Girls In Tech

Since its launch in February, Google Buzz has dominated headlines from the blogosphere to the twittersphere, and every social media sphere in between. From people decrying it as yet another nail in the coffin of personal privacy to people applauding it as a bold step forward for communication and collaboration, Buzz has certainly lived up to its name – at least in terms of all the attention its gotten in the past month.

So what is Buzz? Well, according to Google itself “Google Buzz lets you share updates, photos, links, and pretty much anything else you’d like with your Gmail contacts; it’s an easy way to follow your friends, too. When you click Buzz in your Gmail account, you’ll see the stream of posts from people you’re following, and a box for you to post your updates.” So basically, Buzz is a way for you to post items that are shared with your Gmail contacts, and people who follow you on the service. Sort of like a Facebook status update for your Gmail.

Of course, like any good web product, there’s a lot more to it than just the elevator pitch. Buzz is already proving to be a valuable tool for soliciting feedback on a project, gathering opinions on a popular topic and finding targeted information that’s relevant to you. Which, of course, makes it a social media marketer’s wet dream, and has advertisers salivating over the possibility that Google may now have yet another place to distribute its patented brand of extremely targeted ads.

But, if you’re not looking to solicit feedback from your friends or sell something to your followers, why should you use Buzz? Well, the answer lies in that whole targeted information thing. That’s right, Buzz is yet another stream of information you can tap into to find out what’s trending and what your friends are talking about. But, because it maps back to your Gmail contacts, the theory is that it’s even more targeted than Twitter, more focused than Facebook and more interesting than random RSS feeds. The idea is that if you’re subscribing to people you already communicate with regularly via email, you will be more interested in what those people have to say than what Followed #4,238 on Twitter is talking about. And, of course, there are all those nifty Google algorithms to help really steer your Buzz stream.

I’ve been using it for a few weeks now, and I have to say my feelings are mixed. Mostly because I haven’t yet been able to really slot Buzz into my daily social media habits. Between Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader, Reddit, Delicious, Stumble and the occasional email update from my mom, I’m pretty well situated when it comes to keeping abreast of the news and information I care about. So far, Buzz hasn’t yet evolved from a fun distraction into a daily information addiction the way those other services have. That said, now that there’s a Buzz iPhone app, I might finally be able to find a way to fit that fun new distraction into my daily routine. If only so I can make more “I just got so buzzed” puns on Twitter.

Just two months ago, DARPA, headed by Dr. Regina Dugan, conducted an interesting challenge to find ten red balloons strategically “hidden” throughout the United States. Seekers had a time frame of nine days to correctly map-out the whereabouts of those balloons. In nine hours, an MIT team had located all of the balloons—that was just with real-time social networking technologies—no augmented-reality mapping involved.

Two months later, social networking has new pal. At the annual TED Talks gathering, Microsoft unveiled its latest augmented-reality mapping. This technology will take social networking and seeking & find projects to a new level.

For education, all I can say is that if school districts don’t take this summer to get their teachers up to snuff with technology skills, there will be more of us teachers retiring as parents can create national and global networks of real-time information exchange (For educators: check out Natasha’s post below). Students no longer have to wait until gets dark to experience Orion or wait until their parents can take them to a famous landmark in a foreign country, with an iphone, internet, and augmented-reality mapping, they will be well on their way.

Though I have my hesitations about safety and privacy issues, the potential advantages to rescue missions, law enforcement, education and network publications could far outweigh the cons of such a technology. I just wonder if Dr. Dugan is willing to create another $40K DARPA Balloon challenge using augmented-reality mapping—maybe the nine hour search will become nine minutes!

Nevertheless, Microsoft has taken social networking to a new level, and it’s quite impressive!

Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement yesterday about the changes being made to Facebook’s privacy structure, it looks like #privacy is about to have yet another run as the trending topic du jour. Well, that and that couple that crashed the White House dinner — as Demetri Martin would say, they’re like the herpes of hyped up news stories. Scheming social climbers aside, privacy is one of the web’s biggest concerns. As girls in tech, we talk about it all the time. Are our identities safe? Are our personal and professional brands secure? Are the kids in our lives making smart choices when they surf?

Months worth of memes have been made out of relatively minor changes to Facebook’s privacy policies in the past, and the comments are already piling in to the Mashable Article discussing this most recent development. It’s easy to understand why people get so worked up over what happens to their information on the internet. From cookies that track our every click to the fact that between docs, mail, maps and search, google knows more about you than your parents probably do, it’s clear that there’s plenty of reasons to make even the sanest surfer paranoid about what they post. As the product manager at a growing user generated content site, I deal with difficult decisions having to do with privacy all the time. What our decision making process always comes back to is a simple question: what would we want someone else to be doing with our data? Nine times out of ten, the answer is simple: give the user as much control over their content as you can.

Of course, as a user, it’s up to you to take advantage of that control. Fortunately, there are as many tools to track the people tracking you as there are mistresses in Tiger Woods’ skeleton closet. There’s google privacy dashboard, which allows you to see all the data points that google’s got about you. You can also set up a google alert that will let you know when new content about you is indexed by the search engine’s spiders. Keotag lets you put in a key word, and see what people are saying about it everywhere from Technorati to Twitter. And, Boardtracker lets you do the same sort of thing across multiple comment boards. Which means you can post your complaints about the new Facebook privacy policy today, and see all the trolls’ responses tomorrow.

It ain’t exactly privacy per se, but it’s pretty powerful stuff nonetheless.  At the end of the day, I strongly believe that the best privacy policy on the web is still the one you set up for yourself by watching what you post, where you post it and what gets said about it after you leave. However, if that’s too complicated for you, then just remember this simple rule: if you’re going to crash a White House dinner, don’t post photos of your uninvited self shaking hands with the president on Facebook. Unless, of course, your personal privacy policy involves a camera crew from Bravo and a hefty chunk of reality show change. In which case, I’ll see you on Thursdays at 10 in my living room.

A little over a year ago, Helen De Michiel in an editorial to the SF Chronicle suggested something very interesting in light of today’s economy and the technological ranking of the US among other countries of the world: What this country needs, she claimed, is a “Digital New Deal.”  So, what exactly did she mean by this?
She founded this proposal on the fact that, although one of the world’s wealthiest countries, the US ranked surprisingly low in its Internet infrastructures. We ranked “4th – in network readiness to compete globally” and only “24th among industrialized nations in broadband.”  This was shocking to me; and I thought – How is this possible — We are in the Silicon Valley, the home of nearly every other Internet start up, right?

To change this, she suggests that we need to encourage the youth of this country to engage widely in an effort to create a “new online public sphere” or a national public media depository, if you will. Thus, after graduating college they can become part of the solution to create an even greater and larger social networking/information exchanging/fully- connected online community. This in turn will create jobs, bolster the sharing of ideas and innovation, and create a new generation of broadband access.  This can be achieved by teaming with more experienced specialists in the area, and will hopefully also bolster community-building and multi-generational participation.

De Michiel invited us to “Imagine after the 2008 election, a swarm of arts and culture leaders, public interest and policy advocates, energetic young software developers, philanthropists, media reformers and forward-thinking politicians banding together in a broad coalition to construct this Digital New Deal.”

“Creative potential will be unleashed through new media and social networking pathways in ways we have never experienced, influencing where we live and how we work.”
With Twitter, the iPhone & its many apps on the App Store, among other applications to do what we want in this realm…perhaps we are getting there!
- quotes copyright SF Chronicle, 2008
(To read De Michiel’s full OpEd, go to www.sfgate.com, Opinion, & search archives: “Digital New Deal” -or- http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/11/EDJU103F1U.DTL)

Last month it was that time of year again: Panel Picker Voting for the Annual South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) conference in Austin, TX. Sound familiar? Check out fellow GIT blogger Kristine Gloria’s post about it here: http://girlsintech.net/2009/08/31/girls-in-tech-at-sxsw-2010/

Each year the public votes online for which proposed panels should make it through to being accepted for the conference. I submitted a panel proposal, titled “Impact of Women in Technology”. Whether the panel makes it through to the final round and becomes an official SXSWi panel or not, I do want to share some of my thoughts on the subject, as well as hear everyone else’s and get some great discussion going on this.

For all you girls out there, was there a female presence that got you excited about tech? Maybe it was a mother, sister, aunt, or friend. Perhaps someone well respected in technology today, like Social Media Strategist Erica O’Grady, or Ad-Village CEO Marissa Louie for example?

If you do have an example like this, what about them or their journey in the tech world inspired or empowered you to pursue your dreams? How important do you think their roles are as pillars of Women in Technology to the future of Women in Tech? For me, two of those people are Tekzilla Co-Host & Gadget Guru Veronica Belmont, & New media producer and star of “The Guild”, Felicia Day. These two women are strong willed, have shown great initiative in their respective spaces, and have become pioneers and tastemakers in the fields of Journalism & New Media.

How have women influenced and changed the face of technology as we know it? This includes anything even remotely tech related, whether it be Journalism, Gaming, PR, Marketing, Social media, & more. Are there any famous cases of companies or brands that have seen great success due to Women in Technology? What issues as a Girl in Tech have you had to face? What issues have other women who’ve made a major impact in technology had to face on their paths to success? What would you tell younger or newer women entering the tech space to help them overcome these hurdles and encourage growth of the amount of women in the tech field?

Why are women in tech important to you, or the Tech Space in general?
I hope this post serves as some great food for thought, & would love to hear everyone’s thoughts and discussion (preferably in the comments below) about this!

Thanks!

September 28, 2009
7:00 pm	to	9:30 pm

We all know someone who shares too much — that girl who tells the whole office about her bad breakup or the guy who insists on going into gory detail about his latest extreme exploits. But most of us know when to draw the line when it comes to lunchtime discussions at the office, chats around the water cooler or meetings with management. It’s a lesson most people learned way back in the days of bologna and bag lunches: different people merit different kinds of discussions. You wouldn’t tell the playground bully the same deep dark secrets you’d spill to your best friend, and you definitely wouldn’t let the teacher in on the stuff you were passing notes about during class. From our first experiences with socialization, we’ve been conditioned to understand the unspoken societal rules that dictate what’s appropriate to share, when it’s appropriate to share it and who it’s appropriate to share it with.

But, social media is a whole different ballgame – especially now. At first, it was easy to know when to share what on the web. Your facebook friends often mirrored your real world friends, and it was easy to insure that the things you shared with those friends didn’t also get broadcast to your boss, your parents and your future potential employers. Now, with cracks beginning to show in the walls around Facebook’s garden, and the burgeoning open web movement connecting your tweets with your status updates, your blips with your blog, it’s become a lot harder to ensure that what you say on the web stays between friends.

So, how do you protect your professional brand while still staying true to your personal identity? How do you maintain a presence on the social web that complements your career goals instead of impeding them? How do you balance a personal web brand with a professional one? These are just a few of the questions we’re just beginning to grapple with as girls in tech — and as the tech industry as a whole. Lately, it seems like every blogger and big name pundit is issuing their own treatise on the topic, and a google search for “tech etiquette” returns over 6 million results, with articles from big names like CNN and Forbes just to name a few.

Clearly, this is one discussion where everyone has an opinion. So, how do you synthesize all of those opinions into a strategy – not just for your company but for yourself? How do you balance the demands of constant connectivity and personal and professional courtesy? And how do you figure out what the right answer is for you? Those are tricky questions, but they are quickly proving to be key components in determining the best social media strategy for yourself and for your brand.

Fortunately, you don’t have to grapple with these issues alone. Since this is a topic on everyone’s minds at the moment, Girls in Tech LA is hosting a discussion about all of these issues and more on September 28th. The event, called “Tech Etiquette – How Much Can you Say Online and Not Tarnish Your Brand” will feature a discussion by the following guest speakers:

*Marsha Collier – Author of 15 “For Dummies” books on ebay/commerce, Host: KTRB Computer & Technology Radio

*Lynn Langit – West Coast Developer Evangelist, Microsoft

*Brette Borow – Founder, GirlsGuideTo.com

Event Details

When: September 28th 7 – 9:30PM

Where: Fox Audience Network

2500 Broadway, 2^nd Floor

Learn More & RSVP

Hope to see everyone there!

Internet today brings all corners of the world to your fingertips. Learn what Susie Q is doing in New York City via her Twitter account – or what Barack Obama’s travel agenda is the first week in May. How are we able to parse through such a labyrinth and volume of information to get to the heart of good and solid information we seek? This is how I do so in three easy steps:

1. Outsource.
a. Register for daily updates via Google using Google Alerts on any topic you’re seeking to become more knowledgeable.
b. Follow the Leader: Identify industry or topic experts and connect with them: on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and their blogs.  Ask them questions – they are responsive – trust me. If they’re not, you have nothing to lose.

2. Network.
a. Use the internet via social and professional websites to seek out industry conferences and events. Attend them!
b. Seek out academics in the area – go to university websites and search by department.  Academics are a good resource for interesting insight and know of great resources, groups and materials you can reference.  In summary: Look up academic leaders on university websites, email them and ask them your questions.

3. Have Conviction.
a. Take on a do-it-yourself attitude. The more interest and passion you exhibit, the more successful you will become at (1) and (2) above.
b. Learn it, Act upon it. Use the information and share it with your friends, colleagues and connections via your personal and professional blog, website, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. The more you let your interest be known, the more interesting and/or important information will come back to you.

While conducting a google search is always a good fallback plan, the more I’ve employed the above three steps to work for me, the better off I find my information and position to become an authority on those topics. The internet today isn’t just a sea of information – it’s a wealth of it. Make it work for you!

March 26, 2009
6:30 pm	to	9:30 pm

We are excited to connect, empower and inspire all women in the technology industry here in the silicon forest. Portland is one of the coolest metropolitan areas who have done a great job attracting high tech start up and other computer technology company including Intel, IBM, Tektronix and everything in between. Did you know that Portland is also named the #1 green city by Yahoo Green? Well, speak no more… Girls In tech is creating a presence locally for all PDX’ers to network among the brightest men and women.

Introductions::

I am Ivo Lukas, the managing director for GIT Portland chapter. Most recently, we’ve announced our chapter launch in mid January of 2009. Ever since the launch, the Portland team have been busy on planning our event calendar for 2009. In the past few weeks, we have been working on securing venues, sponsorships, lectures, workshop, networking mixer etc… Be sure to join us on Facebook, GIT Portland chapter , regarding upcoming events and info. Also, if you would like to get involved, don’t hesitate to drop me an email ivo@girlsintech.net

Be sure to join us in Portland for our first event launch and social networking mixer get together:

RSVP through Facebook or send me an email ivo@girlsintech.net

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the event!!!