Tips for writing documentation

Dec 10, 2008 GMT

Yesterday I received a phone call from a grad school buddy who is now writing press releases and marketing for a technology company. I told my friend that her press releases were probably much better quality than the ones she received as an editor for a regional newspaper. She replied, "They're great until the engineers review them and change everything back into engineer-speak." It's timely that this morning I ran across Carla Schroder's recent documentation blog posts: Tips for Documentation Writers (This Means You Too, Ace Coders) and More Tips for Documentation Writers (You Too, Ace Coders). Of course, if you were in Janice Gelb's LISA presentation, "WTFM:...

SCALE 7x: Women in Open Source Call for Papers

Dec 03, 2008 GMT

SCALE 7x organizers announced their second Women in Open Source conference, which will be held Friday, February 20th: Continuing our efforts to encourage women of all ages to be a part of the Free and Open Source community, we invite you to showcase your work in the Free and Open Source community. Join us in sharing recent accomplishments, success stories, and advancements. I attended the SCALE 6x WIOS event and highly recommend it for both women and men who are involved in open source. To see the call for papers, visit: http://scale7x.socallinuxexpo.org/conference-info/women-in-open-source-call-for-papers

Groklaw on the Cyber-bullying Case

Dec 01, 2008 GMT

I've followed the Myspace cyber-bullying case from the beginning. This case is particularly interesting to me because I'm the mother of a pre-teen, but I'm even more concerned about free speech issues surrounding it. Groklaw breaks it down and explains why this case should worry everyone who uses the Internet: "... I don't think it's overstating it a bit to say that unless this case is overturned, it is time to get off the Internet completely, because it will have become too risky to use a computer."

Geek Parenting session at LinuxChix miniconf

Nov 25, 2008 GMT

Well here's a topic near and dear to my heart: Sarah Stokely posted a call for Geek Parenting session panelists on The Open Source Report. Both men and women are encouraged to participate: "We are now looking for some experienced geek parents as well as an expert or two (educator, counsellor or other professional who is experienced in matters parental) who would like to share some ideas, tips and discussion on the challenges that being a parent can present." The panel will be held January 19, 2009, as part of the LinuxChix miniconf at Linux.conf.au. If you are interested in participating on the panel, email: miniconf-submission@au.linuxchix.org or find out more about the...

Diversity '08 Workshop

Nov 20, 2008 GMT

San Diego's weather is dreamy, and if that's not enough reason to pack up and head to California, here's another reason: You can attend the December 7, 2008 Workshop on Supporting Diversity in Systems Research (aka Diversity '08). According to the USENIX site: The first Workshop on Supporting Diversity in Systems Research is a community-building event, serving both to educate women and under-represented minorities about the opportunities in systems research and to support researchers who are already working in the field. Check out the program at: http://www.usenix.org/events/diversity08/tech/ Got news by, about, or for women in open source? Email us at: roseblog AT linux pro...

Book: How to be a Geek Goddess

Nov 19, 2008 GMT

If you get your hands on a copy of the new No Starch book, How to be a Geek Goddess, I'd love to see your review of it. Just reading about it on the publisher's site gave me a chuckle: " How to Be a Geek Goddess shows you how to sort out technology decisions (and find those cute shoes online) without ever having to ask a man." The description on Amazon.com made me laugh outloud (or, as the kids say, LOL): "Are you tired of waiting for your husband to install that wireless network?" Originally, I ran across this book title when I saw a link to an Infozine book description: " How to Be a Geek Goddess shows every woman how to sort out the complicated world of...

Computer science: women out, girls in

Nov 18, 2008 GMT

NYTimes.com recently ran an article asking "What Has Driven Women Out of Computer Science?" Although there's nothing particularly new in the article – the percentage of women in computer science is on the decline – the article mentions that girls who participate in computer science often come from families of computer scientists and engineers. My daughter comes from a multi-media family – print, broadcasting, Internet, and so on – and there are a few farmers in the mix. Recently she told me that she's starting to like Algebra. It helps that my daughter has a wonderful Algebra teacher, but she also observed, "What I like about math is you're either right or...