women in computer science
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Codes of Conduct and Worthless Manfeelings
→: Codes of Conduct and Worthless ManfeelingsEarlier this year I pulled out of a conference because the organiser and I disagreed on code of conducts. Specifically I thought there should be one, and he did not. He did eventually add one, but refused to define unacceptable behaviour. Myself and another woman pulled out. This whole experience was really upsetting to me,…
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Magic Solutions to Materialize Women at 3 Days Notice
→: Magic Solutions to Materialize Women at 3 Days NoticeI was annoyed recently, because a conglomerate organising a conference pinged us (and every other group that might yield “diverse” speakers) to promote their CfP… three days before closing. I sent them a series of comments on how leaving it to the last minute like that wasn’t helpful. As Chiu-Ki put it “we’re not a magic…
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Uncomfortable Conversations About Money
→: Uncomfortable Conversations About MoneyWhen it comes to speaking at a conference which involves some travel costs, there are four* main options: The conference pays. The company you work for pays. You pay. You don’t go. The Conference Pays I think this, announced up front, is the most inclusive option because it means you don’t have to talk about…
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Problems with Resources
→: Problems with ResourcesSeveral of my computers have been hit with hammers. I tell them they should be flattered by the complement, but they still have dents in them. Computers in Dave’s office keep overheating. But I don’t think it’s anything to do with Dave having the heating on high. Many of my processes are failing with specific…
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Pitfalls for Men Talking About Diversity
→: Pitfalls for Men Talking About DiversityLately I’ve been watching more men give talks about diversity. Personally I’m in favour of this, because 1) If women could fix this, we would have by now – making “diversity” a “woman’s issue” is a way of perpetuating the status quo. And 2) there is clearly a subset of men who won’t listen to…
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The Story Behind The Newsletter
→: The Story Behind The NewsletterWhen I decided to leave my corporate tech job, public speaking was part of The Plan. However I didn’t really know where to begin. I built a talk from some of my more popular blogposts and started submitting it to CfPs I happened across. Luckily, I met up with Chiu-Ki on a trip to the…
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Discoveries About OSS Culture
→: Discoveries About OSS CultureI was hanging out with an OSS-dude (OSS = Open Source Software) for a while, and I learned a couple of things. Firstly – don’t try and buy committed OSS types books. It’s a complete nightmare. Secondly – I’ve reached a better understanding of harassment and open source. And particularly the pushback, which comes from…
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Tuning Forks in Human Form
→: Tuning Forks in Human FormA few months ago three people told me I had been right about something. Obviously this brought me joy – I do love being right – but it was not all joy, because what I had been right about was bad news for them. I personally felt vindicated. But my friends were in a bad…
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The Attention Game
→: The Attention GameThere are many things that alarm me about the tech industry, but one of them is how much of it runs on ads, and therefore on attention. A business model of millions of users -> ??? -> Profit. And the answer to ??? is: sell them shit. There are two main themes that I think…