Women in Technology: 2 Ways you CAN get Involved!

I’m a woman, and I work in technology.  I LOVE helping other women feel empowered to learn, share, and succeed in the technology sector, too.  Here are two terrific ways that you can get involved (even if you aren’t lucky enough to be a woman!).  Please do share these with your friends and colleagues because your invitation to participate can really make a difference in the lives of women all around you.

Women Who Tech TeleSummit: April 2009

The second annual Women Who Tech TeleSummit (which will take place in April 2009) is looking for panel suggestions. Have an idea for a fabulous virtual workshop that every woman working in online communications or technology must participate in? Think you or one of your colleagues would be a great panelist or moderator? We want to hear about it. Submit your panel ideas at here.
Panel submissions are due Feb. 7th.

While the 2008 Women Who Tech TeleSummit was a smashing success with over 650 women including Arianna Huffington and Joan Blades defying the stereotype that the tech world belongs to pocket-protector toting guys hooked on sci-fi and video games, 2009 will be even better. Women Who Tech brings together talented and renowned women breaking new ground in technology who use their tech savvy skills to transform the world and inspire change. We provide a supportive network for the vibrant and thriving community of women in technology professions by giving women an open platform to share their talents, experiences, and insights.

For more info check out http://www.womenwhotech.com. You can also follow WWT on Twitter and join the Women Who Tech Facebook group.

Sign up on the website, or join the Facebook group to be sure you get details about the event in April.

Ada Lovelace Day: March 24, 2009

I signed the Ada Lovelace Day pledge on Pledgebank, will you?

Who’s Ada Lovelace and what’s this day all about?

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. Women’s contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognised. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines. Whatever she does, whether she is a sysadmin or a tech entrepreneur, a programmer or a designer, developing software or hardware, a tech journalist or a tech consultant, we want to celebrate her achievements.

It doesn’t matter how new or old your blog is, what gender you are, what language you blog in, or what you normally blog about – everyone is invited to take part. All you need to do is sign up to this pledge and then publish your blog post any time on Tuesday 24th March 2009. If you’re going to be away that day, feel free to write your post in advance and set your blogging system to publish it that day.

We will gather as many of the posts together on the day as we can, and we’ll let you know exactly how we’re going to do that nearer the time. For ongoing updates about Ada Lovelace day, please follow us on Twitter, join our mailing list or see our blog.

http://findingada.com/
http://twitter.com/FindingAda
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/findingada

Who was Ada?
Ada Lovelace was one of the world’s first computer programmers, and one of the first people to see computers as more than just a machine for doing sums. She wrote programmes for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, a general-purpose computing machine, despite the fact that it was never built. She also wrote the very first description of a computer and of software.

You can learn about Ada Lovelace Day, how it got started, and sign on to the pledge here.