Bloggers Predict: 2008
So last night, the good people of Unlimited Potential held their annual Bloggers Predict event, in which they get a bunch of guys (emphasis on the all maleness of the event) to say what they think is going to happen over the year.
The Bloggers
- David Farrar, of Kiwiblog fame
- Mauricio Freitas, Geekzone Guru
- Hamish MacEwan, local visionary
- Philip Fierlinger, turntable technologist
- Tom Beard, Wellurbanite
No doubt those nice people will post about what their predictions were, so let me instead tell you what my predictions are, and then after the jump, I will share with you my thoughts on the night in note form.
My predictions
- Hopefully they'll try harder to get a woman on the panel. "They're all at the Linux Conference" is not good enough, because while I do love Brenda, turns out that there actually are other females interested in technology in Wellington. I suppose they could argue that no women approached them in 2007 about doing it, but meh.
- Face to face contact will make a comeback, facilitated by internet arrangements, like Facebook Events, etc. The stigma of meeting someone over the internet will be almost entirely gone.
- All new workplace Codes of Conduct will specifically mention blogging
After the jump, my nonsensical (did I mention there was free beer?) notes from the night.
- DPF "peaks too early". Heh heh heh.
- There is Economy Brand toiletpaper in the ladies. Did they have to buy it in special for the night because they are not used to having women around? To me Chamber of Commerce = Stonecutters guild because I am a dirty leftie. Also: aren't the Chamber of Commerce supposed to be rich? Why aren't I wiping my ass on minks?
- No one is following the rules and talking about Wellington!
- Heckling = fun
- Peter Jackson for mayor says DPF. ABK!
- America Guy all crazy & wacky ideas
- There's a guy with a fountain pen. Really? In 2008? At an internet thing?
- Fuck you buddy, Lego IS intelligent!
- TOM FOR MAYOR
- My wishlist: geeks learn English - apostrophes and hyphens etc.
- Wellington =/= Auckland, but Wellingtonista <3 Aucklandista
- Car drivers = C U Next Tuesdays!
- You're not my best friend EITHER Tom!
- Can't fit products into tight pants. Mmmm tight pants. "Is that an iPhone in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?"
- Tom "...Mighty Mighty.." Geek "Where?"
- So many snorting laughs
- National + Maori party? BULLSHIT!
If in fact my list doesn't make it clear, I had a rather fun time and talked to nice new people who knew who I was. It provided me with an endless source of amusement as well when one woman asked me, "woman to woman" if I was in love with Tom, because I had been cheering loudly for him. Quite apart from the fact that I always cheer loudly for all my friends (see: Martha at Mini Webstock, all the categories I cared about at the AWAs), I actually agreed with most things he said. Hurrah!
And Tom, love to know how your "me-and-my-ilk*-centric" vision of Wellington CBD goes down, keep us informed ... somehow ;-)
*
Bum - the footnote should've read:
* less than 35-40, single, childless, working in the CBD, "live in the CBD" and only use the apartment as a "crash pad", $s to spend ... me about 10 years ago ;-)
partially my fault.. I said i'd send them a list of female bloggers from wellington.. and then i didn't. *whoops*. I also know they asked a few women who declined.
Women bloggers in Wellington? check out these
styler http://ellipse.vox.com
johubris http://hubris.co.nz
sandy http://sandy.terapad.com
and there's a bunch more "anonymous" blogs out there that are clearly women. .. e.g. http://soylentred.geek.nz
and a there's always the livejournal community for wellington
http://community.livejournal.com/wellingtonnz/
mmm. clearly it was FAIL for my google foo, as well as holidaze and some other really good excuses! ;) Not your fault Brenda.
With UP female membership creeping past 25% in the last year under my watch, I was hoping to see a couple of women panellists, but all the guys wanted to come back and 'score' their own predictions again - and 6 speakers may have added another hours to the event.
This year UP has new blood in the executive, and that ratio is more than reflected in the exec, so lets hope we get the good loo paper and right wine at the next event, and encourage more women to come along.
A year is almost too long to wait (monthly predictions?) but we're happy to accept nominations for the 2009 panel at any stage.
-Jo.
(former) Membership coordinator
(current) Website facilitator
for UP.org.nz Executive
honestly they didn't try very hard
or are clearly so out of touch with the wellington scene it's not funny.
I believe when webstock held their 8x5 mini it was equal number men and women, and when they had their 2.0 debate there was a woman on each team.
the facebook group for wellington bloggers also has women.
but I'd like to hope it was just lazy planning in using the same bloggers from last year.
have you noticed that this year's 8x5 speakers are all men though! very disappointing for webstock i thought. i'm sure they're all great, but still ...
With the 8x5 thing, they were volunteers, right? No shoulder-tapping. I wonder if many women applied for it, and if they didn't, why not?
I didn't because my involvement with the web is on a very social level*, and I didn't think that anyone really needed** to hear me talk about myself for five minutes.
*Apart from the stuff I do at work, and that gets all Code of Conduct-sticky right now
** Although I'm sure that they all wanted to...
Yeah, it was the first thought I had. Whilst we don't know what the criteria were for picking us I am sure it didn't include, "NO WOMEN!"
I've plans (much like Philip did at UP) to point out the tersteroness of 08 8x5 - vote for Sandy for next year.
DPF has his notes and predictions here.
I like Jo's idea about face-to-face meet-ups. Facebook makes it so much less painless. Like, I'm going to some dude's 21st soon because I know I won't be the only senior citizen there.
all the 8x5 people at webstock mini were invited by the webstock crew.
It's only for the main webstock that you apply for the 8x5. and using webstock as an example, they have a good selection of women at this years big conference.
I also think there should be women on the panel, but should there be different bloggers each year? Part of the value of this year was that the bloggers could reflect on their previous predictions, so if you had different bloggers each year, you'd miss out on that. But it would be boring to have the same bloggers each year giving their opinions.
I also agree about Jo's comment earlier about more face-to-face meetings. The Wellington Bloggers group on Facebook has already had several real-life meetups, and there will be more planned for this year too.
I wholeheartedly agree we should have had women on the panel. Many were asked and none said yes. It was raised as a valid issue at the first bloggers event last year, and was again raised and acted upon this year. We tried and left invites available to the very last minute. Unfortunately this turned out not to be a Field of Dreams scenario.
Previous panelists were invited back as a matter of courtesy as they do it for free and genuinely enjoy the event.
As above in this forum Jo has pointed out our female membership his risen and the number of women on the exec is now four (out of nine).
Steve Rush
UP Events Coordinator
well Steve
honestly how many women did you invite?
Did you look through your list of RSVPs to the event and spot any of the women attending as bloggers?
I know of at least one prominent Wellington female blogger (who blogs here) who was at the event.
It probably would be most disappointing if speakers were selected on gender basis and not on merit.
I think there's a lot of room for consideration on both. Or are you saying that DPF is cooler than me? Cos I know where you live, bitch, and I could cut you up so bad it'd look like a bunyip attack.
Since we all know there are many excellent women online in wellington the merit issue is moot.
But
The problem is that women are under represented in IT. And the only way to resolve that is for people who are in positions to do so, everyone to take positive action.
So, you're saying that people should be selected on a gender-basis, rather than merit.
That's disappointing.
personally I'm more disappointed that clearly some men have no idea how hard it is to be a woman in IT these days.
I'm disappointed that sometimes even the simplest things like inviting a single woman blogger onto a panel seems an impossible feat.
So you know what if even they could only find a pants woman blogger, that would be better than no female representation at all.
But since there are so many amazing female bloggers in wellington, many of whom we both know and none of them were asked.
Well that is also disappointing.
What I'm saying is that the future does not just belong to white middle-aged men. So if you're only getting predictions from them, then you're kind of missing something.
Well, there'll be one white middle-aged man stepping down from the panel next year, since I'm no longer a blogger.
(Middle-aged? You're going to pay for that, Jo!)
personally I'm more disappointed that clearly some men have no idea how hard it is to be a woman in IT these days.
What does being a woman in IT have to do with anything? We're talking about bloggers here.
I'm disappointed that sometimes even the simplest things like inviting a single woman blogger onto a panel seems an impossible feat.
Apparently they invited all the ones they wanted. None accepted. (read above)
So you know what if even they could only find a pants woman blogger, that would be better than no female representation at all.
Would it really? How patronising to women.
But since there are so many amazing female bloggers in wellington, many of whom we both know and none of them were asked. Well that is also disappointing.
Either the organisers didn't know about them, or didn't want them. Whaddya gonna do.
Ooh! Gender politics!
When I used to work at Xtra, one of my colleagues was very girl-power, and she'd say things like, "Come on, Robyn! Let's show the boys that we girls can [do some web-related project]!!!!!" It annoyed me, and one day I told her I'd rather be valued on my own merit than as a woman. Ha!
This thread is an interesting situation, cos blogging is one area where men and women do have different experiences. There are blogs dedicated to specific things that women tend to be more interested in than men (and vice versa). And I get the feeling that women and men might even approach blogging differently.
And then you get blogs like Public Address that haven't deliberately set out to be male dominated - it's just sort of worked out that way (but I like PA anyway).
And then on top of all that, there's the shitty sexist treatment that some women get - particularly ones who are active in blogs around volatile, male-dominated areas like politics.
So I reckon that a panel on general blogging should contain at least one ladyblogger, and not doing that seems really lazy on behalf of the organisers.
But if the panel was on, say, Linux or digital photography I'd rather see the panel filled with the best experts on the subject than have a token women (or [insert minority here]) just to fill a quota.
What's 'a pants woman blogger'?
Do you mean 'lousy'?
Oh I dunno, the Maori party may well approach National to help them form a government.