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17-Year-Old Girl Wins Boston TV API Programming Contest

Posted by Soulskill on from the strong-work dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Jenny Lamere, a graduating high school senior from Nashua NH, was the youngest of 80 participants (and one of only four women) in the Hill Holiday TVnext hackathon held in Boston this past April, a programming contest sponsored by TV API providers. Her submission of 'Twivo,' an app that allows TV viewers to block spoiler tweets while watching a show and recover them later, won the contest's 'Sync to Broadcast' category (one of five), and was also named the event's 'Best in Show' (overall winner). At least one tech company has expressed interest in her app (a short demo and interview with the judges starts at 3:30 in the embedded YouTube clip). Lamere plans to enter the Rochester Institute of Technology in the fall, and will pursue a career in software development."

6 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Censorship by EmagGeek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Choosing not to listen to someone is not censorship.

  2. Re:Censorship by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Censorship is when I keep you from saying it. You can still say it.

    I just refuse to listen.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. Negative Attention by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wish people would stop focusing on age and gender.

    1. Re:Negative Attention by femtobyte · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yaknow, centuries of deeply entrenched stereotypes don't magically vanish away overnight. Lifting up counter-examples to the stereotype that women just aren't mentally cut out for logical/intellectual work is important to eradicating such views. Other young women should get the chance to see female role models praised in the media for accomplishments besides being Miss Teen America 2013. While an ultimate goal is reaching a society where it's nothing special for a woman to be a programmer, to *get there* from our present sexist world, one needs to actively push back against entrenched misogyny.

  4. Re:Censorship by femtobyte · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In a sense it is: but you are applying the censorship only to what you see/hear. I think people should be permitted to self-censor. If I want to filter my view of the world to block out ********, then I should be able to do that. If I want to write a ********-filter plugin to help other people choose to avoid wasting their time on ******** too, then that's fine. The problem is when I impose censorship on others: if I'm the manager at the local telco monopoly, I shouldn't be installing network filters to keep ******** off my customers' computers (if they want to do so themselves, fine).

  5. Re:Censorship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No it isn't. Censorship is preventing someone from speaking. Ignoring someone is not remotely close. I ignore people all of the time, but I'm not preventing them from speaking their xenophobic racist bile. It's no different from moving away from the fat sweaty pig that has questionable personal hygiene issues, or the inconsiderate smoker wafting the pollution from their nicotine fix. I don't like either, I get up and move elsewhere. They can continue stinking everyone else out without being remotely bothered by my disgust.