LinuxChix - Be Polite. Be Helpful.

Video footage of the January 2008 LinuxChix miniconf now available

carla — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 02:54:06 +0000

The video footage of the January *2008* LinuxChix miniconf (ie, the one
that was held a year ago at linux.conf.au 2008 in Melbourne) is now
available online.

Talks with available footage are:

Video of the AussieChix microconf (October 2008) and parts of the 2009
miniconf is expected... fairly soon.

If there are any problems with the links, please contact us via this
form: http://au.linuxchix.org/contact

She's Geeky unconference-- Bay Area, USA

carla — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 02:52:22 +0000

Join us as we celebrate the one-year anniversary of Bay Area Girl Geek
Dinners and kick-off of She's Geeky unconference with a Bay Area Girl Geek
Dinner on Thursday, January 29th, 2009. For Bay Area Girl Geek Dinner #3,
we are going "no-host" and asking everyone to chip in $20 for dinner.

You must buy your ticket online by 3PM on Tuesday, January 27th -- NO
WALK-IN REGISTRATION.

The first 200 women to register at
http://bayareagirlgeekdinner3.eventbrite.com/ will receive a Bay Area Girl
Geek Dinner mug! Everyone will get Girl Geek Dinner schwag -- registering
early wins you a shiny mug though.

Schedule:
5:30pm - 6:30pm: Check-in
6:30pm - 7:30pm: Dinner
7:30pm - 7:45pm: Introductions from women in tech groups represented
7:45pm - 9:30pm: Networking, including the opportunity to contribute to
session idea brainstorming for She's Geeky unconference
(http://www.shesgeeky.org/)

Get your ticket for Bay Area Girl Geek Dinner #3 at
http://bayareagirlgeekdinner3.eventbrite.com/

Never been to an unconference or camp? This one provides an amazing
opportunity to learn from a range of geeky women in a peer-to-peer
participant driven event. Check out proposed She's Geeky unconference
topics on the wiki, and have the opportunity to contribute your own session
ideas at the Girl Geek Dinner!

What happens at a She's Geeky unconference? Beginning at 9am each day, we
start with a blank wall and create a multi-track conference agenda that is
relevant and inspiring to everyone. Rooms are assigned to each topic and
participants attend sessions they are interested in. Notes from each
session are collected and a book is compiled with all the notes from the
conference and distributed to everyone who attends.

She's Geeky (January 30-31, 2009 at the Computer History Museum in
Mountain View) unconference tickets can be purchased for Friday or Saturday
or both days. Join She's Geeky Friday evening after the unconference for a
showing of a film about Ada Lovelace, the "first programmer" according to
Wikipedia. For more info and to register for She's Geeky, visit
http://www.shesgeeky.org/.

Southern California Linux Expo

gayathri — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 20:04:38 +0000

Adapted on January, 2008 from: http://scale7x.socallinuxexpo.org/

SCALE 7x, the premier Open Source Community conference in the southwestern United States, returns to the Westin LAX Hotel, site of the 6th Expo!

For 2009, the main weekend conference at SCALE 7x has been expanded. In addition to the three main tracks, a Beginner's track and a Developer's track have been added.

SCALE will be February 20th - 22nd, 2009. Mark your calendars!

SCALE needs YOU to speak at SCALE! Whether you are an experienced user of Open Source software, or have only been in using it for a few months, if you have a story to tell, we'd like to hear it!

We have a need for speakers across the experience spectrum, from the Developer's track to the Beginner's track. If you enjoy speaking, consider applying for a speaker position.

Registration includes the Women in Open Source (WIOS) conference on Friday, Feb 20.
http://scale7x.socallinuxexpo.org/conference-info/special-events

And of course, be sure to drop by the Los Angeles LinuxChix booth in the exhibition hall and say hi.

ShesGeeky: A Women's Tech Unconference

akkana — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:22:58 +0000

She's Geeky is a great unconference for and by women in technology.

There's still time to register for the conference in New York City on December 5th to 7th, 2008!
And there will be a SF Bay She's Geeky on January 29-31. A Linuxchix discount code is available (see the grrltalk mailing list for details) and there are even cheaper rates for students, and scholarships available for those who need them.

For more details, go to ShesGeeky.org or check out the detailed PDF flyer.

LinuxChix is a media sponsor for this excellent women's unconference ... check it out if you can!

Sydney, Australia: upcoming LinuxChix events 31st October and 8th November

carla — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:11:20 +0000

There are three upcoming AussieChix events in Sydney. Please check them
out and let us know if you're coming along. RSVP email addresses are
available at the links.

Pre-SLUG meetup, Friday October 31:
http://au.linuxchix.org/content/linuxchixaussiedevchix-meeting-sydney-li...

Portrait session in Centennial Park, Saturday November 8:
http://au.linuxchix.org/content/sydney-chix-portrait-session

Movie night, Saturday November 8, following the portrait session (you
can choose to attend either or both of the two events):
http://au.linuxchix.org/content/sydney-movie-night-0

Ten easy ways to attract women to your free software project

carla — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:25:32 +0000

The gender inequality among developers and supporters of free software is stunning. Less than 2% of us are women, according to studies conducted for the European Commission. Why? The evidence says we’re driving them away. There are even some pretty good published guidelines on how not to drive them away. What’s missing is a practical implementation strategy: here I present ten relatively simple changes in how you run your project, to make it more attractive to would-be contributors—especially women. Read the rest here

Portrait: LinuxToday managing editor Carla Schroder

carla — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:22:04 +0000

Carla Schroder says she just "kind of wandered into" her current life as a free software advocate and well-known IT journalist. "I don't have much in the way of formal education. But I've always been mechanically inclined - your classic ripping things apart and figuring out how they work. I think that makes open source a natural fit for me."

Schroder didn't study computers or programming in school...

Read the rest of the story.

Portrait: Michelle Murrain lives the open source lifestyle

carla — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:38:21 +0000

Linux.com has a wonderful article about our very own Michelle Murrain:

http://www.linux.com/feature/143264
"Michelle Murrain is a great example of what the FOSS community is all about. She's complicated: she calls herself a "scientist turned technologist turned theologian turned writer," all blended into one person. She's also an active supporter of and contributor to open source software projects. She's not a developer, however, and Murrain would really like to see more space for people like her, with different gifts to share, in the open source community."

LinuxChix-India aims at free software access for women

carla — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:25:55 +0000

BANGALORE: With a name like LinuxChix-India, you might think its mission is trivial, but their goal is serious: creating equal access for women to enter the world of technology.

Archana Raghupathy of Chennai started LinuxChix-India in 2005. It is the Indian chapter of the global women techies' network Linuxchix.org, and "tries to empower Indian women to use, develop and contribute to the world of free and open source software (FOSS)."

Globally, LinuxChix is a community for women who "like Linux and Free Software" and for women and men who want to support women in computing. Its members range from novices to experienced users and include professional and amateur programmers, system administrators and technical writers.

It also works to bring together women around India involved in various FOSS projects, foster participation and share knowledge in a geeky world where males usually dominate...
read the rest of the article

Tina Gasperson - Jewelry Artist

carla — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:09:13 +0000

Our own Tina Gasperson has been recognized for her jewelry-making:

"Did you go to school for this trade or was it something self-taught?"

"I taught myself the actual craft of putting the jewelry together, mostly from reading books, online articles, and watching cool YouTube videos; then trying the basic functions myself, practicing over and over again to learn the right touch with the wire, to learn how to wrap a loop just so without nicking it all up, to figure out the right amount of pressure to put on the wire to make it bend smoothly without angles. The whole thing started when I decided it would be a great idea to hand make 50 tiaras for a women’s conference - and I had never worked with wire before and had no clue what I was going to do."
http://www.theexpressionist.com/2008/08/04/tina-gasperson-jewelry-artist...