ang*e (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} watchyourmouth) wrote,@ 2007-03-04 18:45:00 |
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Where there's a minority, groups are formed for strength in numbers....
This last week, I got an email invitation to join Girls in Tech. This is what it said:
I found several curious things in this email.
I decided to see for myself how this Girls in Tech launch party would be executed, bringing Annie Chang (sister, Smalltown employee, Women 2.0 event coordinator, and proof that one email recommendation warrants a super-exclusive invitation to the girls-only portion of the night).
You can watch Annie schmooze with Adriana on camera here:
Note that there are like, 3 interviews with guys and only one with a girl who happens to be my sister. Girls in Technology are certainly celebrating girls who work in technology. I really wish they actually went around asking every girl in the room what they do, how they're doing, what they're looking forward to. That would actually be interesting. Natali from TeXTra will be covering our April 25th event at CNET - the Women 2.0 Napkin Busines Challenge Pitch Event.
But I digress... I was right. GIT invited about as many citizen journalists and vlogger-types to cover the event as Girls in Tech who showed up for the girls-only portion of the night (because isn't that the point of having Girls in Tech -- to network girls in tech with each other?) --- but as the event opened to the public after 7PM, it started to really reek of your typical Silicon Valley event by 8 or 9PM. Yawn. There is Stirr every month for this sort of thing. I've been to a dozen Stirr events and the like. What else is new?
My biggest issue with Valleywag's coverage of the event is its desire to plaster the article with pictures of girls' teeth and a man's chest hair, because of course even at a girl's tech event we must not forget the virility of men. Megan McCarthy, Valleywag party correspondant, did a write-up accurately summing up the vapid evening, but the pictures! Are women not worthy of being identified for WHO they are and WHAT they're accomplishing? And Megan, why don't you get credit for being Valleywag's party correspondant on the Valleywag left navigation menu? You deserve recognition for what you do as much as Chris Mohney, Paul Boutin, and Nick Douglas.
Take for example this picture. I squeezed in a picture with Mei Lin Ng because I had just met her, she'd be a valued addition to Women 2.0, and I think she's awesome. Her company Mig33 had just participated in O'Reilly's ETel launch pad the night before and knocked everyone's socks off. The picture is captioned "Angie Chang (right) of Women 2.0, and friend."
I left a comment to identify Mei and her company because I felt it was necessary. She deserves recognition for her and her company and they are both doing amazing things.
Here is an example from Nylon Magazine's party pictures online. You put up a cute picture of people, and you post their names. Isn't this par for the course? Okay, so we're not in LA or NY and the people aren't as well put together here in SF, but could we at least honor them with a name? Better yet, a name and company name? Because it's the Silicon Valley and we love to know what startup or corporation you work for. Seriously. It's kind of boring to just see a lot of teeth and chest hair without having more context to this picture. That would be interesting-er.
I really appreciate that Megan and Lane Hartwell (Valleywag photographer) know and print my name and Women 2.0 association, but I wish other women's names would be recognized as well. I know they kind of try, but I wish they could try harder. I recognize Glenda Bautista from Technorati, but why isn't her name in lights as well? I want all amazing women to get their kudos and 15 seconds, because we don't speak up enough and the Valley is oversaturated with male tech bloggers. Tara Hunt is vainly trying to hold up the fort for women in tech bloggers, but she can't do it alone. I love DevChix (now more than ever that I have just installed RoR on my Macbook) and SF-WOW and of course, Women 2.0 for being intelligent women on the web, making our presence known and sharing with the world what we have to offer.
Take away? Women -- blog more! --- I know we write about what we know, life, etc. If you know Ruby on Rails, work at a startup, or even do marketing/PR for startups, BLOG ABOUT IT! Network with each other and share about it. Women 2.0 is looking into starting a co-working blog like WorkerBees or Misbehaving.net, but for every girl who identifies herself as a women in entrepreneurship, business, and/or technology. Isn't the point of web 2.0 is to bring the power to the people? Let's rock this era.
This last week, I got an email invitation to join Girls in Tech. This is what it said:
from Adriana Gascoigne cc Julia French cc LauriAnne Lassek date Feb 16, 2007 11:48 AM subject Exclusive Invitation: GIT (Girls in Tech) Why hello ladies . . . You were nominated by your peers to be part of Girls in Tech (GIT). The selection process consisted of three or more nominations, being sent in for your contribution to technology in the world today. GIT is invite only and is exclusive in its group dynamics; it's not for just anyone. GIT was created because there are a limited number of girls in technology and as a minority in our field we have to stick together. This event is an opportunity to build relationships that we can use to become bigger, better, badder women in the tech world. To celebrate Girls in Technology, GIT, is holding its first of many celebrations on Wednesday, February 28th from 6pm to 9pm at Slide, on Mason and Geary, next door to RubyeSkye. This is an opportunity to celebrate being a girl that works in technology. We will open the event to everyone after 8pm. To celebrate that YOU know what a widget is, that YOU know what a product life-cycle is, and that the 7 layer model isn't a Freaking Burrito. So come on down and swap some verbal datagrams. Since this is an invite only group, please nominate other women in the industry that you think are a fit for GIT and this event. Please include their name, title, company they work for and a few sentences on why they should be included in the event. As mentioned above we must receive three or more nominations on the lady's behalf in order to send an invitation. To nominate someone please email Adriana Gascoigne at: afgascoigne@yahoo.com We look forward to seeing you at the event! Warm regards (girls rule), GIT it started! Adriana F. Gascoigne
I found several curious things in this email.
- "GIT is invite only and is exclusive in its group dynamics; it's not for just anyone". This is followed by "GIT was created because there are a limited number of girls in technology and as a minority in our field we have to stick together." Is it just me or is there a flaw in logic here? Something's fishy.
- I remember Adriana and Julia as being PR/marketing girls. A bit of Internet research confirmed that this is indeed *three* PR girls in tech throwing a launch party to talk shop about product management and web 2.0. I started imagining the amount of press they would inevitably invite to cover this quote unquote unimaginable thing - girls in technology _talking_ about technology!
- "Git" is Brit-speak for "ignorant person". Thanks.
I decided to see for myself how this Girls in Tech launch party would be executed, bringing Annie Chang (sister, Smalltown employee, Women 2.0 event coordinator, and proof that one email recommendation warrants a super-exclusive invitation to the girls-only portion of the night).
You can watch Annie schmooze with Adriana on camera here:
Note that there are like, 3 interviews with guys and only one with a girl who happens to be my sister. Girls in Technology are certainly celebrating girls who work in technology. I really wish they actually went around asking every girl in the room what they do, how they're doing, what they're looking forward to. That would actually be interesting. Natali from TeXTra will be covering our April 25th event at CNET - the Women 2.0 Napkin Busines Challenge Pitch Event.
But I digress... I was right. GIT invited about as many citizen journalists and vlogger-types to cover the event as Girls in Tech who showed up for the girls-only portion of the night (because isn't that the point of having Girls in Tech -- to network girls in tech with each other?) --- but as the event opened to the public after 7PM, it started to really reek of your typical Silicon Valley event by 8 or 9PM. Yawn. There is Stirr every month for this sort of thing. I've been to a dozen Stirr events and the like. What else is new?
My biggest issue with Valleywag's coverage of the event is its desire to plaster the article with pictures of girls' teeth and a man's chest hair, because of course even at a girl's tech event we must not forget the virility of men. Megan McCarthy, Valleywag party correspondant, did a write-up accurately summing up the vapid evening, but the pictures! Are women not worthy of being identified for WHO they are and WHAT they're accomplishing? And Megan, why don't you get credit for being Valleywag's party correspondant on the Valleywag left navigation menu? You deserve recognition for what you do as much as Chris Mohney, Paul Boutin, and Nick Douglas.
Take for example this picture. I squeezed in a picture with Mei Lin Ng because I had just met her, she'd be a valued addition to Women 2.0, and I think she's awesome. Her company Mig33 had just participated in O'Reilly's ETel launch pad the night before and knocked everyone's socks off. The picture is captioned "Angie Chang (right) of Women 2.0, and friend."I left a comment to identify Mei and her company because I felt it was necessary. She deserves recognition for her and her company and they are both doing amazing things.
Here is an example from Nylon Magazine's party pictures online. You put up a cute picture of people, and you post their names. Isn't this par for the course? Okay, so we're not in LA or NY and the people aren't as well put together here in SF, but could we at least honor them with a name? Better yet, a name and company name? Because it's the Silicon Valley and we love to know what startup or corporation you work for. Seriously. It's kind of boring to just see a lot of teeth and chest hair without having more context to this picture. That would be interesting-er.
I really appreciate that Megan and Lane Hartwell (Valleywag photographer) know and print my name and Women 2.0 association, but I wish other women's names would be recognized as well. I know they kind of try, but I wish they could try harder. I recognize Glenda Bautista from Technorati, but why isn't her name in lights as well? I want all amazing women to get their kudos and 15 seconds, because we don't speak up enough and the Valley is oversaturated with male tech bloggers. Tara Hunt is vainly trying to hold up the fort for women in tech bloggers, but she can't do it alone. I love DevChix (now more than ever that I have just installed RoR on my Macbook) and SF-WOW and of course, Women 2.0 for being intelligent women on the web, making our presence known and sharing with the world what we have to offer.
Take away? Women -- blog more! --- I know we write about what we know, life, etc. If you know Ruby on Rails, work at a startup, or even do marketing/PR for startups, BLOG ABOUT IT! Network with each other and share about it. Women 2.0 is looking into starting a co-working blog like WorkerBees or Misbehaving.net, but for every girl who identifies herself as a women in entrepreneurship, business, and/or technology. Isn't the point of web 2.0 is to bring the power to the people? Let's rock this era.
