For Ada Lovelace Day, I pledged to blog about a woman in technology whom I admire. I don't just admire one woman, but one has stood out as someone who has influenced my interest in technology for many, many years - my mother.
My mom has worked in the technology field since 1985, first as a tech writer for Turning Point, moving through the world of engineering at Digital, Sun Microsystems, and now at a leading computer networking company. I remember being about 10 years old and feeling proud of my mom's accomplishments working in robotics. The company was working on a robotic arm that could pick up a glass without breaking it. I can't say whether they were successful but I know that mom worked incredibly hard to support her team and they respected the work she did.
As technology evolved, mom evolved with it, always taking classes, learning from her peers, and demonstrating that it is possible to transition from a writing role to software engineering and management. Her employees admire her, her managers respect her, and she has confidence and motivation to always turn out the best product possible. Her road hasn't always been easy. While women in technology find more opportunities now than were available 20 years ago, she still believes many challenges still exist. Women often struggle to be heard and she finds it rare that she doesn't have to work to have her opinion count. My mother continues to work her way through the tech world as a leader and as inspiration to all women considering a career in software development.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
MinneWebCon - April 6, 2009
What are you doing on April 6? Spend the day immersed in web trends at MinneWebCon at the University of Minnesota Continuing Education and Conference Center in St. Paul.
Go for the 12 breakout sessions with speakers including Jason Sack of space150 and Bill Heyman of CodeMorphic. Bill was recently featured by Eden Prairie News for his huge accomplishment - the #2 most downloaded iPhone app! I will be speaking in the afternoon on Achieving Stakeholder Buy-In for User Research. Want to know more? Here's the official blurb:
One of the biggest challenges faced by user experience researchers is achieving stakeholder buy-in. Fears of the time and expense required to identify and resolve usability problems prevent stakeholders from accepting user research into the product design workflow. The typical recommendation is to refine the UX sales pitch and continually push ideas on stakeholders in hopes they will eventually catch on. Unfortunately, this creates an 'us vs them' environment rather than one of collaboration and innovation. This presentation will be a chance to hear about some techniques that have helped drive stakeholder interest in user experience research and some that backfired. We'll talk about using cognitive walkthrough as a method for stakeholders to identify major usability problems, creating moodboards to communicate design ideas, and a case-study on personas that failed in a commercial software environment.
Don't miss the discussion topics on social media, web tools, and usability/user experience. If that's not enough to convince you, perhaps the two keynote speakers will. At 9am, hear Linux Journal senior editor, Doc Searls speak on The Intention Economy. Tech author, Bruce Schneier will speak on Web Culture & Privacy at 2pm.
So now that I have you interested, you should register. This day of learning includes lunch, drinks, and snacks and you can't pass up the opportunity to mingle with Minnesota web professionals.
Go for the 12 breakout sessions with speakers including Jason Sack of space150 and Bill Heyman of CodeMorphic. Bill was recently featured by Eden Prairie News for his huge accomplishment - the #2 most downloaded iPhone app! I will be speaking in the afternoon on Achieving Stakeholder Buy-In for User Research. Want to know more? Here's the official blurb:
One of the biggest challenges faced by user experience researchers is achieving stakeholder buy-in. Fears of the time and expense required to identify and resolve usability problems prevent stakeholders from accepting user research into the product design workflow. The typical recommendation is to refine the UX sales pitch and continually push ideas on stakeholders in hopes they will eventually catch on. Unfortunately, this creates an 'us vs them' environment rather than one of collaboration and innovation. This presentation will be a chance to hear about some techniques that have helped drive stakeholder interest in user experience research and some that backfired. We'll talk about using cognitive walkthrough as a method for stakeholders to identify major usability problems, creating moodboards to communicate design ideas, and a case-study on personas that failed in a commercial software environment.
Don't miss the discussion topics on social media, web tools, and usability/user experience. If that's not enough to convince you, perhaps the two keynote speakers will. At 9am, hear Linux Journal senior editor, Doc Searls speak on The Intention Economy. Tech author, Bruce Schneier will speak on Web Culture & Privacy at 2pm.
So now that I have you interested, you should register. This day of learning includes lunch, drinks, and snacks and you can't pass up the opportunity to mingle with Minnesota web professionals.
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