Girls In Tech

Professor Muhammad Yunus

The Tech Awards, an annual humanitarian awards program organized by The Tech Museum of Innovation, will be honoring 25 Laureates from all around the world for their achievements in education, equality, environment, economic development and health. Their philanthropic contributions will be recognized at the annual Tech Awards Gala on Thursday, November 12th, in San Jose, CA.

Winning projects to be featured at The Tech Awards include the Portable Light Project, which creates new ways to provide energy, and Build Change, a program that trains builders and homeowners to build earthquake-resistant houses in developing countries. Professor Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, will receive this year’s James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award for his thought leadership in the micro-lending space.

For more information on The Tech Awards, please visit www.techawards.org.

Starting an online magazine at the age of 15 and spending at least 75% of my day behind my 17-inch mac book pro–one can only see how much my life revolves around the Internet.  With the holiday season coming around, I thought I would start looking for gift ideas for my young nieces and nephews. I didn’t want to follow the most obvious route of videos games and barbie dolls.  Instead, I went online and came across a site called My Handwork Studio.  My Handwork Stduio is a new, safe virtual needle arts and fashion community where kids can be creative, learn new crafts and share their designs with new friends.

The reason this particular site caught my attention was the online aspect of something that was known to be an “offline” activity.  The online site allows kids and teens to do some pretty cool activities such as:

Create an On-line Persona: Kids can create their own on-line character (avatar) –  including customized outfit, skin and eye color — and profile by sharing favorite hobbies and activities.  Send and receive messages from fellow Studio kids, even add friends to the personalized Studio page.

Learn Cool Crafts: “Kid Educators” provide “how to” video instructions on knitting, crochet, embroidery, hand- and machine-sewing, and needle crafting.  After watching the videos, print off detailed instructions and templates to make the projects at home. When done, upload a photo to your profile so all of your Studio friends can see it.

Play Games: Earn “Studio Dollars” by playing fun, on-line games.  Redeem by buying virtual accessories  — iPods, cell phones and pets — for your character.

Shop for Crafting Supplies: Our on-line store allows you to buy crafting supplies, books and materials on-line and have them shipped directly to your home.

Seek On-line Crafting Help: Need more information developing these new crafting skills? The Retailers section allows you to type in your zip code and see all of the local craft stores in your community where you can seek additional help.

The website will also be launching a “kit of the month club” that integrates the online aspect of the community with offline crafts delivered straight to one’s doorstep. This is definitely a great gift idea for the upcoming holidays—especially for me (I am known for bringing the theme of the “Internet” in everything I do).

I think My Handwork Studio is going in the right direction.  The average store front businesses are embracing new technology and reaching a much larger audience in more innovative ways. For more information, check out their website at http://myhandworkstudio.com

I’ve recently read a number of blog entries dedicated to critiquing the recent Clearwire and Sprint WiMAX deal from an economic standpoint. People want to know: what money is there to lose? What is there to gain? Who invested in what? And are they crazy for doing so?

For now, my answer is, “Who cares?”

I’d like to step away from this and focus on what WiMAX might contribute from a sociological standpoint. Personally, I am in complete support of WiMAX and what it might do for rural and underprivileged communities. By providing wireless internet access to areas that didn’t have it beforehand, there is potential to revolutionize the global education system.

Of course, critics will point out that part of the problem with the education system is the disparity of resources. If a WiMAX chip processor can commit to providing grants to some of these communities, providing them with the necessary equipment to jumpstart their journey into the wireless world, the possibilities are endless. When discussing costs, one must note that WiMAX is indeed the most cost-efficient way to distribute broadband data to rural areas. According to Jeff Evans, a Georgia Tech Research Institute senior research engineer, “With WiMAX, an internet service provider that wants to reach a small community up to 30 miles away can set up a wireless link for thousands of dollars rather than hundreds of thousands.” This alone should knock down a large portion of critics’ monetary concerns. This information is enough to make me very hopeful and enthusiastic about what’s to come.

By enabling these communities to have access to the internet, and in turn, information, we are fighting half the battle. After working with students from underprivileged backgrounds and speaking with teachers currently working in inner city school systems, the biggest obstacles that low-income students face is a lack of access to technological resources. Many of these families are lucky to have a computer at home, but cannot afford to pay for internet access, and are forced to scramble to find access to the internet – even to do simple homework assignments. This is a significant disadvantage for these students, as it makes it extremely difficult to work on school assignments in the time given to these kids. However, with technology such as WiMAX, companies can contribute funds to provide internet access to these areas. In addition, students can be better equipped to maximize the use of their computers to access the vast variety of resources on the internet. By providing an affordable system like WiMAX to these communities, we would be helping to bridge the “digital divide” that currently exists in education to our nation’s youth. After all, access to information and education in our nation is a right, not a privilege!

For more information, resources and articles in support of WiMAX technology in rural areas and for the benefit of our education system, visit:

• http://www.wimaxforum.org/technology/downloads/WiMAX_to_Bridge_the_Digitaldivide.pdf
• http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,39189051,00.htm
• http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/wi-max.htm
• http://www.wimax.com/commentary/blog/blog-2008/wimax-in-education-market-to-reach-1-8-billion-by-2015
• http://www.computerworld.com.my:8080/WCIT2008/index.php/2008/05/19/using-it-to-enhance-lives/

Girls in Tech New York cordially invites you to celebrate its official New York City launch party on September 16th at 6:00pm.

Technology is a thriving economy in the US and globally; because of this phenomenon Girls in Tech was established to engage and empower women, tout their achievements in the tech sector, provide resources and educational programs to inspire careers in technology and entrepreneurialism.

To help celebrate this very important event, we are featuring women digi-artists from Like The Spice Gallery including Anna Druzcz, Nicole Stager, Abby Goodman, Nora Herting, Tatiana Kronberg.

• Event starts at 6:00PM.

• More details on venue next week! We have two Chelsea venue options to select from!

It is with excitement and dedication that we invite you to join us as we recognize and celebrate the women in New York that are changing the world through technology and innovation.

Please RSVP for this event.

We hope to see you there!

Jessica, Davina and Adriana
co-founders, Girls in Tech