[Web4lib] Code4lib 2008 Minority Scholarship

[K.G. Schneider]

The most meaningful comments about this thread occurred elsewhere, in the
vein of "that's why I'm not on Web4Lib any longer." 

As a woman who has worked in one male-dominated profession and faced the
legion challenges of being a woman in technology (which is a male-dominated
subfield in librarianship), I will never apologize for being a feminist, or
for supporting affirmative action with respect to women in technology. If I
am seen as divisive for objecting to white men complaining about
scholarships for women and minorities, so be it. 

Yesterday's thread, like so many threads of its ilk, was started, managed,
and concluded by men. In this case, it's probably not because women are
unable to defend their positions, but more likely because the majority of
the women have by and large left the room. The wonder is not that only two
women actually participated in yesterday's discussion, but that we even
bothered. Q.V. Caveat Lector:

http://cavlec.yarinareth.net/archives/2007/12/19/my-shoes-walk-in-them/ 

I'm personally very fond of the Code4Lib community, but I acknowledge
Dorothea's experience, as well. I hope I conducted myself with élan at
Code4Lib, where I keynoted this year, and I believe there were more women
than the previous year. But please be aware that even when the experience
goes well, it takes a huge amount of energy to participate in an
male-dominant environment, all the time wondering if I'm going to reflect
well on myself and on other women in technology, because when you're the
token, for better or worse, you represent everyone of your "kind." 

In re communication media for technology, I recently wondered on my blog if
mailing lists were last-century. The post had a respectable number of
responses:

http://freerangelibrarian.com/2007/11/07/email-lists-are-they-last-century/ 

Recently I have been writing about the trend toward modular, open,
service-oriented architecture. I wonder if this doesn't also apply
structurally to professional discussions. The key communication technology
of the 1990s was the mailing list, a humongous, turnkey silo managed by
sundry Dads and Moms. Today we see forums, blogs, ad-hoc Facebook groups,
other social networks... communication mechanisms with an entirely different
Zeitgeist, diffuse, decentralized, ad hoc, specialized. Better? Not for all
purposes — but it does provide alternatives where more, and more
interesting, voices are heard than on the Father-knows-best catch-all
discussion lists of yesteryear. 

K.G. Schneider
kgs at freerangelibrarian.com