Ada Initiative news July 2012

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Welcome to the Ada Initiative's news!
As an existing supporter of the Ada Initiative
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6fIA3IAUFYGP1V3BG...],
a non-profit organization increasing the participation and status of women in open
technology and culture, we welcome you to our new outreach list and hope you will
enjoy news from the Ada Initiative, together with finding out how you can support
women in open tech and culture!
- Valerie Aurora and Mary Gardiner, founders, the Ada Initiative
Help the Ada Initiative!

You can help with the Ada Initiative's work
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6dmbnmMLifMVtCu8X...]
,  which is funded by our generous donors and sponsors. You can make a  difference
for women in open tech and culture: support us by  making a donation
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6eRc-dNPBZuEzRVH-...]
or  becoming a sponsor
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6eiWcwqVPRxG7nfxF...]
today!

July: AdaCamp DC, Wikimania keynote and West Coast meetups!
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AdaCamp DC

Our second AdaCamp
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6cQEY3nVpi1oGMhgv...]
was held over two days in Washington DC for 100 attendees from around the world.
Photo: Adam Novak
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Wikimania keynote

Co-founder Mary Gardiner gave a very successful keynote
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6eO8wXj6j_X39uLrZ...],
"Fostering diversity", to over 1400 attendees at the Wikimania conference.
Photo: Alejandro Linares Garcia CC BY-SA
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Ada supporter meetups

We held the first Ada Initiative meetup in San Francisco, followed by a meetup for
 Google employees the following day.
Photo: Adam Novak
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AdaCamp DC: building community and fighting burnout and impostor syndrome

"I  started camp wondering what open source tech shared in common with  gnomes, 
to discovering the wonderful GNOME project which encourages  women to learn code
 and create their "first patch". Talk about shock and  awe :0. I'm leaving with 
new tools like IRC, bug trackers and mentor  lists..." - Leslie Birch

AdaCamp is an unconference for women in open technology and culture and the people
who support them. 100 people attended the second AdaCamp
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6cQEY3nVpi1oGMhgv...]
on July 10 - 11, 2012 in Washington, DC. Attendees ca,e from at least 10 countries
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6e0lAtDcAQYoDSBnz...],
including Japan, India, Myanmar, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Australia, the UK, Canada,
and the US.

"It  was AWESOME. I arrived at AdaCamp well aware that I am currently burnt  out
 and have difficulty setting boundaries, but I had no idea... how many  other women
have experienced similar issues and therefore have useful  advice. I feel as if 
I've returned to my regular life with dramatically  increased motivation and clarity.
Thank you!" - Anonymous

We ran over 65 sessions over 2 days. Session topics included Hands on Hacking
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6fvUcgvQ5fHwKTvwh...],
Geek Moms
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6dwxn6hs30-Ous6KO...],
Women Editing Wikipedia
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6fjVRUNiBx00eOXzg...],
Burnout and Lifehacking
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6eQQ4RfRTDjAJiASV...],
Fandom, Feminism & Social Change
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6eOh0jG47O6LJk7JL...],
Soft Circuits
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6dv5MuOkE8ufb7gg4...],
Job Seeker/We're Hiring!
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6fz0qBJzab6kE8bkp...],
and Feminist Hackathons
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6cT43qhva65XbJUeA...],
to name just a few. In total, over 40 of the sessions were documented on PiratePad
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6dM9ZIsc1bPjaBa9A...].

If you couldn't make it to AdaCamp DC, but are interested in  attending future AdaCamps
or other Ada Initiative events, please  subscribe to the Ada Initiative blog
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6fIA3IAUFYGP1V3BG...]
or subscribe to Ada Initiative email announcements
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6fdW8Gzmnz44yQX-Z...].

The Ada Initiative thanks our AdaCamp DC sponsors for making the event possible.
 Thank you to our Gold level sponsor the Wikimedia Foundation
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6cZP92763UNvbKxnJ...].
Thank you to our Silver level sponsors: the Linux Foundation
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6fot6CLiT7DEHusIw...],
Intel
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6cg2yWkLWQkt5okGd...],
Facebook
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6e8nLyClfaPXwfREc...],
Red Hat
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6fXO1Ty-ZHrjFl_8J...],
Collabora
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6eChTnqTpVzA6lXEY...]
and Yammer
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6fa-ArtKyz1Fpce2j...].

Mary Gardiner's Wikimania keynote: Fostering diversity

On July 12, Ada Initiative co-founder Mary Gardiner
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6eJWNJf6nCAdEfHQa...
gave the opening keynote
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6efU1rYpKqTwP-GtH...]
to Wikimania 2012
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6cHBAEgpV64C9HHsH...],
 the world's largest conference for Wikipedia and related projects. Over  1400 people
were in attendance, including several hundred people  attending the co-located Tech@State
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6e0OUrH7F0a9abfsZ...]
conference. The keynote was part of articles in Slate
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6cArO-JbY1ZNEgXwf...],
The Verge
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6ehVn-S4c2Hnh8Zlq...],
and Wikinews
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6eP62sdF7TOO44C0j...].

The title of the keynote was "Fostering diversity - not a boring  chore, a critical
opportunity." In it, Mary described how various social  change movements around 
the globe increased diversity in their ranks,  and what they gained from it. While
the Wikipedia community is not first  and foremost a social change movement, "free
access to the sum of all  human knowledge" is an almost unimaginably strong force
for social  change, and many Wikipedians see their work in that light. Diversity
 is  an important part of that goal; as Mary puts it, "To incorporate the sum  of
human knowledge you have to incorporate the sum of humans."

Mary outlined several ways to improve diversity. People often fear  that creating
communities for underrepresented groups within a project  leads to isolation and
 drop-outs, when the opposite is true. "The more  you encourage people retain parts
of their identity that are important  to them, in my case as a woman, the more you
enhance their other  identity as a Wikipedian." Extending invitations specifically
to  underrepresented groups, such as the GNOME Outreach Program for Women,  is effective
for many reasons. "It is the Wikipedia community that has  the power that to reach
out to the powerless rather than the other way  around."

The video is not yet available, but the slides are available from Wikimedia Commons
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6fFq9fsjnaUm8rf2l...]
and the Wikinews story
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6cU1T9RDO2UE4IE8q...]
includes extensive notes from the keynote
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6f7HwjXt7VcIRQ8Fk...]
as well as audio-only recordings
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6e_ej856vXdf877ca...].

Selena Deckelmann's first month as Consulting Director of Development

Ada Initiative advisor and open source expert Selena Deckelmann joined us as Consulting
Director of Development
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6d4vK878-KQlaOJya...]
from July 1.

Selena has worked on a huge number of projects in her first month  with us including
developing our plans for funding mix and reviewing our  fundraising strategy; reviewing
our fundraising materials; helping us  prioritize our programs; and connecting with
our donors and discussing  our programs and our path from here with them. It's been
amazingly  helpful to have Selena focussed on the organization's long term plans
  while we worked hard on AdaCamp DC and our other events in July.

Thank  you Selena!

Meetups in San Francisco and at Google

On July 16, we held our first Ada Initiative meetup, in San  Francisco. Ada Initiative
co-founders Mary Gardiner and Valerie Aurora,  and Consulting Director of Development
Selena Deckelmann enjoyed meeting  old and new Ada Initiative friends.

Mary and Valerie also met some of the Ada  Initiative supporters among Google employees
the following day at lunch  on Google's Mountain View campus. Thank you for all 
your thoughts on our  work, and thanks again for your generosity, your donations
 in 2011  collectively made the Google employee gift-matching program our second
  Bronze sponsor!

Ada Initiative advisors in the news

In addition to Mary's Wikimania keynote, two of our advisors
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6enuW3DeGr2QCh6O7...]
also gave keynote talks in July!


1. Sarah Stierch gave a keynote entitled "The Visual Experience - Gender and Ways
of Seeing Wikimedia"
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6daisjOsSVyWzTiAL...]
at Wikipedia Academy in Berlin; and
2. Alex "Skud" Bayley's keynote was "What's Next? From Open Source to Open Everything"
(for which, see her 2011 blog post on moving from open source to "open stuff"
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6ceIViKG9Tkw0bPBh...])
at the GNOME Users And Developers' European Conference (GUADEC) in A Coruña.

During her trip to GUADEC, Skud also launched a new open source project for home
 and community gardeners
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6f-fMLygaBkWfK7nw...]
gathering information about planting times, seed sources and other resources.

Francesca Coppa was a radio guest on Heresay Culture on Stanford University's KZSU-FM.
She was also interviewed for Thanks to fan fiction, we get Harriet Potter and erotic
Twilight
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6flDqewiAVvWpGgs2...],
in the Kansas Star Ledger and Original Fiction In All The 'Shades' Of Fandom
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6cD3v2bDjLvW31LqG...]
on NPR's Morning Edition.

At Wikimania, Sue Gardner gave her customary overview of the  Wikimedia Foundation's
activities: "Wikimedia Foundation: The Year In  Review and The Year Ahead", her 
slides
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6cN3Sb1AXYw34bPjQ...]
are available from Wikimedia Commons. Sarah Stierch also made several appearances
at Wikimania, including her 10 Women in 10 minutes
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6fMPzuH8MqfjhI7wO...]
hack-a-thon and the Wikimedia Community Fellows panel
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6cOErFBITW0VyV4op...].

Sarah Stierch was successfully nominated to become an administrator of English Wikipedia
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6ewZKOJS1iuGtTdsr...]
with over 200 Wikipedians supporting her nomination.

Upcoming events for women in open technology and culture

See our calendar
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6di8BP5lszQzqOcf3...]
for a full listing, and submit any additional events to share@adainitiative.org 
[mailto:share@adainitiative.org]].

Sponsorship opportunities

Instant sponsorship of the Ada Initiative is available through our Venture Philanthropist
sponsorship program
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6cqe32OtGEjAdEbuj...]
for sponsorship amounts between $2000 and $9999 (USD) with a minimum of hassle. 
Other donations
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jzXKuO2ao6dZXrXIfJ_euCyXRq...]
of $500 or more are eligible for Supporting Sponsor recognition.

Contact sponsors@adainitiative.org [mailto:sponsors@adainitiative.org] for larger
sponsorship packages.

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