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ahorbinskiIn June I had the real privilege of attending AdaCamp San Francisco, an unconference focusing on women in open technology, culture, and stuff that is put on by the Ada Initiative. TAI is a non-profit that works to increase the participation of women in open stuff, including open culture initiatives like fandom and Wikipedia editing. These have just as much validity as open source and open technology, and The Ada Initiative's willingness to cross those streams is part of what makes AdaCamps, and TAI itself, so awesome.
I've also been really pleased at the synergy occurring between one of The Ada Initiative's most successful projects, conference anti-harassment work, and increased attention to the prevalence of sexual harassment, and the need to fight it, in the SFF convention community. Well-publicized incidents of harassment at Readercon last year and Wiscon this year--and the fact that those incidents had visible, public consequences for the harassers in question--have highlighted the need for these sorts of policies at SFF cons, and how when policies are followed, as at Wiscon, it creates a safer atmosphere for everyone attending. I haven't tried to prove a direct connection between TAI and the increasing discussion and awareness of this issue in the SFF community, but given the number of geeky people who are involved in both organizations, I don't think it's a coincidence. TAI has been a leader in this since late 2010, and the spillover effect of these things is very real.
At AdaCamp SF I heard from a number of my fellow AdaCamp DC alumni what an absolutely transformative experience attending the unconference had been for them. I don't have the same sort of dramatic story about my involvement with TAI--I don't code, and I still haven't quit grad school for a tech startup in the West Bay--but TAI has definitely made a huge difference to me personally as a woman in open culture, and as a woman in a male-dominated field (namely, academia).
Sarah Sharp, one of my fellow AdaCamp attendees, has a great post about how attending AdaCamp has helped her recognize and combat impostor syndrome, the feeling that we just aren't good enough and are going to be found out as fakers that strikes many women in tech and, I suspect, in many other fields. Attending AdaCamp twice has definitely given me tools to combat impostor syndrome, and what I've learned there has also helped me get better at accepting compliments for work I've put in and stuff I've accomplished. The Ada Initiative's insistence on embracing open culture, ranging from fanworks to Wikimedia, has also helped me reframe my work with the OTW and my participation in fandom. Open culture initiatives like fandom and Wikipedia editing have just as much validity as open source and open technology, and The Ada Initiative's willingness to cross those streams is part of what makes AdaCamps, and TAI itself, so awesome.
You can check out the Ada Initiative's impostor syndrome training page if you haven't had the chance to attend an AdaCamp, and if a conference or convention you know of is in need of an anti-harassment policy, you can check out the example conference anti-harassment policy that Ada Initiative co-founders wrote with the help of the community. If you'd like a chance for other people (or yourself!) to attend an AdaCamp somewhere in the world in the future, or if you want to make cons a safer space for people of all genders, or if you just want a really awesome Ada Lovelace pendant, you should donate now so that the Ada Initiative can continue to support all these things. We've made more difference in the past two years than in the past ten, and we need your support to keep going at the level we have.
I've also been really pleased at the synergy occurring between one of The Ada Initiative's most successful projects, conference anti-harassment work, and increased attention to the prevalence of sexual harassment, and the need to fight it, in the SFF convention community. Well-publicized incidents of harassment at Readercon last year and Wiscon this year--and the fact that those incidents had visible, public consequences for the harassers in question--have highlighted the need for these sorts of policies at SFF cons, and how when policies are followed, as at Wiscon, it creates a safer atmosphere for everyone attending. I haven't tried to prove a direct connection between TAI and the increasing discussion and awareness of this issue in the SFF community, but given the number of geeky people who are involved in both organizations, I don't think it's a coincidence. TAI has been a leader in this since late 2010, and the spillover effect of these things is very real.
At AdaCamp SF I heard from a number of my fellow AdaCamp DC alumni what an absolutely transformative experience attending the unconference had been for them. I don't have the same sort of dramatic story about my involvement with TAI--I don't code, and I still haven't quit grad school for a tech startup in the West Bay--but TAI has definitely made a huge difference to me personally as a woman in open culture, and as a woman in a male-dominated field (namely, academia).
Sarah Sharp, one of my fellow AdaCamp attendees, has a great post about how attending AdaCamp has helped her recognize and combat impostor syndrome, the feeling that we just aren't good enough and are going to be found out as fakers that strikes many women in tech and, I suspect, in many other fields. Attending AdaCamp twice has definitely given me tools to combat impostor syndrome, and what I've learned there has also helped me get better at accepting compliments for work I've put in and stuff I've accomplished. The Ada Initiative's insistence on embracing open culture, ranging from fanworks to Wikimedia, has also helped me reframe my work with the OTW and my participation in fandom. Open culture initiatives like fandom and Wikipedia editing have just as much validity as open source and open technology, and The Ada Initiative's willingness to cross those streams is part of what makes AdaCamps, and TAI itself, so awesome.
You can check out the Ada Initiative's impostor syndrome training page if you haven't had the chance to attend an AdaCamp, and if a conference or convention you know of is in need of an anti-harassment policy, you can check out the example conference anti-harassment policy that Ada Initiative co-founders wrote with the help of the community. If you'd like a chance for other people (or yourself!) to attend an AdaCamp somewhere in the world in the future, or if you want to make cons a safer space for people of all genders, or if you just want a really awesome Ada Lovelace pendant, you should donate now so that the Ada Initiative can continue to support all these things. We've made more difference in the past two years than in the past ten, and we need your support to keep going at the level we have.