Peter,
again I worry about this being self-selecting. People who report on
surveys are .... the people who report on surveys. A code4lib survey
would be nice, but I'm really interested in "on the ground" troops. And
I think the questions would have to be specific to what one does:
- installs and fixes equipment
- runs updates/backups on ILS
- writes scripts
- writes code
- manages local network
- modifies ILS tables for local customization
- creates web pages
- makes decisions on tech purchasing
- supervises staff that runs ILS/local network
Well, that's probably a stupid list, but a smarter list could be made.
In other words, I would want what you actually do to define whether you
are a techie -- not whether you consider yourself a techie (many women
demean their own skills -- "Oh, I just push a few buttons"). [1] I'd
like to see it be very broad, and later we can decide if we think
modifying ILS tables counts as being a "real techie."
kc
[1] For painful reading: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/28257411 The
letters of Ada Lovelace.
On 11/27/12 8:50 AM, Peter Murray wrote:
A friend of mine is one of the principals behind "The Survey for People Who Make
Websites" from A List Apart:
http://aneventapart.com/alasurvey2011/00.html
Is that the sort of thing we'd like to do? If so, I can get some insights from
him about how he develops, organizes, and runs the survey.
Peter
On Nov 27, 2012, at 11:23 AM, Karen Coyle <li...@kcoyle.net> wrote:
I would really like to see such a survey. I did one at my previous place
of work, the California Digital Library (nee Division of Library
Automation) where I worked for over 20 years. I had kept org charts and
phone lists, and was able to see that over that span of two decades the
tech staff (which was most everyone there since all we did was tech
development) was from 2/3 to 3/4 female. But when I said this in front
of a group of employees the men were startled. I'm guessing that they
saw themselves as techies, and the women as "helpers" -- even though the
DBA, the data designers, and many of the programmers were women. So it's
not that there aren't women in technology, it's that the women in
technology are often considered to be "not doing technology" because
they are women. [1]
So we should survey. I believe that we will find that in library
technology departments there are many "invisible" women. Sadly, women
will be more present in that environment for the wrong reasons -- mainly
that it's lower paying and that men are more likely to get the higher
paying industry jobs. (The University of California overall staff ratio
is 65% female -- as perhaps many government agencies are.)
kc
[1] Must read: Joanna Russ. How to suppress women's writing.
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/9392874 It's about writing but actually
pertains to all activities.
On 11/27/12 6:57 AM, Rosalyn Metz wrote:
I think first we would need to do a survey of how many women are in the
community. if it turns out that this community is only 17% women then
we're on target. who knows, maybe we're actually 10% women and we're way
above target. in which case the real question might be "how do we get more
women in tech."
On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 9:11 AM, Chad Nelson <chadbnel...@gmail.com> wrote:
Ooops. Hit the wrong key.
So, about our presenters...
Is it a problem that only 4 of our 33 presenters are women? Or that only 16
of 95 proposers were women?
Is there something this community needs to do to encourage more women to
feel like they can and should speak / propose sessions?
--
Karen Coyle
kco...@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net
ph: 1-510-540-7596
m: 1-510-435-8234
skype: kcoylenet
