Author Archives: Ada Initiative

Panel at OSBridge: Good news for diversity in open source 2012-2013

If you’re like us, sometimes you get discouraged by all the bad news you hear about women in open technology and culture. It’s hard to keep fighting when it feels like you’re not making progress.

Panelist Sumana Harihareswara, (Tobias Schumann CC BY-SA)

That’s why we organized a panel discussion to focus on the good news at the upcoming Open Source Bridge conference in Portland, Oregon. The topic of the panel is “Diversity in open source: What’s changed in 2012 and 2013.” We will use this panel we will tell some of the many success stories in improving diversity in open source software in the last couple of years.

20% women attendees at PyCon US 2013
85% of JSConf attendees donated to women in open tech/culture
Up-and-coming new non-profit Black Girls Code ran several workshops
Conferences with 100% white male speakers are now called out for not trying hard enough to find the best speakers
Mozilla’s adoption of community guidelines that prevent advocacy of discrimination on Planet Mozilla and other Mozilla forums
The rapid growth of PyLadies

We are lucky to have a diverse, talented, and funny set of panelists, including:

Panelist Liz Henry

Ashe Dryden, consultant and diversity advocate (and keynote speaker for OSBridge 2013)
Sumana Harihareswara, Engineering Community Manager at Wikimedia Foundation (and keynote speaker for OSBridge 2012)
Lukas Blakk, Build and Release Engineer at Mozilla
Asheesh Laroia, Executive Director of OpenHatch
Liz Henry, Bugmaster at Mozilla

Ada Initiative executive director Valerie Aurora will be moderating.

Can’t be there in person? The session will be recorded and available for free on the OSBridge web site.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported.

Ada Initiative reaches 1,000,000 Marie Claire readers

An important part of supporting women in open tech/culture is raising awareness of the problems that face them. We’re excited that the Ada Initiative was interviewed for an article in the June 2013 issue of Marie Claire, an international women’s magazine. We reached nearly 1,000,000 new people through the print edition alone.

Alicia Gibb, president Open Source Hardware Foundation

Written by veteran feminist journalist Alissa Quart, “When Geeks Attack” focuses on harassment of women in technology, rounding up many of the high-profile incidents in recent years as well as some disturbing statistics. Several women in open tech/culture were interviewed for this article, including Valerie Aurora, Ada Initiative Executive Director, Alicia Gibb, president of the Open Source Hardware Foundation and Ada Initiative advisor, and Valerie Bubb Fenwick, an open source developer, among many other women.

By featuring so many different women in open technology and culture, this article accomplishes two important goals. First, it sends the message that harassment of women in these fields is a major cause of women leaving them – or never joining in the first place. Second, it gives Marie Claire readers several different female role models for women in technology. For many women, the opportunity to make the world a better place while also being able to support themselves and their families is a powerful draw towards careers in open tech/culture, as opposed to technology in general. Women deserve equal access to all careers regardless of their monetary rewards: computer programming, construction work, working as an executive, serving in the military, playing professional sports, or driving a bus.

We were thrilled to work with the author, Alissa Quart, because of her long history of articles and books on feminism and free culture, such as What Does Free Culture Cost? and The Age of Hipster Sexism. Her latest book, Republic of Outsiders: The Power of Amateurs, Dreamers and Rebels, focuses on “idiosyncratic individuals” who approach social justice activism in creative ways, including transgender activists, advocates for neurodiversity, and animal rights activists.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported.

New Relic sponsors AdaCamp San Francisco

The Ada Initiative is pleased to welcome New Relic as the newest sponsor of AdaCamp San Francisco, our conference dedicated to increasing women’s participation in open technology and culture. New Relic is the third AdaCamp supporting sponsor.

New Relic makes tools that allow developers of web and mobile apps to monitor and analyze the performance of their applications, all the way from user experience, through servers, and down to the line of application code. New Relic’s monitoring tools and platform support Ruby, PHP, .Net, Java, Python, iOS, and Android apps. New Relic has offices in Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle, and they are hiring! See New Relic’s list of job openings to learn more.

On behalf of women in open technology and culture, we thank New Relic for their generous support.

Why AdaCamp?

Women in open tech/culture

Why is AdaCamp so important to women in open technology and culture? Because AdaCamp measurably increases women’s participation in open technology and culture – in an environment that more often pushes women towards the door.

Most women who attend AdaCamp “lean in” to their careers and community work after AdaCamp. In our post-conference survey, 92% of survey respondents said AdaCamp increased their commitment to open technology and culture.

AdaCamp also increases women’s professional connections: 100% of survey respondents said AdaCamp increased their network in open tech/culture. Several AdaCamp attendees landed new jobs in open tech/culture through the connections they made at AdaCamp, and at least two won prestigious internships with Code for America and the GNOME Outreach Program for Women. One of the benefits of attending AdaCamp is joining the AdaCamp alumni mailing list, which members use to recruit job applicants, advertise events, and share career advice.

AdaCampers learn new skills at AdaCamp as well. Past AdaCamps included tutorials in Wikipedia editing, Python programming, and other open tech/culture topics. The tutorials were so popular that we are expanding them this year, and adding a “hackathon” (for all open tech/culture projects, not just coding).

Applications to AdaCamp are now closed.

Sponsorship

Your organization has the opportunity to join Automattic in sponsoring AdaCamp San Francisco, and reach 250 women leaders and future leaders in open technology and culture. Contact us at sponsors@adainitiative.org for more information about becoming a sponsor.

We thank our gold level sponsors Mozilla, Automattic and Google Site Reliability Engineering; and our silver level sponsors Linux Foundation, Red Hat, Intel, and Puppet Labs; for their support of AdaCamp San Francisco.

AdaCamp San Francisco applications closing tomorrow (May 6)!

Seven women with arms on each others' shoulders

Happy AdaCampers

Tomorrow is the final day for applications to attend AdaCamp San Francisco! If you want to be part of this fun and exciting event for women in open technology and culture (and their supporters), you should apply now. The AdaCamp San Francisco main track will be June 8–9, 2013 (Saturday and Sunday), with the allies track on June 8.

Here’s a few of our success stories:

Netha Hussain ran edit-a-thons to increase women editors and women’s biographies in Malayalam Wikipedia, gave her first three talks, published an article in Forbes Online, and learned how to program
Tamara Manik-Perlman won an internship at Code For America
Stephanie Alarcon first learned about the GNOME Outreach Program for Women at AdaCamp – and then won an OPW internship with the Open Technology Institute

We especially encourage applications from people living in the San Francisco Bay area who could not otherwise afford to travel to AdaCamp. AdaCamp registration fees vary from $0 to $250, depending on financial need, so if you can get to downtown San Francisco, you can afford to attend!

Joseph Reagle and Christine Spang in discussion at AdaCamp DC

AdaCampers (c) Mairin Duffy 2012

We encourage people of all genders to apply to the expanded allies track at AdaCamp. This is an all-day event on Saturday, June 8th, with the popular Allies Workshop in the morning and unconference sessions in the afternoon, organized by the attendees.

Learn more and apply here. AdaCamp San Francisco will be another amazing event, don’t miss it!

Heroku, O’Reilly and the Python Software Foundation sponsor AdaCamp San Francisco

The Ada Initiative is pleased to welcome Heroku, O’Reilly, and the Python Software Foundation as the newest sponsors of AdaCamp San Francisco, our conference dedicated to increasing women’s participation in open technology and culture.

Heroku is the first AdaCamp supporting sponsor. Heroku is a cloud platform that allows app developers to spend their time on their application code, not managing servers, deployment, ongoing operations, or scaling. They’re presently hiring for roles from marketing to security and support engineering.

O’Reilly is the second AdaCamp supporting sponsor. O’Reilly has been chronicling technology since 1978, and spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, research, and conferences.

The Python Software Foundation (PSF) contributed $750 towards travel scholarships for Python community members. (Please note that applications for travel grants closed on April 12, the PSF grant will be awarded to existing applicants.) The PSF manage the open source licensing for Python version 2.1 and later and own and protect the trademarks associated with Python; run the North American PyCon conference annually, support other Python conferences around the world; and fund Python related development with their grants program. In late 2012, the PSF announced that all PSF-supported events needed to implement an anti-harassment policy, making their community more accessible and safe.

On behalf of women in open technology and culture, we thank Heroku, O’Reilly, and the Python Software Foundation for their generous support.

Why AdaCamp?

Sponsorship

Apply to AdaCamp

Applications are open to attend AdaCamp San Francisco, to be held on Saturday June 8 and Sunday June 9 in San Francisco, California. All women who are interesting in meeting other women in open technology and culture, and learning and sharing about efforts to improve women’s participation in and the community environment of open technology and culture, are invited to apply. An allies track open to attendees of any gender will be held on Saturday June 8.

Puppet Labs sponsors AdaCamp San Francisco

The Ada Initiative is pleased to welcome Puppet Labs as the newest sponsor of AdaCamp San Francisco, our conference dedicated to increasing women’s participation in open technology and culture.

Puppet Labs is our newest Silver level sponsor, and one of the original four founding sponsors of the Ada Initiative, all the way back in April 2011. Puppet Labs’ open source IT automation software is familiar to nearly every software administrator and developer working today, and used by companies like Twitter, Yelp, eBay, Google, and Disney. Puppet Labs is based in Portland and was recently named one of 25 Enterprise Startups To Bet Your Career On by Business Insider. Learn more about working at Puppet Labs here.

On behalf of women in open technology and culture, we thank Puppet Labs for their generous support.

Why AdaCamp?

Sponsorship

Your organization has the opportunity to join Puppet Labs in sponsoring AdaCamp San Francisco, and reach 250 women leaders and future leaders in open technology and culture. Contact us at sponsors@adainitiative.org for more information about becoming a sponsor.

Apply to AdaCamp

AdaCamp applications extended until May 6: apply today!

Happy AdaCampers

We’ve extended applications for AdaCamp San Francisco until Monday May 6th! If you want to be part of this fun and exciting event for women in open technology and culture (and their supporters), you should apply now. The AdaCamp San Francisco main track will be June 8-9, 2013 (Saturday and Sunday), with the allies track on June 8.

Apply as soon as you can! We’re extending the application deadline because some places remain, but applicants who meet our criteria will be accepted in order of application.

Here’s a few of our success stories:

Netha Hussain ran edit-a-thons to increase women editors and women’s biographies in Malayalam Wikipedia, gave her first three talks, published an article in Forbes Online, and learned how to program
Tamara Manik-Perlman won an internship at Code For America
Stephanie Alarcon first learned about the GNOME Outreach Program for Women at AdaCamp – and then won an OPW internship with the Open Technology Institute

AdaCampers (c) Mairin Duffy 2012

Learn more and apply here. AdaCamp San Francisco will be another amazing event, don’t miss it!

We thank our gold level sponsors Mozilla, Automattic and Google Site Reliability Engineering; and our silver level sponsors Linux Foundation, Red Hat, and Intel; for their support of AdaCamp San Francisco.

Google SRE now an AdaCamp gold sponsor and reception host!

Back in February, Google Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) joined AdaCamp San Francisco as one of our first sponsors. We’re now thrilled to announce that Google SRE has made a further generous contribution to AdaCamp, becoming our third gold sponsor and our opening reception host. Thank you Google SRE!

AdaCamp is the only conference for women in open technology and culture, which includes open source software, Wikipedia-related projects, open data, open geo, fan fiction, remix culture, and more. AdaCamp is a unique opportunity to meet, collaborate with, and reach out to women in all of these communities. AdaCamp San Francisco will be held on June 8 and 9, 2013.

Interested in sponsoring AdaCamp? Email us at sponsors@adainitiative.org for more information. AdaCamp San Francisco will be the first AdaCamp in the Silicon Valley area, the heart of the open tech/culture revolution. Don’t miss this rare opportunity!

Interested in coming to AdaCamp San Francisco? AdaCamp SF is June 8-9, 2013. AdaCamp attendance is invitation-only with an open application process. Apply today! Applications will be closing shortly.

GitHub donates private repositories to women learning open source software

We’re excited to announce that long-time Ada Initiative sponsor GitHub has donated unlimited free private source code repositories to the Ada Initiative, to be used by women learning to write open source software. To get a free private repository on GitHub, just email the managers of the Ada Initiative GitHub account with your GitHub account name and ask for one! Updated to add: This offer is far more popular than we expected! Please be patient while we fulfill your requests. AdaCamp San Francisco attendees are also encouraged to use GitHub for collaborating during the conference, whether for writing code or words.

GitHub changed how open source software is developed, making it easier than ever before for people to post their code, send changes to other people’s code, and get their code reviewed. GitHub gives anyone unlimited free public code repositories, but charges for private repositories, which only selected people can see. This encourages GitHub users to use open source software licenses and share their code with other people.

In working with women in open source, the Ada Initiative found that many women are reluctant to post their code publicly when they are first getting started in open source software. This reluctance has good reasons behind it: fear of being told they are bad programmers, fear of being publicly mocked or harassed, and even fear of losing job opportunities. All of these are greater risks for women on average than men. But the best way to get better at programming is to collaborate with and get review from other programmers, which is far easier to do with a shared repository like those provided by GitHub. Unfortunately, private repositories are too expensive for most women just getting started in open source software.

We went to GitHub with our dilemma, and they immediately offered us unlimited free repositories on the Ada Initiative GitHub account. GitHub is a long-time supporter of women in open source, and sponsored both AdaCamp DC and AdaCamp San Francisco. We’re thrilled to offer women in open source private repositories for the purpose of learning open source software development. To get a private repository, email the Ada Initiative GitHub team members with your GitHub account name and ask. If you run a women’s open source programming group or event, such as PyLadies or Women Who Code, and could use some private repositories, please ask to become a team member for the Ada Initiative repository so you can create private repositories for your event.

Thanks again to GitHub for their generous donation and support of women in open technology and culture!

AdaCamp applications close in 5 days, apply now!

Happy AdaCampers

Applications for AdaCamp San Francisco close in just 5 days, on April 30th! If you want to be part of this fun and exciting event for women in open technology and culture (and their supporters), you should apply now. The AdaCamp San Francisco main track will be June 8-9, 2013 (Saturday and Sunday), with the allies track on June 8.

Here is what previous AdaCampers had to say about AdaCamp:

Netha Hussain

“It has been around eight months since I traveled to the U.S for the first time to attend Ada Camp D.C. Looking back, I find the Ada Camp as one of the most fulfilling experiences I had ever had.” Netha Hussain, Wikipedian

“It was fantastic, not in the least because the organizers had explicitly invited people from fannish backgrounds and created a very welcoming atmosphere. That enabled us to launch right into talking about fan culture and open stuff without any of the non-fannish people questioning whether we belonged at a “techie” unconference.” Nele Noppe, transformative works researcher

Leslie Birch

“I’m leaving with new tools like IRC, bug trackers and mentor lists. I have a new found desire to reach out to other women that identify as “geek”, “feminist” or both. And most of all, I’ve created partnerships that will lead to exciting workshops at our hacker space.” Leslie Birch, maker and open hardware hacker

And just a few of our success stories:

Netha Hussain ran edit-a-thons to increase women editors and women’s biographies in Malayalam Wikipedia, gave her first three talks, published an article in Forbes Online, and learned how to program
Tamara Manik-Perlman won an internship at Code For America
Stephanie Alarcon first learned about the GNOME Outreach Program for Women at AdaCamp – and then won an OPW internship with the Open Technology Institute

AdaCampers (c) Mairin Duffy 2012

Learn more and apply here. AdaCamp San Francisco will be another amazing event, don’t miss it!

We thank our gold level sponsors Mozilla and Automattic; and our silver level sponsorsGoogle Site Reliability Engineering, Linux Foundation, Red Hat, and Intel; for their support of AdaCamp San Francisco.