Call Out: 2012 Grace Hopper Celebration of #Women in #Computing #geekgirl

The 12th annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC) has opened its Call for Participation. The annual conference, presented by the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, is the world’s largest gathering of women in computing. The Grace Hopper Celebration will take place from October 3 – 6, 2012 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland. This year’s theme “Are We There Yet?” recognizes that technology and the culture of technology are continuously evolving but there are also concrete goals we are striving to achieve.

At the Grace Hopper Celebration, leading researchers present their current work while special sessions focus on the role of women in today’s technology fields, including computer science, information technology, research and engineering. The technical conference features well known keynote speakers and invited technical speakers, panels, workshops, new investigator technical papers, PhD forums, technical posters, birds of a feather sessions, the ACM Student Research Competition and an Awards Celebration. The attendees who range from students to executives use this global platform to get inspired, stay on top of emerging trends, learn and network.

http://gracehopper.org/2012/participate/call-for-participation/

The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is a program of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology.
http://anitaborg.org/

“Barbielicious” LEGOs. Does LEGO design only for boys? Or does it sell stereotypes? #dontdumbdown #lego #geekgirl

space-rocket-lego

Iconic toy brand LEGO recently launched a new line of toys meant just for girls — but two young women, Bailey Shoemaker-Richards and Stephanie Cole, think the products are unfairly “dumbed down” for girls.

The new line is called LadyFigs, and it’s made up of busty, pastel-colored figurines that come with interests like shopping, hair-dressing, and lounging at the beach. The uninspired toys even come with pre-assembled environments — so there is no assembly (or imagination) required.

Bailey and Stephanie say they’re frustrated that LEGO is pushing outdated gender roles on girls and cheating them of the opportunity to build and discover. So they took to the internet, blogging about what they call the new “Barbielicious” LEGOs and petitioning the toy company to lose the sexist LadyFigs line and go back to empowering both boys and girls with its original products. Click here to sign Bailey and Stephanie’s petition today.

LEGO hasn’t always thought its toys were only for boys. In the 1980s, the company was actually celebrated for a major advertising campaign that spotlighted a young girl and her LEGO creation with the tagline “What it is is beautiful.” But since then, LEGO reversed course and decided to market its products only to boys.

The company claims its research shows girls just don’t appreciate the original LEGO line. But Bailey and Stephanie argue that with LEGO’s renewed emphasis on boys — featuring only boys in its ads and stocking products in the boys’ aisles of toy stores — it’s no wonder young girls wouldn’t think LEGOs were meant for them.

Bailey and Stephanie’s fight to get LEGO to return to its gender-neutral toys is already making waves, with the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Time weighing in on the issue. But LEGO is stubbornly holding its ground and told Business Week that the LadyFigs launch is a “strategic” move to “reach the other 50 percent of the world’s children,” as if girls have never been part of LEGO’s focus.

Public pressure can prove LEGO wrong. If enough people sign Bailey and Stephanie’s petition, it could convince LEGO that the new LadyFigs are bad business and the company should return its focus to empowering boys AND girls with toys that inspire creativity and innovation.

Tell LEGO to stop selling out girls — sign Bailey and Stephanie’s petition today.

Editor’s note: Not everyone agrees and there have been some pretty funky designs built by gurls & boys using the new vibrant brick colours.. (One used them to build a spaceship.) I think it’s a personal choice if you want to condemn LEGO for being driven by what their marketing department tells them what girls actually want. LEGO has tried to counter-act the bad press (even though it’s damage control, rather than genuine insight): and it never hurts to make them think about delivering product to a mixed market with several different goals and interests.GG xox

GNOME Outreach Program for Women internships #gnome #opensource #downunder #geekgirl

In an effort to get more women involved in Free Software, the GNOME project is sponsoring several internships for women from December 12, 2011 to March 12, 2012. These dates are aimed at the college women from the Southern Hemisphere who will have a school summer break during this time, but any woman available for a full time internship is welcome to apply. Please consider applying for the program, encourage someone else to apply, or help us spread the word!

The application deadline is October 31. The applicants need to get in touch with individual GNOME projects that participate in this effort ahead of time to decide which project they are interested in working on and make a small contribution to the project.

Participants will work remotely from home, while getting guidance from an assigned mentor and collaborating within their project’s team and the rest of the GNOME community. The projects include developing software for the core desktop, file management, messaging, popular applications, educational activities, and the platform libraries. There are also non-coding projects, such as graphic design, documentation, and marketing. The stipend for the program is $5,000
(USD).

Please visit http://www.gnome.org to learn more and apply. The mentorship opportunities are also available throughout the year for anyone interested in getting started contributing to GNOME outside of the internship program.

Call out for help with research – sexual experiences of women #survey #geekgirl

Dear Geekgirl

My name is Judith Williams and I am a Masters student at the University of New England, in Armidale, NSW. As part of my Masters degree, I am carrying out a research project under the supervision of Dr Sue Watt. The project is about women’s experience of sex before, during and after menopause.

I am writing to ask you to consider particpating im my research project and ciculating the link to my research to your readers and others in your network.

 This research may be of particular interest to some of your readers as it aims to clarify the nature of changes in the sexual experiences of women during and after menopause. There is a great deal of contradiction in the current literature about whether such changes take place, exactly what kind of changes might occur, and how many women are affected by such
changes. There is also very little research to investigate the role of women’s relationships and partner characteristics, in reported changes. The study aims to better equip clinical psychologists and other health care providers to support women and their partners.

Women between the ages of 35 and 70 are invited to participate in this research. It is a very quick and easy process. Just use the following link and you will find the online survey. It should take less than 10 minutes to complete. There are some direct questions in the survey, but please be assured that participation is anonymous, and all results are kept confidential.

http://tinyurl.com/3kput42

Call Out:Australia Infront Visual Response #05 – Woman #Melbourne #art #geekgirl

Visual Response #5 - Woman

Australia Infront are back for their first Visual Response for the year, #05 and it is MASSIVE. With over 11k (yep) in prizes up for grabs, you have no excuse not to enter. The theme is ‘Woman’ and they are asking for A2 artworks. Why? Because they are going into an exhibition being held at The Compound Interest in Melbourne on the 8th of July 2011.

Everything you need to know can be found here: http://www.australianinfront.com.au/involved

Deadline for artwork submissions is the Monday the 27th of June 2011 at 11pm AEST, so you have just under a month to take part. They’d love to have everyone from the  community get involved, it’s a great opportunity to get away from your corporate deadlines and have some fun with a one word brief. It’s free to enter and the prizes are pretty darn fantastic this time around. Studios, we want you to take part too.

Hope you can submit something!

Australian Infront
http://www.australianinfront.com.au

CHERCHEZ LA FEMME: FEMINISM AND SLUTS #Melbourne #slutwalk #debate #geekgirl

cherchez-la-femme

On January 24th, 2011, a representative of the Toronto Police gave shocking insight into the Force’s view of sexual assault by stating: “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized”.

Feminists in Toronto took to the streets, spontaneously calling the action SlutWalk, to protest against victim-blaming, slut-shaming and the rise of rape culture in their society. The movement triggered waves of SlutWalks all over North America, Europe and recently, Australia, with Melbourne’s SlutWalk taking place on 28 May.

The idea is to reclaim the word and dilute its power by throwing it back in the face of anyone who seeks to degrade, undermine and blame women by using it. But not everyone sees this as a positive expression of feminism. Join us as we talk through the debates surrounding SlutWalking, victim-blaming, slut-shaming and the culture of rape apology.

Karen Pickering will bring feminists Lisa Gye, Rhiana Whitson and Monica Dux onto the Cherchez la Femme stage to dazzle us all with their commentary, insight and wit.

Tuesday, June 7 · 7:00pm – 9:00pm
The Fox Hotel
351 Wellington St
Collingwood, Australia

The Carbon Festival plus Ladie Killerz #Melbourne #killerz #hiphop #aerosol #party #geekgirl

BETWEEN APRIL 29TH AND MAY 1ST, MELBOURNE WILL PLAY HOST TO CARBON, AN EVENT THAT BRINGS TOGETHER SOME OF TODAY’S MOST INTERESTING CREATIVE MINDS TO PRESENT, DISCUSS AND SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH LOCAL AUDIENCES VIA A SERIES OF FOUR DISCUSSION FORUMS, EACH FOCUSED ON A SPECIFIC ASPECT OF CONTEMPORARY STREET FASHION, DESIGN AND CULTURE. THESE FORUMS ARE SURROUNDED BY MULTIPLE SIDE-EVENTS INCLUDING ART SHOWS, PARTIES AND CONCERTS.

Associated with:
Exhibition & Event – Ladie Killerz #4 – VIC
This weekend (April 29th) Footscray hosts the massive event Ladie Killerz #4, and what an event it looks set to be. We caught up on all the details and got a few words from one of the organisers, Joske, and have put together a small run down on the event.

“Ladie Killerz is a weekend long, travelling festival,” Joske remarked. “We’ll be celebrating ladies and their killer skills in all things art, music and film and we’ll be showcasing woman in hiphop, and in particular graffiti. Confirmed aerosol artists currently number at around twenty five, with ladies travelling from; Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide – and many more female artists are submitting work into the art exhibition.”

http://acclaimmag.com/carbon/

Brought to you by Invurt.

Australia Post launches 100 Years of International Women’s Day stamp #purplepantsday #stampcollecting #IWD #geekgirl

iwd-stamp

Australia Post is commemorating the centenary of International Women’s Day (IWD) with the release of a special stamp issue.

The centenary of IWD is being celebrated around the world on 8 March 2011 and provides a unique and global opportunity to reignite, inspire and channel women’s equality for the future.

“I am delighted that Australia Post is supporting the centenary of IWD with a commemorative stamp. The stamp recognises the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future and is an indelible channel through which we can promote positive change and raise awareness of the issues women face in their everyday lives,” said the Minister for the Status of Women, Kate Ellis.

The first IWD was launched by Clara Zetkin (Leader of the Women’s Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) on 19 March 1911 when more than a million European women and men united to call for an end to discrimination and for the right of women to vote, work and hold public office. The success of the first IWD exceeded all expectations.

The first Australian IWD rally took place on 25 March 1928 in the Sydney Domain, with marches in Sydney and Melbourne following in 1931 and involving hundreds of participants. The first official government-sponsored IWD in Australia was held in 1975, when the UN declared International Women’s Year, and was witnessed by one of the biggest street marches in Australia. Today IWD is characterised by a mixture of celebration of past achievements and looking ahead to the future challenges and opportunities for women.

The centenary of IWD stamp was designed by Stacey Zass, using a combination of images and graphic elements, including the symbol for women.

Anna Lumb: Big Shoes to Fill at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival #girlcomedy #retroschtick #geekgirl

Anna Lumb - Big Shoes

Big Shoes to Fill: An Exposé of a 50 Ft. Woman

Direct from the cabaret circuits of Melbourne, London and Edinburgh,  and a critically acclaimed audience hit at the Melbourne and Adelaide Fringe Festivals, Anna ‘Pocket Rocket’ Lumb brings her sassy solo show to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for the first time.

Bringing her world-renowned circus and cabaret skills to her home town, the Pocket Rocket cheekily presents the story of an over-sized woman in a normal sized world, and really does have big shoes to fill as she sets out to follow the footsteps of some of comedy’s biggest female stars to bring some girl power to the typically male world of the Comedy Festival.

A colourful slapstick circus delight, Big Shoes to Fill is a message of self-confidence for the down-trodden and different, delivered via a package of unique hilarity and outstanding physical feats.

How does she get into a taxi, or find shoes to fit?  Where does she find places to eat out?  Let alone a date…!

A hilarious parable of strength, fragility, challenge and triumph featuring strongwoman feats, hula hoops, slapstick, lycra, bananas and an eclectic soundtrack with the title track by Mikelangelo and music mixed by DJ Lazer Ferrari.

‘Adorable retro schtick.’   Helen Razer, The Age

‘A tidy little packet of fun by a feisty rising starlet.’ RHUM Magazine

LISTING INFORMATION
Venue: Trades Hall – Old Council Chambers, Cnr Lygon and Victoria  Streets (Melbourne)
Dates: 12th – 24th April (not Mondays), Preview 12th April
Tickets: Full $20.00, Conc/Group $18.00, Preview/Tight Arse Tuesday/ LaughPack $15.00

Times: 7:00pm (6:00pm Sundays)

Bookings: Ticketmaster or www.comedyfestival.com.au

Mu-Meson Archive March films. My pick – Manufacturing Female Sexual Dysfunction #geekgirl

Monday 7th March
Para(noide) Politics in the Archives
Manufacturing Female Sexual Dysfunction

Viagra made billions for the pharmaceutical company that was first to get this product approved by the FDA and then on the market. Well that takes care of half the population. How do the pharmaceutical companies get their hands into the purses of women, they give us  Female Sexual Dysfunction (FDS). Is this a real medical condition or just a marketing strategy to create an illness putting our health and mental well being ahead of the all mighty dollar. Mu-Meson Archives Doors 7.30 for 8pm start  $10

Mu-Meson Archives at Crn Parramatta Rd & Trafalgar St Annandale (Sydney) at the end of King Furniture building up the steel staircase. Phone (02) 9517-2010

http://www.mumeson.org/