Women in Tech

As a female owner of a technology company, I have come to see first hand how the perceptions men and women alike hold about the role of women in the technology sphere have yet to evolve. Within the last few years, women have been shown to fill less than 30% of all IT positions here in the US. Not only that, but this percentage has been declining.

Women as well as men hold beliefs about technological skill that is based on gender that make it less likely for women to be chosen as service providers. There is a perception that a male technology consultant is likely to know things one doesn't know in-house, while the expertise of a female is considered to be something one should know in-house. People are less likely to have a perception that a woman has something to teach them about technology. This is particularly true of men, but women also hold such beliefs.

At the same time, fewer girls are deciding to pursue tech related career paths. This makes it less likely that men working in tech fields will be educated on the abilities of women in the field by exposure during their early educational experiences. They are therefore even less likely to view women as competent peers later in their careers.

There are a number of groups that have formed over the years to address these issues. Such groups support members' career success by offering networking opportunities, sharing information, and advocating for public policies that encourage the math and science education of girls and young women around the world. (Check out www.witi.com and www.womentechworld.org for starters).

Personally, consider making a commitment to advocating for the selection of female vendors whenever possible. My company, AspiraTech, which offers SalesForce Training and Implementation services, has benefited from the strong advocacy of both men and women at client companies who have pushed for greater utilization of our services and written positive reviews of the services we've provided on public sites. Consider the various ways you can support the success of women in technology, even if you are not yourself a business owner. If you are a business owner, evaluate how many of your company's vendors are women. Do you believe women have as much to offer the world of business as men and that we can become just as expert in solving business problems using technology? If you do, then align your decision making with your beliefs and put more women to work in the tech sphere.

Facebook - Right Name, Right Time

I know everyone is talking about Facebook, which is why I haven't jumped up and down too much over here. But the things that I'm finding interesting aren't what I see the Web 2.0 experts talking about.

What fascinates me is Susan.

The most real-world-impacting thing about facebook is its faces.

Because Jenna didn't have a cousin named Susan with a smile and a face and a camera phone two days ago, but now she does.

Low and behold, I start the Sessum facebook group and we find that Susan's father and George are first cousins, that Jenna and Susan share the same great-grandfather. And now Susan has put up family pictures and George is staring at faces of an Uncle he never knew -- but in his face he knows, you know? -- and looking into smiling eyes and onto etched hands that remember him forward into now.

That could not happen with the velocity with which it IS happening because of Facebook. It could not have happened with such speed and clarity in the vastness of the Internet through search.

It could not happen with blogging because WE -- George and I -- hog the "sessum" search results on google. The Sessums we sift through are ourselves. Are you talking about us and us talking about you. We would never find Susan or Michael or Fred through blogging, but we would never find them BECAUSE of blogging -- because blog results inundate Google search results.

It could not happen with MySpace because MySpaces's search capabilities have remained lackluster, despite press releases and claims to the contrary.

Similarly, with the Dimino group, with 20-some other facebookians -- two of whom are my nephews and one my niece -- we are finding one another: I am not only their aunt anymore - they are not only my brother's kids: we are creatives. From my family group I learned -- through a probable relative's grandmother about the long held belief that all Diminos come from the same village of Sicily, this fishing village.

From there, my imagination gives birth to stories. I am transported.

We are the social Web, family.

When we begin to participate on the Internet's intranets -- like FaceBook -- with others who say yes this is who I am and this is my face I'm on this book with you, then we find each other in new ways. And we become new to one another. And the new becomes familiar.

In groups, through play, the way the web has always worked, we meet and move forward and sideways and through together. We expand. We are evolving from hyperlinked-conversation-based relationships.

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