Hacktivism - Software Freedom - Feminism

Checking the Youtube embedding with Drupal. Here is a link to the original movie. Ah, and if you don't know Foulab, don't hesitate to visit!

She's Geeky: A Technology Conference for Women will be taking place between 29 and 31 January, 2010 in Mountain View, California (US). Held in the Computer History Museum, She's Geeky promises to be an awsome event.

Among the proposed sessions can be found many interesting ideas: from technical skills, to management and transfer of knowledge, networking and philosophy around women and technology, children and computers, and the future.

Here are my favourites mixes:

• Linux, command-line, GIMP, programming, public speaking
• Ruby programming, Rails, ways to get more women into programming, teaching programming to kids
• Arduino!
• Do a startup boot camp or how to get more women into hardware electronics.
• genomics, future of intelligence
• problem-solving skills for IT/technology professionals (Strata)
• The challenges of introducing a disruptive technology to a regulated, conservative and emotion-driven industry.
• How to Self-publish a book to enhance your career
• Collaboration and Innovation Leadership
• How to engage young girls in embracing and loving STEM skills and an education that willprepare them for being movers and shakers in the tech industry

Meanwhile, among the hopes of learning some concrete skills, such as command line, Ruby or Python, future participants have provided interesting insights on their expectations - meet with like minded geek women, find someone to share thoughts in Bio Informatics, or exchanging knowledge related to using ICTs to advance human rights and social justice.

Overcoming challenges of being a woman and beeing a geek at the same time, is also an issue. All these prove the importance of a conference like She's Geeky. It is important sometimes to realise that this kind of events need to happen, that women geeks, a big minority amongh other geeks, need to discuss together, too. Here's a few testimonies:

• Ways to diversify our conference speaker rosters and attendees in general.
• Meet like minded people, how to get started if I wanted to open a brick-and-mortar, usinganalytics
• Networking with other female tech leaders, trading stories and techniques for managing at the executive level.
• Where today's women are going next
• Dealing with female stereotypes in executive meeetings.
• How to allow women to be women, AND be appreciated in these fields.
• How to handle and combat subtle sexist/homophobic comments in the workplace
• Paths to being an awesome girl geek: opportunities before and after college, etc.

Judging by the enthousiasm and the variety of activities and discussion topics, it proves one more time that initiatives like this one, meeting women with technologies, and with other women, are needed and appreciated.

So, there we go. The 11 of January was the birth of my thesis - completed and submitted. Almost 150 pages of work on the topic "Women's Contribution to Free and Open Source Software Development". In French*. Will upload the PDF soon online. For the English speaking readers, will probably have to wait for the articles I will be writing within the year. My idea for publishing a book (in English) will need a more structured research and connections. If anyone has ideas, please let me know :)

So, meanwhile in the agenda is PhD admission, fellowship application, waiting for the renewal of my residence card so that I can travel. Calls for papers, calls for participation. A long list of abandoned/postponed/stalled offers, requests, ideas, mini and multi tasks. And of course, the successful finalising of the two Drupal courses that I am giving at the moment. As the matters go further, the time to prepare raises. And the biggest contradiction to me is that I have abandoned my own Drupal website, while teaching 21 students to produce their own.

Will be more strict in the future and will be publishing here more often. So, don't give up!

* Just the fact that 5 years ago I did not speak a word of French might slightly give idea on what an effort this is. Not only from point of view of orthography correction, but also in terms of expression, of literature read and referenced means for me three times the effort.

Happy Holidays to everyone! I will happily use the Christmas time to graduate!

By Courtney Gibbons and her Brown Sharpie.

There is a significant difference when you stand up in front of two hundred people to give a single presentation or a lecture, and when you stand up in front of ten trainees, for giving a three months course. Especially an ICT course, where much of the time you have to be clicking on the right place and not making mistakes, because people use to panic, when noticing red alert messages. This latter, compared to the first, feels more like a relationship - long lasting, well planned, with predicted results. And actually, a long lasting knowledge that has to come out of all that.

I had the chance to read Matt Butcher's Drupal6 Javascript and jQuery published by Packt Publishing. So here is my short book review.

Many people, including myself, don't have wonderful memories of JavaScript. With a cryptic syntax and error messages, it didn't really do anything useful. If you're like me, don't let the title of the book scare you. The Drupal6 Javascript and jQuery does not talk a lot about JavaScript itself, it only makes a brief review of it, and moves on to an extensive coverage of jQuery and how to integrate it in a Drupal website. It assumes you are familiar with general programming concepts (such as PHP) but always makes short and clear descriptions of details specific to JavaScript.

Matt addresses the book to web designers and developers who are familiar with Drupal's basic operations. For example, the book does not include yet another Drupal install howto, but does provide a useful short review of Drupal essentials, from blocs to Firebug, to the Theme Developer module (chapter 1).

Designers only looking for quick recipes to integrate in their theme (chapter 3) may be a bit overwhelmed by the chapters that follow. They will, however, find all the necessary information to build original and useful web interfaces. Advanced designers should find the chapter on client side JavaScript theme engine interesting (chapter 6).

Developers should find everything they need in the book to create dynamic interfaces. There are good explanations of Drupal behaviours, Ajax (with JSON), the translation system (client side). It also includes good examples on how to create a jQuery plug-in.

Technically, the examples provided are realistic and useful. They do not try to reinvent the wheel and the examples make use of useful third party
projects. For example, a "new comment notifier" which is use to describe how to create dynamic events with Ajax makes good use of the "Views datasource" module. The sample code is technically correct and encourages the use of good programming practices.

Those who are not advanced programmers will get a good understanding of the code since the examples are usually shown in their full form, then the author cuts the code into smaller pieces to explain each concept in detail.

The only exception to this is the chapter on JavaScript theming (chapter 6). I had to read it twice before understanding the general idea. Some examples were not obvious at first glance and didn't look useful. For example, it presents a long example on how to create new theme placeholder functions, before showing quick examples on how to use existing functions provided by the JavaScript Theming module. I think it may have been more clear if this chapter was placed after the one on Ajax (chapter 7).

Overall, this is a useful book and a good reference. Aiming at experts, it is a good reference guide for people who are already familiar and work with Drupal. It is not one of the beginners' books, which can be found everywhere, but a good comprehensive guide for a more advanced knowledge building.

And finally, here is a PDF with chapter 2: Working with JavaScript in Drupal.

I must admit it's time to give up. The snow that fell in just a night time did not incite me a lot to use my bike on the next day. I think I will sponsor the public transport this winter, by profiting to read my Drupal books and taking it "easy".

However, I must admit I am particularly happy to see the snow falling. Winter is definitely my favourite season, where you see weather's real power. Also, you need to be more creative in what to do and use an iron will for things, including getting out.

I wonder if many people feel like this. You just get up, all filled with enthusiasm, coffee helps making you in form of action. You get in front of your screen, and here it is: distraction, world problems, friends' problems, more things to read... And then you open your chapter and... oufff.. not this again!

Via PhD Comics

Wondering what will life be after thesis...

Falling in love is an out of control feeling. Sometimes, you fall in love with an incompatible one. With the one you cannot be if you reasonably think of. Sometimes this one can be defective by design. But love is blind.

You guessed it. I fell in love with an iPhone. Smart, quick, portable, interactive, connected iPhone. What wouldn't be the feeling of being connected everywhere, at any time, at any moment. To have all your gadgets into one: camera, music, recorder, files, e-mail, twitter, browser, book, encyclopedia, notebook, and many more. No more heavy laptops, no fear of battery lose, of internet stop, electricity failure. No more server emergencies, no more connecting from the near-by parking. Going to the countryside will be a different experience. No offline moments, no cutting yourself from civilisation.

OK, so what is the price for all that? First of all, it IS expensive. The lowest price is 200$ + 75$/month for 3 years. The guarantee, however, of this thin and yet fragile gadget is 1 year. So, even if it breaks after 1 year and 1 month (this is Apple, after all!), you still pay the 75$ for 3 years. This makes a total of 3000$ in the end.

What about privacy? No way! First of all, I am profiting of the fact I live without a mobile phone. My appointments are fixed, and I live in piece. I disconnect Friday to reconnect Monday morning. No matter what I do, I need this privacy myself. Disconnecting from Internet, does not stop me from working hard in the weekends, which I still have not managed to fight.

What about compatibility with my system (GNU/Linux)? Freedom of formats, of content... Forget about it. Not even iTunes under Linux. And something even more - they can connect to my phone at any time, and if I am doing something "illegal", they will find out. So, no hacking please! This machine might be expensive and pretty, but will remain "a black box" for its users.

I can't help it. I like this one too much. I keep looking at it and laughing, and thinking, and wondering. This is too simple to bring so much sense to me. Like everything else that is simple. So, here it is And so on, created by Jessica Hagy.

Anyone who has the chance, including me next time I order books from Amazon, get her book Indexed.

I am changing these days. My mind is changing, and my thoughts - with it. I think it is my MA thesis which is changing me. Each day I discover new things around women's contribution to FOSS development, which is sometimes difficult to explain, but is tempting to make it heard by more people. This is why preparing a speech is a birth of a new challenge. It cannot be done months before it is given. And instead of doing my slides in the plane, I kept working on my research. Because the more I advance into the issue, the more what I will talk about will be new. And the more it is new, the more it is passionate. And by presenting it to other people, will make me advance with the research.

Every hacker conference confirms things, and opens up for some new thoughts. My point of view seems rare, since I am into three things at the same time: I do hacktivism, I do feminism, and I do research on these both things. Well, going to hack conferences is the rarest of the conference topics I actually do. More often I get the chance to go to academics ones, where I need to define what is FOSS, what is “women” and what is “contribution”. Then to ones on women rights and feminism (need to introduce information and communication technologies through FOSS). As for me, the hacktivism ones are my favourite ones. These really touch to so many issues I do not get the chance to hear about elsewhere then at the presentations.

Dear Mr.Mayor,

Just a week after re-electing you, you had to show your real nature. So, why now the Canal Lachine, the natural historic site of Canada is closed for the winter? Life does not end in winter. Neither do walks, winter sports and biking. There is not even snow yet, it's only November.

Emptying the water from this famous canal the city is proud of is also a good thing. It is really interesting (and rather disgusting) to know what it REALLY consists of. It is always good to see things in all their seasons and phases. So, here are some dirty photos to your attention. Please feel free to use, copy and to give them to your friends and sympathisers. You might also wish putting some of the wall. You can do so, they are all licensed under Creative Commons.

I got a number of friends who live in Facebook, and I have always refused to join, because of waste of time, of conflict with privacy and with personal discomfort to be part of it. This time, a friend of mine, who is not on any other networks or communication channels, but actively updating on FB... might have to convince me. Here is this comics from this morning, which is not really helping the cause:

In translation it would say something like:
- It's awful, I have 5 000 friends on Facebook. This is the maximum I can have, not even one more!
- Five thousand out of 7 billion... it is terrible to think of all those friends forever lost.

Comics by Xavier Gorce, coming from Les Indégivrables.

Here is my freaky statistics. I just counted that for the 4 trips I did this year, I have jumped on and off 17 planes! Having in mind I am in my low travelling mode, with a still young kid and with thesis to take care of. What about past years, when I would travel almost each month?

In the past 10 years, I have visited at least 35 countries, some of which more than 5 times. Roughly counting, I have catched more than 2 planes to go overseas and to longer destinations. This makes approximately 13 countries * 4 = 52, the multiple visits make at least 32*2=64, and there are the direct flights 20*2=40. In total, this makes around 156 flights. However, I am not sure it is not much more than that. I just have a short memory for this type of things.

Oh, boarding time! Need to go.

In the past 6 nights, I have done no more than 17 hours of sleep, including the power naps in some of the planes. This makes less than 3hrs per night. So what did this produce as negative effects? Well, bad concentration and paleness. Bad quality presentations. Forgetting personal belongings. Eating once a day. Drinking too much coffee. Moments of falling asleep while people demand my attention, and sleepless hours in bed, when emptiness is stronger than anything else and not allowing me to close my eyes.

As for the positive effects (yes, there's been some!), it resulted into: too much communication (sometimes till 4-5h in the morning). Pretty clear mind for almost 20hrs per day. A lot of work done on my masters thesis (mainly in the nights). Not that much work done on my presentations. I remembered names and faces easily this time (surprisingly). Memory worked also quite well (with several exceptions). No hunger felt all day long but no exhaustion or whatsoever either. No bad mood, and in fact too much laughing. I have been having great fun at FSCONS, with so many people! :)

So, what about my presentations? As for the first one, I have not much memory. The reason: a 1,5 hrs of sleep (went to bed at 6 am) and scheduled for the afternoon, when I was quite dead. Ah, and too much coffee to keep me awaken. As for the second one, at 9 am, it went a bit better, since I just woke up from 3hrs sleep. But this one started slower, since I did not dare to have any coffee beforehand. So, my brain was still deeply asleep, until a moment, where I remembered it was my passionate subject, so from then on - fiiiuuu!

Anyway, all that I can say is that no matter of the weird circumpstances (this has never happened before!), I still got a very and only positive feedback for my talks. Not only this, but also some really great questions and points of views. Actually, the audience was really positive and interested in the subject.

And one more thing for my note: the quantity of presentations (implications) lowers their quality. I have had 4 presentations to do from 6 to 15 of November, all of which on completely different subjects, and never done before. In addition, I have had severe deadlines with articles and thesis, and a new Drupal course to prepare for each week. This all have played rather exhausting.