Gearing up for Blogher
I can't believe I head out on the road again tomorrow, first for a gathering of the Girl Geeks supporting the World Cafe global community and then to Blogher. I heard the event is now completely sold out and I checked out the People planning to attend BlogHer Conference 2006 page. Oi. So many cool people, so little time. What's a mother to do?
I have two panels to prepare for, one on women getting deeply geeky, which is really about the politics and mindset of women in technology, online, etc., and the second is on building blog based communities. The latter has been top of mind because of the series I've been posting here (not finished - I know. It is too hot here to really THINK!)
The geek women one is more challenging because of both how I perceive my identity as a woman who works with technology (I see myself as a proto geek - I know enough and am fearless enough to scare the *&&^ out of real geeks - one of those people who messes with things without really knowing the consequences.) It turns out that a study shows that women often rank their tech skills lower than they actually are. When I read this article in the Seattle Times this morning, I wondered if I was underrating myself!
Eszter Hargittai of Northwestern University did a skills test. She found...Although online skills of men and women were roughly equal, women, as a group, rated their proficiency significantly lower than did men. Men, who as a group were no better at plying the Internet than women, rated their skills, on average, a couple notches above.
Now I'm wondering how this plays into our conversation about women getting deeply geeking. Hmmm....
What do you think?
posted by Nancy White at 8:09 PM
3 Comments:
What do I think? Lord, ask me again on Friday after I've gotten to meet you IN PERSON and had a chance to recover from THAT. Then I'll be able to think about something besides MEETING NANCY WHITE IN PERSON!
I have to miss the geek girl event, I'll be doing my own darn outreach panel, darn it. Why did I agree to speak? I'm missing good stuff and I'm boring!
I am going to meet you (I hope!) I am so nervous I'm not going to able to sleep tonight.
About women geekiness: I've conducted a lot of usability studies and this is definitely my impression: women tend to underestimate their technical skills and man tend to overestimate them.
Antonella, I'm really looking forward to meeting you and other Blogher "imaginary" friends!
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