May 5, 2008
It's Computer Mania!
Did you know that in 2006, only 10.5% of Computer Science AB test takers were girls? Sounds hard to believe, now two years later, when one of the serious contenders for the US Presidency is a woman, the majority of bloggers are women, and we're a company whose co-founder and President is female. (Yeah!)
Since 2003, the Center for Women and IT has been throwing a half-day IT-love fest at UMBC to keep the minds of middle school girls open to careers in technology, and, unabashedly, the event's name is Computer Mania Day. This past weekend, CMD '08 invited over 800 Baltimore-area middle school girls to personally interview a virtual-anime-puppet, work with PhD students to learn about haptics, and create their own hot air balloons, among tons of other real-life workshops presented by women in the industry. Meanwhile, the girls' parents participated in their own informative sessions about the status of women in IT led by industry leaders and Maryland Public School officials.
I was lucky enough to lead my own Computer Mania Day workshop for the kids, sharing some some of my blogging knowledge, technical expertise, and professional and personal experiences in IT. And we made our own: over 50 girls signed up for their very own Vox accounts! The girls loved customizing their own blogs, and were especially surprised at how easy Vox was to use and navigate. (A few of the girls mentioned it being a lot easier than MySpace.) And they totally loved the Six Apart/Vox schwag, including cute mini-buttons, phone charms, and some very desirable Pink Vox baby tees.
Events like these remind me that we should constantly work to enrich the core of the IT industry: its people. I had no problem gushing to the girls about the entertaining, challenging, and important job I've had with Apperceptive and now Six Apart, and I (not so) secretly hope that these girls grow up to bloggers and join the Six Apart staff! That being said, if you know of a young woman or man looking to start a career in technology, Six Apart is hiring everything from developers to designers to business development and account managers.
You can check out computermaniaday.vox.com for the links to the blogs made and a liveblog entry chronicling the day. More information about Computer Mania Day can be found on the UMBC site, as well as the CMD homepage itself.
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