!) and 'professionally' run event would send in the lap dancers. Once in the States at an afterparty for one of the tech industries now most recognised companies (they shall remain anon) they sent in the fat-ogram. Another example of the perspex ceiling designed to be tread only by those in sensible flat shoes. Whilst there continues minimal opportunity for highheeled marks to be scratched into that ceiling, this IS happening.

It is not clear exactly how many female workers are 'in IT'. Certainly not enough. And not enough at the highest levels. But then the same could be said of Banking. I am, however, struck by the irony of the TwOpenHack09 event. Once led to believe that hacking as a subtext was to break through various walls, fire and otherwise, to infiltrate - and from a leftist ideal - reveal possible exploitation and conspiracy, as a young girl I was highly influenced by this most romanticised image of the hacker subculture. In my eyes this was a level playing field where it was talent that mattered not that if you were 'too delicate' to play on the pitch. So thanks to Yahoo! and TwOpenHack09 for bringing home the ultimate levelling message that what you wear, or rather take off, your booty matters. This separates the stripper from the hacker afterall. Women know your place!

Before I get too locked into just a M/F debate, as my handsome friend Ian Forrester will remind me, overall you have to wonder how much things have changed in Tech land. Following Ian's post 'Are you a self-described geek' as faaaaar back in time as 2005, there are cultural and race dimensions too. And the issues are worldwide.

Worldwide or not, closer to home and over in Leeds tonight is a gathering of some of the potential leaders of the tech industry. Leeds Girl Geeks we salute you. Especially with your booty's covered.

And, yes I am struck by the irony of using an image entitled 'sexy robot'. This is as a deliberate device all you commentators.

TEDx trepidation

In the spirit of 'ideas worth spreading', I have been asked to present at TEDxManchester (with thanks to Ian Forrester @BBC Backstage).

x, because this represents an independently organised event. Albeit with a BBC edge.

This will be my first TED. This will also be the first time I have ever been asked to contribute without a good sense of who the other speakers are, what direction the day will take, or the connection to audience – in my mind the most important part of any conference, unconference or otherwise. Let alone the size of the event itself. This is self-organisation on a small-to-many-scale. And I am as yet unsure as to my role, or the expectations and development of sustained interest with the others whom I hope to encounter. My only regret is that I will have to rush back to York before the close of day for more presentations and various interviews from a North East based.

As technology is my thing it seems only natural that these form the main thrust of my talk. As the pace of everyday life accelerates with various social technologies, my key question is whether we have a better handle of ourselves and/or of others? Social platforms in particular are a central part of what Castells tied together as 'networked lives'. This is a central issue beyond the rise of a technological modernity, which has thrust us into social sensibility that is as rapid, in terms of updates and change, as it can be tumultuous.


To make sense of this type of social existence I suggest these are the signs of the times where the immediacy – the combination of at-once-connection to others and the ubiquitous nature of social media – emerge as core features, which are supposedly under, but never ever completely, our control.

My aim is to draw attention to the coming and arrival of social information in our lives. Thus, the anticipation of reciprocated connections inexorably change how we (should) think about social media, networks, sociability and behavioural practices. In short, such change has already and shall continue to revolutionise our social and cultural rules, rituals and values. But are we ready for that?...

And is TEDx ready for a 'social scientist'... social media analyst or otherwise.

Whatever happens on the day I'm excited to be meeting - such is the advantage of being a Speaker - Herb Kim a figure-head in technology circles and who has more than one 'idea worth spreading'.