And if you live in -- or near -- the Netherlands, make sure to visit the Dutch Electronic Art Festival (DEAF04, Rotterdam), which will take place this year from 9-21 November. Or, for Germans, the Transmediale festival in Berlin, 4-8 February 2005.
This morning (Feb. 16) the following appeared in Belgian newspapers and the national radio news. Marc Verwilghen, Belgian minister of Justice (who, BTW, became very popular in Belgium because of his rather strict and efficient approach to the child porn scandals and subsequent justice reform a few years ago) has publicly declared that sueing Napster users will receive lowest priority from Belgian justice.
What actually happened: IFPI (the Belgian record industry lobby) looked up IP numbers for about 12.000 Napster users and sent them letters of complaint via their ISPs. About one hundred of these users were apparently found to be 'persistent in their evils' and are now sued by IFPI, who wants to fine each of these people for about $25.000. Today, the Belgian ministry of Justice has publicly declared that it frowns upon IFPI's practice of scanning people's IP #s and requesting domiciliary visits, stating that "public prosecutors should sue in such cases, and examining magistrates are the ones able to issue search warrants. Not private companies, not organisations like IFPI". And, as stated, Belgian justice will give lowest priority to prosecuting people who download music illegally -- they might be more strict about people who provide illegal mp3s, though.
Also, the 'Commissie voor de Persoonlijke Levenssfeer', a Belgian organisation which wants to protect consumers' privacy rights, is protesting against the way in which IFPI has been scanning people's IP numbers. They claim that IFPI's systematic 'tattling' is against these people's fundamental privacy rights.
I hope I've been accurate enough in describing all this; English is not my native language. For those among you who read Dutch it might be interesting to check the websites of the Flemish newspaper De Standaard and of VRT teletext (Flemish broadcasting organisation).
I can only speak about the situation in Belgium and don't know how it is in other countries, but my impression is that the average non-profit organizations are rather unaware of what technology could mean for them and that in many cases budget posts for technology (websites, databases, software development, hardware maintenance) are not, or insufficiently, included in their subsidy applications - so there will be few organizations who have that (paid) dream job ready and available for you. Organizations targeted towards providing media access (alternative local radio, the rare freespeech.org-style non-profit content provider types etc.) might be an exception to this, but I don't think this is the kind of organisation you're interested in in the first place.
Most nonprofits, though, would benefit from technical competence, so I think your wish is a very valid one. I would suggest that, if you find an organization whose goals you approve of, you start volunteering for them, going to meetings, offering help - perhaps not tech-related in the first place, but you could evolve towards showing them the benefits of online presence (creating/improving a website for them), quick and easy ways of communicating (setting up mailing lists, online calendars...), improving administration software and further on... The clue would be, that you invest some of your free time into getting to know them and doing stuff for free first, making technology a structural part of their organisational model. In the future this might turn into a (partly) paid job by incorporating more technical projects into the organization's workflow and including this in subsidy applications.
The above scenario might work for smaller, flexible and young organisations with not-too-strict administrative models, not for giant NGO mammoths. In the last case, you might just want to try sending spontaneous application letters, doing some phonecalls, etc. Wishing you good luck!
Have a look at the Free Expression Project (http://www.free-expression.org/); these people are developing a copylefted suite of streaming media tools (server & client, encoders and codec(s)). They've been working on it for a while, and will be pretty grateful if other coders want to join their efforts.
I am a woman, web designer / webmistress, with many male geek friends; I work and experiment with computers a lot, both as a job and a hobby.
And -- I like to observe how people interact with computers, how curious they are about them, whether they consider them as a necessary evil or an interesting tool. I don't want to generalize, but most of the women I know don't have the tendency to learn more about the ins and outs of their computers; at best, their machines are just handy instruments that enable them to get rid of some boring standard tasks, so that they can devote more time to other, non-technical things they find more important and satisfying. Very few choose technical professions. Women -- and research has proven this -- generally tend to dislike jobs that might automatically lead to power positions, hence the minority of females in engineering, law, politics, computer science... and the huge amounts of women choosing 'soft' professions (culture-related, administrative, social sector...). Even in pro-tech (cyber)feminist circles I've observed the tendency towards this 'softer' approach; when tech women get together, they mostly seem to prefer to socialize, and their way of communicating is very different from the way male geeks interact. Again, I don't want to generalize, but it's good to be aware of this almost 'cultural' difference. Computer technology has always been quite 'male centered' in general, and so are the discussions that surround it (/. for example). Women who start using computers are like immigrants in a pretty different cultural surrounding.
That's the situation, whether you like it or not. I don't think it makes much sense to blame anyone for this; women should definitely not be blamed for being slightly disinterested in technology, imho. You cannot force anyone into something s/he does not like or is not ready for; failure of recent (Belgian, but I think this happens elsewhere too) campaigns to encourage women to choose tech professions might prove this -- in 1999 the lowest percentage of Belgian women ever have enrolled in 1st year Computer Science university degree courses.
Another thing: women, in all professional areas, still earn lower wages than men. That's also a real problem, perhaps more serious than women's absence in certain sectors, and something that men have the obligation to be observant about, whether you work in CS, in a medical profession or elsewhere. If you allow me to make some tendentious suggestions:;)
This should be more than obvious, but I'll mention it anyway... try to be aware of your own prejudices and those of your colleagues and friends. Treat women as equals. Don't treat them as sex objects or weird, dumb or inferior creatures, don't judge them because they have different communicative habits; don't praise them in an excessive way and don't be too polite either. Many men have a lot to learn from women in this regard. Take good care of this, and you'll see the number of female friends in your own life grow exponentially:))
In your professional life: if you have the right influence in your company, try to actively encourage women-friendly recruiting policies. Ask a woman to proof-read job announcements to check whether they are appealing enough for women; when women apply for jobs, treat them in a fair way. Don't feel tempted to give preference to a man if he shouts louder or boasts more; compare the real skills and proven expertise of the candidates. A bit of positive discrimination might do no harm.
Give women equal promotion opportunities.
Be interested in women's opinions on the projects you are involved in; give them the opportunity to talk informally and encourage and support them if you feel their views don't get sufficient attention.
Don't blame, force and scold women if you feel they have difficulties with conforming to typically masculine work patterns (long meetings, long working days, flexible hours). Instead, discuss it openly and try to find workable solutions that might even be more beneficial to *everyone*, who knows.
Etcetera. I'm out of inspiration for now.
In order to anticipate feeble jokes: my nickname refers to my last name;)
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And if you live in -- or near -- the Netherlands, make sure to visit the Dutch Electronic Art Festival (DEAF04, Rotterdam), which will take place this year from 9-21 November. Or, for Germans, the Transmediale festival in Berlin, 4-8 February 2005.
This morning (Feb. 16) the following appeared in Belgian newspapers and the national radio news. Marc Verwilghen, Belgian minister of Justice (who, BTW, became very popular in Belgium because of his rather strict and efficient approach to the child porn scandals and subsequent justice reform a few years ago) has publicly declared that sueing Napster users will receive lowest priority from Belgian justice.
What actually happened: IFPI (the Belgian record industry lobby) looked up IP numbers for about 12.000 Napster users and sent them letters of complaint via their ISPs. About one hundred of these users were apparently found to be 'persistent in their evils' and are now sued by IFPI, who wants to fine each of these people for about $25.000. Today, the Belgian ministry of Justice has publicly declared that it frowns upon IFPI's practice of scanning people's IP #s and requesting domiciliary visits, stating that "public prosecutors should sue in such cases, and examining magistrates are the ones able to issue search warrants. Not private companies, not organisations like IFPI". And, as stated, Belgian justice will give lowest priority to prosecuting people who download music illegally -- they might be more strict about people who provide illegal mp3s, though.
Also, the 'Commissie voor de Persoonlijke Levenssfeer', a Belgian organisation which wants to protect consumers' privacy rights, is protesting against the way in which IFPI has been scanning people's IP numbers. They claim that IFPI's systematic 'tattling' is against these people's fundamental privacy rights.
I hope I've been accurate enough in describing all this; English is not my native language. For those among you who read Dutch it might be interesting to check the websites of the Flemish newspaper De Standaard and of VRT teletext (Flemish broadcasting organisation).
I can only speak about the situation in Belgium and don't know how it is in other countries, but my impression is that the average non-profit organizations are rather unaware of what technology could mean for them and that in many cases budget posts for technology (websites, databases, software development, hardware maintenance) are not, or insufficiently, included in their subsidy applications - so there will be few organizations who have that (paid) dream job ready and available for you. Organizations targeted towards providing media access (alternative local radio, the rare freespeech.org-style non-profit content provider types etc.) might be an exception to this, but I don't think this is the kind of organisation you're interested in in the first place.
Most nonprofits, though, would benefit from technical competence, so I think your wish is a very valid one. I would suggest that, if you find an organization whose goals you approve of, you start volunteering for them, going to meetings, offering help - perhaps not tech-related in the first place, but you could evolve towards showing them the benefits of online presence (creating/improving a website for them), quick and easy ways of communicating (setting up mailing lists, online calendars...), improving administration software and further on ... The clue would be, that you invest some of your free time into getting to know them and doing stuff for free first, making technology a structural part of their organisational model. In the future this might turn into a (partly) paid job by incorporating more technical projects into the organization's workflow and including this in subsidy applications.
The above scenario might work for smaller, flexible and young organisations with not-too-strict administrative models, not for giant NGO mammoths. In the last case, you might just want to try sending spontaneous application letters, doing some phonecalls, etc. Wishing you good luck!
Have a look at the Free Expression Project (http://www.free-expression.org/); these people are developing a copylefted suite of streaming media tools (server & client, encoders and codec(s)). They've been working on it for a while, and will be pretty grateful if other coders want to join their efforts.
I am a woman, web designer / webmistress, with many male geek friends; I work and experiment with computers a lot, both as a job and a hobby.
And -- I like to observe how people interact with computers, how curious they are about them, whether they consider them as a necessary evil or an interesting tool. I don't want to generalize, but most of the women I know don't have the tendency to learn more about the ins and outs of their computers; at best, their machines are just handy instruments that enable them to get rid of some boring standard tasks, so that they can devote more time to other, non-technical things they find more important and satisfying.
Very few choose technical professions. Women -- and research has proven this -- generally tend to dislike jobs that might automatically lead to power positions, hence the minority of females in engineering, law, politics, computer science... and the huge amounts of women choosing 'soft' professions (culture-related, administrative, social sector...). Even in pro-tech (cyber)feminist circles I've observed the tendency towards this 'softer' approach; when tech women get together, they mostly seem to prefer to socialize, and their way of communicating is very different from the way male geeks interact. Again, I don't want to generalize, but it's good to be aware of this almost 'cultural' difference. Computer technology has always been quite 'male centered' in general, and so are the discussions that surround it (/. for example). Women who start using computers are like immigrants in a pretty different cultural surrounding.
That's the situation, whether you like it or not. I don't think it makes much sense to blame anyone for this; women should definitely not be blamed for being slightly disinterested in technology, imho. You cannot force anyone into something s/he does not like or is not ready for; failure of recent (Belgian, but I think this happens elsewhere too) campaigns to encourage women to choose tech professions might prove this -- in 1999 the lowest percentage of Belgian women ever have enrolled in 1st year Computer Science university degree courses.
Another thing: women, in all professional areas, still earn lower wages than men. That's also a real problem, perhaps more serious than women's absence in certain sectors, and something that men have the obligation to be observant about, whether you work in CS, in a medical profession or elsewhere. If you allow me to make some tendentious suggestions: ;)
In order to anticipate feeble jokes: my nickname refers to my last name ;)