FAQ

What is “open technology and culture”?

Open technology and culture is an umbrella term for a range of projects, movements, and communities including:

• Open source/Free/Libre software
• Creative commons, open content, and free culture
• Wikipedia and other wiki projects
• Open data, including open government data and data portability
• Open standards and the “open web”
• Open education, open access journals
• Remix, mashup, and creative fan culture
• Grassroots online participation, including online activism
• Open, decentralized alternatives to Facebook and other social media

All these projects and communities share common principles of open access and participation for all, and are inter-dependent parts of a broad “open” ecosystem.

Why focus on women?

Open technology and culture are shaping the future of global society. If we want that society to be socially just and to serve the interests of all people, women must be involved in its creation and organization.

Women are one of many groups currently under-represented in open technology and culture; recent surveys have shown that around 2-5% of open source developers are women (compared to 20-30% of the larger tech industry), and that women represent just 10-15% of Wikipedia editors. This under-representation in fundamental, society-changing fields leads to more widespread inequality, and must be addressed.

We support other initiatives to increase underrepresented groups in open technology in culture. We don’t have the bandwidth or expertise necessary to start initiatives focused on groups other than women, but we are always interested in hearing about, supporting, and promoting them.

What roles are you aiming for women to take?

Our ultimate goal is to get women more involved in open technology and culture in ways that shape the technology and culture – project leaders, speakers, architects, editors, developers, and writers. One of the benefits of women’s participation is in creating or influencing projects to meet women’s needs and desires. This can only be done if women are in leadership or design roles.

In many projects and communities, women’s participation is sidelined, downplayed, or ignored, or women are disproportionately found in supporting roles where they have little impact on the direction of the overall project. While supporting roles are important to the success of the overall project, and leaders often take on supporting roles before becoming leaders, our goal won’t be satisfied if we increase women’s participation only in supporting roles.

What is your strategy?

Ada Initiative will focus on scalable, high-impact educational programs working in partnership with existing organizations and communities. For example, we will:

• Work with groups who can assist in outreach and support for Ada Initiative projects, through their existing communities and communication channels.
• Focus on projects which scale with participation and can be self-supporting, such as education initiatives and reusable toolkits and resources.
• Work with communities of allies, such as the majority of open technology and culture participants who would like for women to be equal participants but do not know how to achieve this.

Why aren’t pure volunteer efforts enough?

Most “open” projects begin as volunteer initiatives. However, as their impact and influence grows, they usually take on paid staff in leadership roles, or key contributors are supported by industry. For example, the majority of Linux kernel developers are employed by corporations; many open projects from Mozilla to Wikipedia have non-profit foundations with paid staff; and a range of projects are supported by grant money from various institutions.

Many volunteer-oriented groups for women in open technology and culture already exist, and the Ada Initiative’s staff have been involved in many of them over the past ten years. These groups often provide community, support, and advocacy. In our experience, however, volunteer organizations cannot bring together the focused effort required to take on major projects.

The Ada Initiative aims, through sponsorship and partnerships with other organizations, to have multiple people working full-time on projects which are beyond the capacity of volunteer organizations.

I know of a job opening in open technology and culture, can you help me find women to apply for it?

Corporate sponsorship of the Ada Initiative is a great way to attract women in open technology and culture to your company. For a limited time, we will also retweet job openings.

How can I get involved?

The Ada Initiative is not a volunteer organization. If you would like to show your support for us, please join our supporters mailing list. (Don’t forget you can also follow our news via other mechanisms on our contact page.)

Our main goal at the moment is finding major sponsors to support our projects. If you would like to become a sponsor, or know of an organisation that might like to sponsor us, please contact donors@adainitiative.org.

I would like to make a donation to the Ada Initiative. How can I do so?

We accept donations of $1 and up at our donations page.

Will my donation be tax-deductible?

The short version is: In the U.S., probably yes, but keep reading.

We are incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization, but for donations to be tax-deductible in the U.S., we have to get approval from the IRS as a tax-exempt organization. Our application for tax-exempt status was submitted in October 2011 and has been acknowledged by the IRS. We will announce if and when the IRS grants us tax-exempt status. If we are granted tax-exempt status, donations made after our date of incorporation, March 21st, 2011, will become retroactively tax-deductible.

At this time we do not know of any reason why we would not be granted tax-exempt status, but we cannot guarantee your donation will be tax-deductible. Please contact us directly if this is an important factor in your donation. At this point, we have no specific plans to acquire tax-exempt status in other countries. Again, please contact us directly if this is an important factor in your donation.

Why not focus on other under-represented groups, such as racial minorities?

Our experience is in working with women in open technology and culture, and we are not well qualified to work in other areas. We strongly support similar initiatives that do focus on other under-represented groups and are excited to share any relevant knowledge with them.

How does the Ada Initiative define “women?” Are trans women included?

The Ada Initiative uses an inclusive definition of “women”, including trans women and all those who consider themselves women.