So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu to Ada Lovelace Day Live

Ada Lovelace Day, 9 October 2018, at the IET.

Photography by Tracy Howl, sponsored by Clarivate. Via Paul Clarke on Flickr.

I've just read the news that the long-running Ada Lovelace Day and campaign is closing its doors. Founder, Suw Charman-Anderson explains the demise in a blog post over on Facebook. I hadn't realised how much DEI work in STEM in particular had closed. Alas, this is a sign of the times. I am sad that the term 'DEI - diversity, equality, inclusion' is now toxic. It's time to reframe it so we can do the same work without the baggage that some associate with the term. Just because large corporates are dismantling their DEI efforts, it doesn't mean the work is over.

As for STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics), yes it's important. But it's even better if you add the A for Art to make STEAM. I'd rather be steaming ahead than a wilting stem. Maybe that's a personal bias given my passion for the arts as well as technology. I'd like to think it's more about having well-rounded people creating and managing systems, processes and software that humans can actually use. There is an art to most science, no?

And as for events, it's a tough time. Without question, live business events have not recovered fully post-pandemic. There is a whole generation of workers who started their work life in 'work-from-home' mode and never experienced the benefits of learning by osmosis by being with the right people in the room. And more so, they have not had the same exposure to live knowledge and networking events early enough in their careers.

Don't get me wrong, working remotely can be great and I have routinely worked this way for 20 years. Most of that time, however, I was also going to networking events, probably at least two a month. And at times, it was probably two a week in the early noughties. Networking in person was crucial for me to build my network and to learn from others - not just from speakers or panellists, but the other people in attendance.

It feels like everything has become more transactional - I do this for you and you do this for me in return. Unfortunately, real life and work are not like that. The returns you get for spending time developing relationships in business and/or spending time learning may take many years to reap rewards. Those who view networking as purely transactional are missing the point. It's not who you know, it's who knows you. It's about building your personal brand. It's about learning from others. It's about developing your communication skills.

So yes, I'm sad that Ada Lovelace Day is the latest to close its doors, but I can't say I'm surprised. I also think it's important to recognise that knowing when to quit is also a great skill and a huge challenge - more so when your work is mission-led.

I hope we'll see a future iteration of ALD and wish Suw Charman-Anderson every success in whatever comes next.

Friday Tidbits

I’ve been neglecting my blog in favour of Facebook and I think it’s time to get back to my blog and give it some tlc. I’m going to start with an easy post listing some things I’ve been reading and thinking about lately. So here goes...

Jakob Nielsen talks sense about UX in the corporate world. The older readers among you will no doubt remember Mr Nielsen from the early days of the web and his seminal book Designing Web Usability – The Practice of Simplicity. Well, he’s still around and still dishing out sound advice such as in this podcast and interview about how to tackle usability in the corporate world.

Male exec gets it completely wrong on diversity within the ad industry and has to resign his very senior and very well paid role within global ad agency. Read all about it here.

Brexit – A story in maps. This article is fascinating whichever way you did or didn’t vote. It’s not nearly as clear cut as we might have thought and the picture is more complex than London, Northern Ireland and Scotland are in and the rest of the UK voted out. It depends on which way you cut and interpret the data for a much more nuanced view. I don’t envy Theresa May and the job she has on her hands right now.

A great read on burnout here – a modern day and very real affliction. “Burnout is not simply a symptom of working too hard. It is also the body and mind crying out for an essential human need: a space free from the incessant demands and expectations of the world. In the consulting room, there are no targets to be hit, no achievements to be crossed off. The amelioration of burnout begins in finding your own pool of tranquility where you can cool off’.”

Are women invisible?

And if so, what can we, the mobile industry, do about it?

I've recently written about the lack of female speakers at Informa's upcoming Mobile Web conference. I've also been alerted that the Mobile Marketing Association's forthcoming conference in Budapest (also run by Informa) lacks female visibility. And then I discovered that the Mobile Web Megatrends conference is also suffering the same problem.

Why so few women speakers, panellists or moderators?

And don't tell me this is representative of the industry because I know it isn't - we have good female representation at Mobile Mondays, more women come to Swedish Beers now (and growing) and the women in the Women in Mobile Data Association are plentiful! I even hear along the grapevine that the MMA has a strong female contingent.

And yes, this is a particular bugbear of mine. But with good reason. So bear with me.

I'm fed up to the back teeth of conference organisers and their sponsors ignoring women in the mobile industry (Informa being a recent obvious culprit, but they are certainly not alone) and coming up with lame excuses as to why women aren't involved. And many of these events are actually organised by women which makes it even worse. Do women still defer to men? Do women need a license to speak up?

I'm not a bra-burning feminist by any stretch of the imagination. But come on, this is the 21st Century and we've had the vote a while now. Women make 80% of buying decisions, women are more prolific on the internet than men, women are driving social networking - why aren't they (we) visible at potentially game-changing events where real decisions are made about all our digital futures, when potentially, it will probably impact most on women's day to day lives than men's.

I don't expect to get to 50/50 but to get to 25% visibility would be a start and not unreasonable I'd have thought. Or am I deluded here?

And don't give me the comment 'well if it's a choice between a man and a woman speaker and the man's the better qualified speaker then we choose the man' because in *most* cases in my 8 year experience of attending mobile conferences and events, there are few 'brilliant' speakers on the circuit at all - male or female - so there isn't usually an issue of having to choose between them. And with different formats, different styles of speakers get a chance to shine and therefore it encourages diversity.

It still feels like women are pretty much invisible and that the mobile industry is still very much a boy's club. [And yes, I know it's not just the mobile industry - I can only tackle one sector at a time!]

So..

1. Do we need to rethink event formats to make them more accessible to women? And if so, what are those formats?

2. How do we boost the confidence of female participants so that they say yes more times than they say no when asked to contribute as a speaker, panellist, moderator, whatever?

3. How do we encourage women to take networking and conferencing at this level seriously and make it a core part of their jobs rather than something they do once in a blue moon?

4. How do we encourage companies to put women forward as speakers as often as, or sometimes instead of the men in their companies?

5. How do women network differently (particularly married women) and how do we incorporate male and female styles of networking at events without resorting to separatism or golf days for the boys and spa days for the girls? (Much as I enjoy a spa, I don't really fancy networking with other women whilst in a dressing gown. Where would I put my business cards, phone and notebook anyway? And it does just confirm existing stereotypes and ridicules them. Why don't we just have a shoe-shopping expedition?!)

As a woman, you might think I qualify to answer these questions. Unfortunately, I don't suffer from a fear or reticence of speaking at events. I don't work for a big company so I don't have a glass ceiling to break through (I've experienced it in the past though), so I don't necessarily understand some of what's going on here and why these problems persist or what to do about them. In many cases, women themselves, are ensuring these problems persist so I'm not laying the blame solely on men here.  It's deeply culturally embedded so I know it's not a simple issue. Therefore, I'm particularly interested to hear others views and perceptions - and that's from men *and* women please!

I do believe this is a problem. And I do think we can change it for the better if we want to and hope that if I keep piping up about it, something positive will happen.

Some further links here too (and it's worth looking at the comments and links to other posts to get the full picture):

http://technokitten.blogspot.com/2008/08/ilovemobileweb-awards-should-be-renamed.html

http://technokitten.blogspot.com/2008/08/ever-wanted-to-know-gender-and-age.html

I also spotted this upcoming group 'Needs Women Speakers' who are naming and shaming conferences who need more female speakers, and there's an accompanying blog post.

And I've started the discussion on the Oxford Forum too in the hope we may make some progress and find a way forward from this.

And Jason Kottke has been talking about diversity at web industry conferences and some of them are suffering the same problem - although many have healthy female coverage, showing that it is possible.

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