Ada Initiative launches to promote women in open technology and culture #opensource #adainitiative

Open source activists Valerie Aurora and Mary Gardiner announce the launch of the Ada Initiative (http://adainitiative.org/), a not-for-profit organization to promote women’s participation in open technology and culture.

Open technology and culture, including open source software, open content, and related communities, suffer from a dearth of women at all levels.  ”Open technology and culture are shaping our future and must reflect all people.  Involving more women in the creation of our
future is a critical step in building a healthy Internet world,” says Mitchell Baker, chair of the Mozilla Foundation.  The Ada Initiative will concentrate on focused, direct action programs, including recruitment and training for women, education for community members, and working with corporations and projects to improve their outreach to women.

The Ada Initiative’s first sponsor is Linux Australia (http://linux.org.au/), which promotes the development of free and open source software. Sponsorship funds will allow the Ada Initiative to retain expert staff to focus on major projects which are beyond the capacity of purely volunteer organizations.  The Ada Initiative is currently seeking additional partner organizations and sponsors.

About the Ada Initiative

The Ada Initiative is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing participation of women in open technology and culture, which includes open source software, Wikipedia and other open data, and open social media.  Co-founders Mary Gardiner and Valerie Aurora each have 10 years of experience in open source software, open social media, and women in computing activism.  The Ada Initiative is advised by a team of experts from open technology and culture fields including open source software, open government, Wikipedia, hacker culture, social media, remix and fan culture, and online activism.

I’m about to become the recipient of a Barbie – Computer Engineer doll #geekgirl

She’s on her way to me as I type. I;ll let you know what kind of house guest she is & whether she hacks into the fridge.

2010ComputerEngineer

Making it Handmade: The Documentary #craft #feminism #sex #geekgirl

Think craft is for grannies? Think again.

making it handmade

A seditious and subversive subculture is gaining momentum in Melbourne. But rather than wielding megaphones and placards, they’re cross-stitching slogans on hurricane wire and constructing plush female genitalia from craft supplies.

Following four local women who’ve taken a seemingly staid past-time and injected it with a youthful, modern aesthetic, filmmaker Anna Brownfield shows a side of craft more closely aligned with punk DIY culture than with Martha Stewart and ‘home sweet home’ tapestries.

“I wanted to show that craft was no longer daggy but had moved into a new era and was being reclaimed by women who had been brought up as feminists.” – filmmaker Anna Brownfield

Starring: Pip Lincolne, Gemma Jones, Faythe Levine, Rayna Fahey, Casey Jenkins and the awesome Melbourne craft community

Anna Brownfield is a Melbourne based independent filmmaker who makes films about sex and craft.

For Sydney folk Mu-Meson Archives will screen Making it Handmade, Oct 2nd, 2010.
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

Bloodbath Roller Derby – still time to win tix #bumpp #geekgirl

BLOODBATH double pass giveaway.
Want to win a double pass to the BLOODBATH Oct 9th at the Hordern Pavilion, Sydney? Post your best photo of A PRIOR ROLLER DERBY EVENT, be it as an audience member, in costume, or team-mate or war wound focused; we want to see you at your Roller Derby best!

Join the facebook group, post your pic to the photo album, and tag your name to enter the contest! Winners will be revealed on Friday 8 October 2010. C’mon! Do it!

BLOODBATH is a collaborative distributed artwork by Bump Projects in association with the Sydney Roller Derby League. BLOODBATH features artists Linda Dement, Kate Richards, Sarah Waterson, Francesca da Rimini, and Nancy Mauro-Flude, each with recognised track records in new media, data visualisation, mediated performance and/or work with embodiment or violence. At an all girl flat track roller derby game, Sydney, 9 October 2010, sensors on the helmets of players feed data to their five artworks, generating digital elaborations of the moves and collisions on track.

International Women’s Day: Celebrating 100 Years – filmmakers need participants #unifem #geekgirl

A short film about the dramatic history of International Women’s Day and the feminist movement in Australia and in our region.

SYNOPSIS
The feminist movement has progressed in leaps and bounds over the past century. From the dramatic actions of the Suffragettes to current petitioning against human rights abuses of women, the movement has been peppered with moments of courage, bravery, persistence as well as frequent disappointment.

2011 marks 100 years of International Women’s Day, when the world stops to celebrate, commemorate and ruminate on the status of women internationally.

International Women’s Day: Celebrating 100 Years (Working Title) will chart the history of the feminist movement and International Women’s Day in Australia and regionally through archival footage interwoven with the stories of ordinary women who have been involved in some extraordinary events in the name of progressing women’s rights.

International Women’s Day: Celebrating 100 Years will both speak to those generations born after the rise of second wave feminism- a compelling reminder to these generations of the male-dominant landscape of the past and the hurdles that have been overcome- as well as celebrate the achievements of those strong and persistent women who have been involved in the feminist movement over the last century.

The award-winning all female team of International Women’s Day: Celebrating 100 Years will bring life to the story of International Women’s Day, and the film will provide hope and inspiration in looking towards addressing the challenges that women still face nationally and internationally.

UNIFEM AUSTRALIA
This project has been commissioned by UNIFEM Australia, part of UN Women, an NGO under the umbrella of the United Nations that works towards gender equality internationally.

The film is being produced to coincide with the 2011 centenary of International Women’s Day and amongst other audiences it will be distributed to all Australian secondary schools and screened at International Women’s Day events nationally as
well as be posted on the UNIFEM Australia website.

HOW CAN U  HELP
The filmmakers are looking for a handful of women to interview on film for this project who have been personally involved with key events in the feminist movement in Australia and regionally over the last century, including currently. They would like stories that emphasise the courage and optimism of women who have battled for gender equality, often through unique and non-conformist actions.

CONTACT
e. IWDfilm@gmail.com
p. (Kylie Plunkett) 0424656283
a. 915/37 Swanston St
The Nicholas Building
Melbourne 3000

The 2011 Birds Eye View Film Festival is seeking short film submissions from women #London #geekgirl

Birds Eye View Film Festival 2011 (London, UK)
Earlybird applications close: Friday October 1
Regular applications close: Friday November 5
www.birds-eye-view.co.uk

The 2011 Birds Eye View Film Festival is seeking short film submissions from women filmmakers from around the globe, to be part of an innovative and inspirational celebration of talent. Screenings will be held at leading London film venues, including the British Film Institute (Southbank) and the Institute of Contemporary Arts.

The Birds Eye View Film Festival 2011 will open with a special gala screening of short films on March 6. The rest of the festival will include retrospective screenings, live music, workshops and master-classes, feature and documentary screenings and Q&A’s with inspirational women in film.

For more information visit the website or email  submissions@birds-eye-view.co.uk

Fund raiser for PBS 106.7 FM – Pash album launch – female hip hop – girl brigade #Melbourne #geekgirl

Pash is the presenter of Very Necessary on PBS FM 106.7, a show about girls getting their groove on, in the musical sense. On 14th October, 2010 at The Order of Melbourne, Pash will be presenting a night of Melbourne’s best in female hip hop and electronic music.

Catch Multicultural women’s DJ collective Lady Fingers serving up a cross-cultural blend of beats, including bhangra, hip-hop, reggae, electronic, soul, funk, and more, plus local electro dance duo Girl Brigade, hip hop nusoul glitch beat team Syreneyiscreamy & Able, Hailey Cramer and global party stylings from Ms Butt.

There’ll also be provocative projections courtesy of VJ Inxile, and Pash will add further spice as she launches her highly anticipated debut album.

If you are passionate about women in music and love the sounds of community radio then you will find it very necessary to attend this special event. Funds raised will go to PBS, Melbourne’s number one supporter of underrepresented and diverse music.

7pm sharp. $7 entry.
The Order of Melbourne
2/ 401 swanston street
Melbourne, Australia

Quite Contrary a new show by The Women’s Circus for Melbourne Fringe #geekgirl

The Women’s Circus, as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival, presents the premiere of their latest show, Quite Contrary, directed by Debra Batton.

When a chorus of over 100 women take hold of the circus the lines between backstage, upstage, onstage and downstage become blurred. We all know that the women run the show, let us rub your nose in it! Where flying through the air is part of the daily grind/mind, smiling upside down is a face lift, notions of normal are twisted and difference is celebrated.

Quite contrary is mostly performed & crewed by volunteers. Over 100 women ranging from complete beginners to emerging circus performers volunteer their time and energy, drawn together by their strong ownership and love of the Women’s Circus community. In their day to day lives they are students, mothers, lawyers, health professionals, unemployed, public servants, animators, vet nurses, arts workers , it workers, community workers and much more. But for these 2 weeks their lives go on hold as they transform into aerialists, tumblers, jugglers, musicians, riggers, sound crew, bar staff and just about anything else that is needed to produce a circus show.

There will be a fully licensed Bar and Hot home made food!

Venue: Meat Market, 5 Blackwood St, North Melbourne
Season Dates: 23-26 Sept 2010 & 30 Sept-3 Oct 2010 @ 7.30pm
Times/Notes: Doors Open for pre show drinks and performances at 6.30pm with seating from 7.15pm
Tickets: Conc. $27.00, Full $33.00

Bookings: Festival Tickets: 03 9660 9666 or www.melbournefringe.com.au

Help get Tasmania’s Sarah Heald to One Movement 2010 #music #stargurl #geekgirl #donate

One Movement 2010 is the Asia-Pacific trade expo for Australian recording artists launching into international markets, and Sarah Heald has been fortunate enough as part a graduate of the JB Seed Management Workshop program, to be selected to represent Tasmanian artists for the first time at the conference.

This is an enormous opportunity for Tasmanian musicians who Sarah has already collaborated with in both formal and informal mentorship, management, promotional and advisory roles (such as Charles Du Cane, All Fires The Fire, Rough Skies Records, The Native Cats, The Paradise Motel and White Woods) under the banner of non-profit consultancy “Behind Every Great Management”.

Prior to her Tasmanian seachangeSarah was employed as an in-house PR at Mushroom Distribution Services, Wall of Sound Recordings (UK), and at Best Est PR (Pulp, Blur, Glastonbury webcast). After relocating to beautiful Tasmania in 2005,  she has actively been involved in events such as MONAFOMA, A Day on The Green, Hobart Fringe Festival, and Falls Festival in event coordination roles, as well as volunteering on the board of Hobart Fringe and the young friends of the Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery (TMAGgots). Many locals will also recognise her from her work at live music venues, in particular North Hobart’s “The Alley Cat Bar”.

The good folk at JB Seed have provided her with a full conference pass and assistance to the value of nearly $1000, however she needs to arrange her own flights, freight, accommodation and per diems during the event and will also be taking unpaid leave to do so. Subsequentlyshe is relying on the broader community, and some of her volunteer hours ‘kharma’ to help have Tasmanian artists have a real presence for trade and export at One Movement.

Please donate.

17th World of Women Festival looking for submissions #wift #geekgirl #australia #film