DotFiveOne - One Year Later
On May 1st of last year, I launched .51 in an attempt to find a little inspiration. I posted six times that day, including an interview with tech dynamo Sarah Sharp, a Portishead album review (yes, an actual *album*), and a Women In Engineering newsletter summary - all items I thought would be of interest to other geeky women like me.
The last 365+ days have included over 250 posts, seven interviews, over a dozen projects and more than 200 tags. I’ve learned about so many women doing so many things that I’ve begun using my own site as a research reference.
What’s worked? The most important thing I did for this site had nothing to do with the site at all. One interview led to the discovery of Code-n-Splode, and the women I’ve met at those meetings have led me to an even larger community of like-minded techie folks. I met new folks at OSCON, at TechShop, at Beer and Blog - spending hours in front of my computer has led me to spending more time mixing it up socially with other geeks. The most remarkable result - aside from having more info about geeky women to post here - was that I summoned the courage to submit a proposal to Open Source Bridge, and was accepted. A year ago, I don’t think I would have imagined giving a talk at a conference. This June, I get to do exactly that!
Let me make a quick plug for “Every Day Is Ada Lovelace Day” and thank some specific people for their help and encouragement over the last year: Sarah Sharp, Rikki Kite, and all the folks at Code-n-Splode. (Big thanks to Jamey Sharp and Andrew Greenberg for more of the same.) Every one of you is greatly appreciated!
What *hasn’t* worked? Trying to post an interview every week was a nearly impossible task, and not because I couldn’t find interview subjects. I simply couldn’t find the time to give the interviews the attention they deserved. At times, I’ve felt that I didn’t adequately convey to people what I’m trying to accomplish with this site. Last year at the Linux Plumbers Conference, I tried to explain what I was doing to some of the women in attendance, and when I didn’t get the elevator pitch right, someone said, “It’s a blog.” To me (of course), it’s more than that.
What’s next?
More interviews (yay!), more projects and more event coverage. Most importantly, I’d like to see more women submitting their thoughts to dotFiveOne. Alex McFerron, Gloria W. and Amberella all shared their work during Year One, but my goal is to get many more women posting their geeky stuff here!
As for what geeky women will be doing over the next year, I can only speak for myself. I will be:
- Launching a rocket as part of the Portland State Aerospace Society
- Presenting “Faking It Til I Make It: A Woman On The Fringe Of Open Source” as part of the Open Source Bridge conference
- Attending a Silicon Valley event geared toward women bloggers
- Planning to attend LinuxCon 2009, Balls18, LinuxFest NW 2010, and probably much more
- Exploring more in the world of ham radio
- Graduating from Portland State University with an Electrical Engineering degree
That’s what I’m doing. I can’t wait to see what the rest of you are up to.
Related posts:
- Open Source Bridge: Wednesday Afternoon Update
- WomenInOpenSource: ROSE Blog Celebrates A Year
- Latest Linux Journal: Sarah Sharp On Rockets!
- Linux Plumbers Conference: Familiar Faces In New Surroundings
- Open Source Bridge: 10 Reasons Why I’m Going
May 4th, 2009 at 7:44 am
Congrats on a great year! Today I’ll eat a cupcake (or two) in your honor. Best wishes for your second fabulous and exciting year!