Girl Geek Dinner 3 Recap

Our group of gal geeks met for dinner in Harvard Square and rattled off geekery as though we’d been starved of it our whole lives. But we were also productive!

Over a bevy of of yummy food and drinks, we determined the following:

Motto: Wine. Agile. Salon. Women.

1. This group should be fun and casual. The brilliant Sooz came up with the “salon” concept. We all pounced and agreed it should be about getting a bunch of brilliant people together to discuss all things that we love.

2. We agreed that we should meet once a month, setting the last Thursday of every month as the golden rule. So, that means the next one is February 26th. Mark your calendars, but Sooz will be delivering the news more formally shortly.

3. We came up with a variety of places we could meet for free due to our various connections, and agreed they should always be on the T.

4. Dinner could be pot luck… Sooz has also offered to cook! Oooh, brave woman. The point is, we can do this on the cheap and have it still be really great.

5. We would love to invite great minds, such as Danah Boyd, Beth Kanter, Lisa Williams and so many others we realized we have connections to. They don’t have to “present” (powerpoint is banned), but it’d be great to have them there to talk about stuff we all dig… and we can provide topics (hellooo, cloud computing anyone? how hot is that?)

5. Once every four months or so, we open it up to the other, less fair, but still wonderful, sex, who are also like-minded. The only caveat is that invite is required.

6. Again, once every four months or so, but likely a different four months, we talk about a book (again, a geek-specific one). There are so many great ones, and we want to talk about them, but we don’t always have someone to talk with about them. Groundswell, Here Comes Everybody, Everything’s Miscellaneous (ooh, we can get the author of that one to join us!).

7. This group should be FUN and CASUAL. Yeah, I said that at the outset, but I think it bears repeating.

  What is this all for, anyways?

We’ve recently redesigned the Boston Girl Geeks website (as you’ve now noticed) and we’re trying to decide what kind of Girl Geeks we want to be.

Do we want guest speakers?

Do we want to have topics for discussion?

Are boys allowed?

Do we want to stay small and private, or the more the merrier?

We’ll be discussing all of these issues tomorrow at our third Girl Geek dinner at Daedalus. If you would like to join us, you’ll need to RSVP, you can do so on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=43372003482

If you can’t come, we’re interested in hearing your ideas here. Where should Boston Girl Geek go from here?

  Obama’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology

As stated on the new White House website, Obama has made a commitment to “Increase the representation of minorities and women in the science and technology pipeline, tapping the diversity of America to meet the increasing demand for a skilled workforce”.

But how do you DO that exactly?  Especially when this morning, I read arecent article about fastcompany.com’s “Most Influential Women in Web 2.0? post in which many comments to Digg were graphic, sexist, and nasty eventually resulting in posters being thrown off by the site’s administrators. (more…)

  Can Videogames Change the World?

Thought this might be a fun event, and well within our sandbox.   Information Superhighway, which is a “monthly party gathering hackers, activists, artists, designers, nonprofits, startups, academics and general geekery to hang out and connect with one another” is hosting an event focused on “Games for Change.”  There will be a discussion on ways that the gaming industry and game developers can work with nonprofit or advocacy causes.

When:  Saturday, Jan 31, 2009 8pm - midnight
Where:  Berkman Squared, 50 Church St, Cambridge MA

How do I talk my stomach into it? Drinks and snacks will be provided by sponsors Fablevision, Harvard Free Culture, Public Radio Exchange, and GamerDNA.

I’m not sure if I’m available to go yet…but it looks pretty interesting so I thought I’d pass it along.

Tags: gaming, nptech

  Who’s in your circle?

In preparation for a move to Boston, I’ve been trying to get in that one last meeting with each of my little social circles, and I’ve been thinking about how we separate our friends into these groups, and choose what we share with each. (more…)

  renegade cybergeeks at the NYTimes

The obituary has been in draft form for awhile now.  People don’t read newspapers, and web ads aren’t working. The New York Times, parent company of our own Boston Globe, is in particularly bad shape.  Its stocks fell 60 percent this year, it’s mortgaging its building,  even the Red Sox are on the chopping block.  So, what comes next?  How will the world’s stories be told in the future?  New York Magazine doesn’t claim to have the answers, but it does think its got a few of the themes spotted. (more…)

  Joining Geek Girls - a first step

During a Women in Technology luncheon where we discussed how to get more young women into technology, when some – to me – surprising statistics were mentioned as a btw  – ‘women in their 40’s leave the IT industry’ – what? So when they have come this far… had a decent career, have children, have TONS of knowledge about technology, and know how to play the guys – they leave!?  Will I be one of them?
(more…)

Tags: personal

  Future of the Interwebs

In wonderful Star Wars fashion, the Pew Internet Project has written up their latest wonderful report on the Future of the Internet. It’s called “The Future of the Internet III“. I wish they had subtitled it. Perhaps The Future of the Internet III: The Mobile Hope? (more…)

  So what’s percolating in Beantown?

A bit you didn’t need to know about me: after many years of living in Phoenix, Arizona, I’m relocating to Cape Cod in February.  Since I last left the area (RISD, 98) things have changed a bit in Boston. Apparently, the big dig is no longer an actual hole, but a bridge and you can’t smoke while eating dim sum anymore. (more…)

  Building a Better BostonGirlGeek

Girl Geeks don’t fool around, which is why in the past four days we’ve gotten the girls together and mounted an entirely new site, logo and twitter ID. Hope you like it!

We’re looking forward to getting together in February, but in the meanwhile, get to know us! We’ll be blogging here, staying in touch, keeping you up to date on news of the girly geeky kind.

First, make sure you’re listening to us on twitter, and then use the contact page to let us know where to find you. We’ll add you on facebook, twitter, linkedin, etc.