tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91574508364142875762024-02-06T22:01:23.375-08:00The Makers of ThingsIn 2009, President Obama said, "It has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long rugged path towards prosperity and freedom." His words inspired me to start this blog.Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.comBlogger82125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-19649745943937915292021-10-15T15:58:00.013-07:002021-10-16T09:57:28.460-07:00Weird Teaching<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Teaching with a mask on to students wearing masks is just downright weird. I can't hear students through their masks; I can't pronounce some words through my mask; and sometimes I look out at the class and see students with masks, sunglasses, and hats, and I have no idea who they are!</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe6mOS0e6av1jSORYecHfrhE4ZTN0EHFx1pSiMgMAfVmNXAYVZnOqkcJ_HcJYgCYRf0H80H-y7b-V0WTEmSBuxpNNA2AVVZVeRb55ychgaDXQwzMAmwX783nWk8dbBsDTKkaW5joohevM/s1920/gas-ga4e90cdae_1920.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1440" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe6mOS0e6av1jSORYecHfrhE4ZTN0EHFx1pSiMgMAfVmNXAYVZnOqkcJ_HcJYgCYRf0H80H-y7b-V0WTEmSBuxpNNA2AVVZVeRb55ychgaDXQwzMAmwX783nWk8dbBsDTKkaW5joohevM/s320/gas-ga4e90cdae_1920.jpg" width="240" /></a></span></div><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In my long (some would say overly long) career, I've had some challenging environments to teach in, though, so I think I can handle this new one!</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixRsven2zp5XfdpeIOl7c_4GKfSnazDbbTtd3Ii-X9qZQY5Mg6vIGSqgOMuMxKp5_qZrPiJUAuOm5rOZ_DBhjdL4ZSHyPrkW-9LuCSghLWB2D7EDZZcwcfTrWvwRKlacyFlMA5NMvqnnY/s1920/teacher-g4d15a0175_1920.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1103" data-original-width="1920" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixRsven2zp5XfdpeIOl7c_4GKfSnazDbbTtd3Ii-X9qZQY5Mg6vIGSqgOMuMxKp5_qZrPiJUAuOm5rOZ_DBhjdL4ZSHyPrkW-9LuCSghLWB2D7EDZZcwcfTrWvwRKlacyFlMA5NMvqnnY/w400-h230/teacher-g4d15a0175_1920.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Visa Training</span></h2><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Back in the 90s, I was once asked to teach a network troubleshooting class to the night shift at Visa (the credit card company). They wanted me to teach the IT help desk every night from midnight to 3 am. I asked them if this was really a good idea. They assured me it was. The first night went pretty well. The second night, at about 1 am, I looked out at the class, and every single student was sound asleep.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWUuw3V8SNLW2oHNsvD4SiTMWK7OhJ4LuuJJHFhBWj9UyB_BQKq_bdFIw4a0yPjhoU8rzhdz0vQuCE7FzNcM3QwS98I2t5QNwTiKIROSwy8XItrFEiwj6EvYlKGlq7otQTJi8TUnG0t1M/s1920/man-gc7d9c75a2_1920.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1920" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWUuw3V8SNLW2oHNsvD4SiTMWK7OhJ4LuuJJHFhBWj9UyB_BQKq_bdFIw4a0yPjhoU8rzhdz0vQuCE7FzNcM3QwS98I2t5QNwTiKIROSwy8XItrFEiwj6EvYlKGlq7otQTJi8TUnG0t1M/w400-h266/man-gc7d9c75a2_1920.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">IBM Training</span></h2><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And then there was the time IBM asked me to teach a one-week <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Token_Ring" target="_blank">Token Ring</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet" target="_blank">Ethernet</a> troubleshooting class. I asked them, "are you sure this is a good idea? Didn't you guys invent Token Ring?" They assured me it was a good idea. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Sure enough, I arrived in lovely Fishkill, New York and went over the schedule with them (again), and they said "oh, we don't need the Token Ring day. Why don't you take Tuesday off and go sight-seeing." So I got paid to sight-see in lovely Fishkill. Granted, I did see some cool things. I visited FDR's home in Hyde Park, the <a href="https://www.ciachef.edu/cia-new-york/" target="_blank">Culinary Institute of America</a>, Vassar College, etc.</span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4OGH_jP3xCDhn0FiEFyuE0xrMciIevqBvhtj9z16YygAPfloaCVQwVsx8tUlUmOI4OJY7umrt7PU8YmQ09e26A6GfevTBFD6chnX5usiVMQ0IhTkUXNQmxfRFPelI2YYF_tEZqf45uvE/s2048/Downtown_Fishkill%252C_NY.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1354" data-original-width="2048" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4OGH_jP3xCDhn0FiEFyuE0xrMciIevqBvhtj9z16YygAPfloaCVQwVsx8tUlUmOI4OJY7umrt7PU8YmQ09e26A6GfevTBFD6chnX5usiVMQ0IhTkUXNQmxfRFPelI2YYF_tEZqf45uvE/w400-h265/Downtown_Fishkill%252C_NY.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Main Street in Fishkill." Photo by Daniel Case, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/" target="_blank">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons</td></tr></tbody></table><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">US House of Representatives Training</span></h2><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Once I taught a class to the network engineers for the US House of Representatives. They forgot to book a training room. Your government at work, I guess. :-) They said, "no problem, we'll do it in the lab." They failed to tell me, however, that the lab was also where the line printers were. I taught the entire class as these huge, loud line printers printed multiple copies of some 500-page bill that the Representatives were working on.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLyu2tbnJoqcfm5UyL_voLWnIJ4ZUGNRzId9YtIKLB0oM7IkXvMbeGGJiOBNcjukAHCnXMVskMe_cqayD024vYwbhFObLYXOvw4rlaNu8xjaggn3rb75Jeh6Qs1Amv87RqwVq9-1sPGXE/s2048/US_Capitol_west_side.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1060" data-original-width="2048" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLyu2tbnJoqcfm5UyL_voLWnIJ4ZUGNRzId9YtIKLB0oM7IkXvMbeGGJiOBNcjukAHCnXMVskMe_cqayD024vYwbhFObLYXOvw4rlaNu8xjaggn3rb75Jeh6Qs1Amv87RqwVq9-1sPGXE/w400-h208/US_Capitol_west_side.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Macintosh Software Development Training</span></h2><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And one more story: Early in my career, I taught a one-week Macintosh software development class at a resort in Mexico with a colleague. We said the class would start at 8:30 am. Not a single student showed up at 8:30 am. Finally, about 9:15 am the students started wandering in, looking bleary, drinking their coffee and smoking cigarettes. Around 1 pm they said it was siesta time and that we should start up again at 4 pm. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I looked at my fellow instructor and saw that he was worried too. There was no way we could cover all the material with this schedule. But then the students assured us that they would work till 8 pm. And sure enough, they worked really hard from 4 pm till 8 pm. After that the evening was dedicated to eating, drinking "rum y cokes" and other adult beverages, and playing cards till 1 am. We instructors adapted quickly to this new fun schedule!</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0ZgnjqsUivMxgk_yCEH9zaC4Id3Km7pyAWPWwheEKY31PhQz0LQ51OkKLw6uJFAXcKmtv14Q1mb3WerjOv-DzJOUZj2Y_W-Y7Of4Y63arN1gQ8CvzimUEjfSzXKMAPHG6Ma1N3yD6X5Q/s1920/cocktail-g650567288_1920.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1920" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0ZgnjqsUivMxgk_yCEH9zaC4Id3Km7pyAWPWwheEKY31PhQz0LQ51OkKLw6uJFAXcKmtv14Q1mb3WerjOv-DzJOUZj2Y_W-Y7Of4Y63arN1gQ8CvzimUEjfSzXKMAPHG6Ma1N3yD6X5Q/w400-h266/cocktail-g650567288_1920.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I Love You, IT Departments</span></h2><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Oops, one more story. I can't forget the time I was teaching a county IT department on May 5th, 2000, when the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILOVEYOU" target="_blank">ILOVEYOUVIRUS</a> broke out. One by one my students' beepers started going off and they left the room, looking panicked. Soon there was nobody left! </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Then one student came back in and said, "We better cancel class." Luckily it was the last day of class, a Friday afternoon of a 5-day class. The student added, "Would you like to help us troubleshoot? We've been hit by a massive virus!" The ILOVEYOU virus remains one of the farthest reaching ever. Tens of millions of computers around the world were affected. CNN had a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/01/tech/iloveyou-virus-computer-security-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">good article</a> about it 20 years after it struck. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtQm83HTtYil-bH-Oj6x7WLPk8O_mc3Zf_Q24CC3dIZ1KLSPWfxwnSamostwP-6hrLZuX3uJqhdQlq3xlhMCtiKjt5aLkANllCzvBkC4P35W004BJy3Wvgqve2uUIR25Rm3ppD9p3hn_w/s1838/ILOVEYOU.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="310" data-original-width="1838" height="68" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtQm83HTtYil-bH-Oj6x7WLPk8O_mc3Zf_Q24CC3dIZ1KLSPWfxwnSamostwP-6hrLZuX3uJqhdQlq3xlhMCtiKjt5aLkANllCzvBkC4P35W004BJy3Wvgqve2uUIR25Rm3ppD9p3hn_w/w400-h68/ILOVEYOU.png" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I Don't Love You, Covid!</span></h2><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So anyway, the show must go on, of course. But teaching with a mask? That is just weird. In fact, it's one of the weirdest experiences I've had in my long teaching career. Here's what I have to say to Covid: </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJNVu1C6biwCYqvIQl-9EbSAC1LPuoSfG6ToYA6XILiRndd5cbx3MWstUML40PVdsNZqXIlPDZPq6IDvjV9fAMtBMR2ua7JA8_fF_lWuPN7kn_3uGWB5cWvlxIRY-3cgeq0TrBSIuc_EE/s1280/fu.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1212" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJNVu1C6biwCYqvIQl-9EbSAC1LPuoSfG6ToYA6XILiRndd5cbx3MWstUML40PVdsNZqXIlPDZPq6IDvjV9fAMtBMR2ua7JA8_fF_lWuPN7kn_3uGWB5cWvlxIRY-3cgeq0TrBSIuc_EE/w189-h200/fu.png" width="189" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><br /></p>Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-13377110778078644852019-01-16T13:44:00.001-08:002019-01-16T13:46:35.379-08:0020 Years of Network Design<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover of <u><a href="http://topdownbook.com/index.html" target="_blank">Top-Down Network Design</a></u>, 1st edition, 1999</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Computer network design sure has changed in twenty years! Or has it? Although network technologies and applications have certainly changed, at least some of the classic principles of top-down design can still be applied today, whether your network is a set of virtual machines in the cloud or a set of Internet of Things devices. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Twenty years ago this month, I published <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1587202832/ref%3Dnosim/opendoornetwinc/104-4082013-4830332" target="_blank"><b>Top-Down Network Design</b></a> with Cisco Press. Macmillan Technical Publishing actually held the 1999 copyright. I mention this because the book is not specific to Cisco-based designs. As I recall, Cisco was just starting Cisco Press in the late 90s, working with Macmillan (which became Pearson) and Cisco documentation gurus such as Kim Lew and others. Some of the books are not specific to Cisco technology, though. Good architecture is vendor-neutral and timeless.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Cisco Press was a terrific partner in the development of all three editions of the book. They did a great job with editing, marketing, distribution, and beautiful covers. They found and worked well with some terrific technical reviewers, including, but not limited to, Dr. Alex Cannara, Dave Jansson, Hank Mauldin, and Dr. Peter Welcher. In addition, Brett Bartow, John Kane, and Mary Beth Ray at Cisco Press deserve much credit for making my book and countless other Cisco Press books such a big success. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Top-Down Network Design describes a top-down approach to network design that emphasizes the importance of analyzing business and technical goals before selecting hardware and software to build a network. The book presents a network design methodology that I developed based on my software development experience. "Don't start coding until you understand the problem you are trying to solve!" My professors and colleagues had drilled this axiom into me. I changed it to, "Don't start building a network until you have planned it out first."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ5crWT5_5VAPJPtxjqmKCkjj0IKXe3eZCQ4qdosGnIwT_QtH_BfHtkNhm2bMPdLgD3IynXSEw3TNhpycjl4bb9PdNTsAUMCTUYq_33GXIY1CNwyBTcjWufTYB6M0k5Rc4hRVmHTaH-Ik/s1600/j-kelly-brito-256889-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ5crWT5_5VAPJPtxjqmKCkjj0IKXe3eZCQ4qdosGnIwT_QtH_BfHtkNhm2bMPdLgD3IynXSEw3TNhpycjl4bb9PdNTsAUMCTUYq_33GXIY1CNwyBTcjWufTYB6M0k5Rc4hRVmHTaH-Ik/s400/j-kelly-brito-256889-unsplash.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo by J. Kelly Brito on Unsplash</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Regardless of the type of network that you are working on, planning the design and configuration of the network benefits from the steps I developed for Top-Down Network Design:</span><br />
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<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Analyze business goals</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Analyze technical goals</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Characterize the existing network</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Characterize network traffic</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Design a logical topology</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Design addressing and naming schemes</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Select bridging, switching, and routing protocols</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Develop plans for securing the network</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Develop plans for managing the network</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Test your design</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Optimize your design</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Document your design</span></li>
</ol>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Reading over the first edition (which I later updated to a 2nd and 3rd edition), I'm happy to see that a lot of the concepts remain important. I seem to have really enjoyed helping my readers learn network design terminology, such as scalability, availability, manageability, usability, adaptability, affordability, and other "abilities." All three editions also have good content about analyzing network performance goals and distinguishing requirements such as:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Capacity (bandwidth):</b> The data-carrying capability of a circuit or network, measured in bits per second (bps)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Utilization:</b> The percent of total available capacity in use</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Optimum utilization:</b> Maximum average utilization before the network is considered saturated</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Throughput:</b> Quantity of error-free data successfully transferred between nodes per unit of time, usually seconds</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Offered load:</b> Sum of all the data all network nodes have ready to send at a particular time</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Accuracy:</b> The amount of useful traffic that is correctly transmitted, relative to total traffic</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Efficiency:</b> How much effort is required to produce a certain amount of data throughput </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Delay (latency):</b> Time between a frame being ready for transmission from a node and delivery of the frame elsewhere in the network</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Delay variation:</b> The amount of time average delay varies</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Response time:</b> The amount of time between a request for some network service and a response to the request </span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Where the book hasn't aged well is when it recommends or discusses specific technologies. The first edition actually discusses ATM, Novell NetWare, and AppleTalk. :-) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The book also probably has too much focus on carefully provisioning the right amount of bandwidth and using the bandwidth sparingly to avoid performance problems. These days, with the exception of wireless networks, we don't seem to worry about bandwidth. Perhaps we should, but with wired networks especially, it's very hard to use all the bandwidth we have, and with 802.11ac and 5G networks coming online, even wireless networks will often have sufficient bandwidth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Also, with current network planning, we don't tend to characterize network traffic as much as we used to. Perhaps we should pay more attention to the distinctions between network traffic that requires low delay and jitter, for example, and network traffic that demands huge amounts of bandwidth. On the other hand, maybe throwing lots of bandwidth at the problem and spreading it across the globe results in less worry about network traffic characteristics.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Despite these caveats, the book has aged pretty well. The importance of planning is still as relevant as it was in 1999. Yes, we live in an agile world today where there's less focus on requirements analysis. Also, it's possible to simply start building a virtual network and to tinker with it till it works. Nonetheless, I think even virtual networks can benefit from less tinkering and more design. Don't forget the concepts in Top-Down Network Design. They can still help. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And if you've been wondering, here's what I looked like in approximately 1999. I'm the one in red. I'm with my sister, nieces, and husband. I couldn't find any pictures where I'm not with family. That's a good thing.</span><br />
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Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-5025085829697261462018-06-19T14:54:00.000-07:002018-06-19T15:20:28.401-07:00Take an Ethics Class<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYTEIct5Y4py-0N3Os0l8xpHhpgOddXQlsFGP2KIuYndnBXN07h0M-xnt45kpXa2Jnt3aX0NiolkDquDbo-zmdiZuXkcLA5JoTH613fHy4qYv9BzG4gYnxBGsDZnzKgaJz-E4-GIPyvPE/s1600/The_School_of_Athens_by_Raffaello.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1242" data-original-width="1600" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYTEIct5Y4py-0N3Os0l8xpHhpgOddXQlsFGP2KIuYndnBXN07h0M-xnt45kpXa2Jnt3aX0NiolkDquDbo-zmdiZuXkcLA5JoTH613fHy4qYv9BzG4gYnxBGsDZnzKgaJz-E4-GIPyvPE/s400/The_School_of_Athens_by_Raffaello.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Let's say you are a hot-shot programmer and you're excelling in your computer science classes at your university. Or maybe you're an up-and-coming network administrator and you're taking industry classes. Or maybe you're both, or all of the above! You're taking programming and networking classes in college and at work. Should you also take a class in ethics? YES! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">First, let's address the benefits you will gain from taking an ethics class. Thinking about ethics uses a different part of your brain than coding. Learning about ethical theories, ranging from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kantianism" target="_blank">Kantianism</a> to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism" target="_blank">Utilitarianism</a> to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue_ethics" target="_blank">Virtue Ethics</a>, develops your conscience, not just your intellect. In ethics classes, you learn to slow down, to analyze scenarios where ethics play a role, and to apply ethical theories. You learn to contemplate, research, read philosophical treatises, and to discuss philosophy with other students. You are given an opportunity to develop your own ethical framework. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">An ethics class will make you a more rounded human being. Your brain will thank you. Your friends and colleagues will be glad that you took this class also. You are now more likable, able to communicate with people not like you, and more thoughtful. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Second, let's talk about the benefits to society if you learn ethics. With a groundwork in ethics, you will be able to develop and deploy technology that benefits humans. Your work will not just bring you a high salary and make money for your corporation. Your work will help solve problems facing humans, animals, the planet, and the universe (if your technology is used for space travel).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I've encountered too many programmers and CS students who compartmentalize. They love coding and are good at it, but they assume that ethics is somebody else's job. No, you can't leave ethics to other people. Understanding and applying ethics is as much your job as coding is. </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">What will you do when your boss asks you to deploy robots that will put hundreds of working-class wage-earners out of a job? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">What will you do when your fancy database is used to keep track of immigrant children who were taken away from their parents at the border? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Have you thought about how your facial-recognition software can be used to breach people's privacy or to report to law enforcement the identity of protesters engaged in moral civil disobedience? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Is the technology that you are developing making it easier for bullied students to feel isolated?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Could you develop technology that would help reduce gun violence? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">What are the ethics of companies using unbreakable encryption that can be used by both bad and good people? What is the balance between safety and privacy in these cases?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">What are the ethics of hiring low-paid Chinese workers to manufacture digital products? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Is the technology you are developing going to result in a net increase in the total good of affected parties? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">When artificial intelligence is as common as natural intelligence, will you be able to protect the rights of humans who haven't been able to afford to upgrade their brains?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In your day-to-day work, are you behaving ethically? Can you say that you "act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law," as Kant would require? If everyone acted like you, would the workplace and society be a better or worse place? Is your behavior consistent with the actions of a virtuous person? </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's really easy to get caught up solving technical problems. There's nothing better than writing elegant code that works and is finally debugged. But don't let that feeling be your only goal. Remember that humans will use your code and it could do harm or be used in harmful ways. Develop and apply your ethics at every point of your career. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">All students, regardless of their major, should think about how they will interact with others online, and they should learn their rights with regards to companies that deploy information technology, sometimes in unethical ways. For CS students, the thinking needs to go even deeper. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you are a Computer Science or Management Information Science student, thinking about the ethics associated with the mainstream use of robots, data mining, algorithms, artificial intelligence, website advertising, surveillance, online voting, etc., is actually more important than learning how to develop and deploy these technologies. Our future depends on you getting this right. </span>Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-34561648255245022362017-02-16T18:35:00.000-08:002017-02-17T00:28:32.266-08:00I Persisted!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I recently had a conversation with someone who didn't seem to understand why "She Persisted" rings so true for many of us. It's not really about <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/08/nevertheless-she-persisted-becomes-new-battle-cry-after-mcconnell-silences-elizabeth-warren/?utm_term=.d44e1b210933" target="_blank">Elizabeth Warren</a> for us. It resonates with us because we think "<b>I</b> persisted" when we hear it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In my case:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I persisted in the computer field even after it became mostly men.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I persisted despite being told that women shouldn't take jobs from men because women don’t need to support a family.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I persisted after being told I couldn't climb a crane to install software because someone might look up my dress. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I persisted despite being told that women weren't good hires because they would get pregnant and leave.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I persisted after being told I didn’t need a job because my husband worked. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I persisted despite watching men with fewer achievements get promoted instead of me. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I persisted when I was told that the required qualifications for a job were qualifications that the recently-hired men for the same job <i>did not have</i>.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I persisted despite there being no women's bathroom where I worked! </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I persisted when male co-workers stole my source code and took credit for it.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I persisted when male co-workers <i>broke</i> my source code and <i>didn’t</i> take credit for it.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I persisted when my pay was less than men in the same job. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I persisted as popular culture spread the myth that a computer expert has to look like Mark Zuckerberg. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I persisted when I looked around the room at meetings or conferences and was unable to find another female face.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I persisted when my ideas at a meeting were rejected when the same ideas posed later by a man in the same meeting were accepted.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I persisted despite incessant comments about my clothes, hair, and jewelry. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I persisted despite having my ass pinched at work. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>I persisted. :-) </b></span></li>
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<br />Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-15089163190729461652016-07-19T10:34:00.002-07:002016-07-20T10:45:38.385-07:00Network Disruption<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Network Disruption. This sounds like a bad thing. We hear network disruption and we think service outage. At <a href="http://www.ciscolive.com/us/" target="_blank">Cisco Live</a>, I learned that disruption is a good thing! </span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">My two favorite sessions were: </span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>1. Network Transformation and Essential Skills for Next Generation Network Engineers [<a href="https://www.ciscolive.com/us2016/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=6921" target="_blank">BRKSPG-1000</a>]</b>, presented by Zahoor Khan and Imran Shahid, CCIE #11894 and #11893. (Yes they are just one number apart!) </span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The speakers told us that everything about the network is changing -- its connectivity, service delivery, business model, architecture, etc. The speakers gently told senior-level engineers that they need to get off their bottoms and learn a huge amount of new stuff. (They said it much more eloquently.) This appealed to the Technical Instructor in me. </span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>2. Disrupt Yourself: Driving Corporate Innovation Through Personal Disruption [<a href="http://www.ciscolive.com/us/learn/sessions/session-catalog/?search=DEVNET-1219" target="_blank">DEVNET-1219</a>]</b>, presented by <a href="http://whitneyjohnson.com/" target="_blank">Whitney Johnson</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/johnsonwhitney" target="_blank">@johnsonwhitney</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of the best parts of this presentation was that Whitney quoted <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy" target="_blank">Leo Tolstoy</a>. She had a slide that included the quote above. This appealed to the English major in me.</span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The networking field is in the middle of a disruption that even Tolstoy would recognize for its revolutionary magnitude. Transformations include:</span></div>
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<li><span style="color: purple; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A change from Command Line Interface (CLI) to Application Programming Interface (API) </span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Waterfall to agile methods</span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Purpose-built network devices to Network Function Virtualization</span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Closed systems to open systems</span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Manual to automated </span><a href="http://searchsdn.techtarget.com/tip/How-SDN-and-NFV-simplify-network-service-chain-provisioning" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">service chaining</span></a></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: purple;">Network engineers need to understand Software-Defined Networking and virtualization. They need to learn some programming and be fluent in Linux. They can no longer limit their skill set to one vendor's products. The speakers in BRKSPG-1000 gave us a laundry list of new technologies to learn that included these topics and many more. We should learn about OpenFlow, NETCONF, YANG, REST, Git, GitHub, DDPK, containers, Docker, Jenkins, Ansible, Puppet, etc., etc., etc. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The speakers did a good job of making the learning sound exciting and not scary, at least not too scary. Learning is fun, they said. Also, they provided good advice on segmenting your learning and keeping your end goals in mind. </span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Whitney Johnson's presentation was a perfect complement to the BRKSPG-1000 presentation about all the new technologies we need to learn. She recommended taking risks, but taking the right risks for you. She said to play to your distinctive strengths and to think about what makes you feel strong. Think about what skills have helped you survive in the past. Battle entitlement and step back to grow. </span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Those of us who have been in the networking field a long time need to step back and learn an enormous amount of new information. We can't sit back and let the revolution wash over us. The disruption must come from within, as Tolstoy said. </span></div>
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Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-9656005475238645402016-07-08T14:25:00.003-07:002016-07-08T15:07:55.451-07:00Cisco Live 2016!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm attending Cisco Live this year! This will be my first Cisco Live in five years, so I'm a little nervous. I have memories of being run down by hordes of young men swinging large backpacks. :-) But I also have memories of learning amazing new technologies, getting to know fellow networking nerds, and cool hats!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My first Cisco Live (Networkers) was in Palo Alto in 1995. I think that was the best hat year.<a href="http://www.themakersofthings.com/2016/07/cisco-live-2016.html#anchor">*</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The <a href="http://www.ciscolive.com/us/learn/sessions/session-catalog/" target="_blank">Session Catalog - Cisco Live US 2016</a> this year holds great promise!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm most looking forward to:</span></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A new hat</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Maroon 5</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">13 Smart Ways to Program Your Cisco Network [BRKCRS-3114]</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Containers on Routers and Switches: Run Your Apps and Tools Natively on Cisco Boxes [BRKSDN-2116]</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">OpenStack Deployment in the Enterprise and Service Provider [BRKDCT-2367]</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Techniques of a Network Detective [BRKARC-2002]</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Software Defined Network Automation Architectures [BRKDCT-2027]</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Network Transformation and Essential Skills for Next Generation Network Engineers [BRKSPG-1000]</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And of course this panel discussion (I'm on the panel): Build Your Personal Brand with Social Media. [CISSOL-1113]</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=9157450836414287576" id="anchor"></a>*For a history of Cisco Live hats, see this article by Fryguy: <a href="http://www.fryguy.net/2014/03/25/cisco-live-hats-over-the-years" target="_blank">http://www.fryguy.net/2014/03/25/cisco-live-hats-over-the-years</a>. </span></span>Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-43031053405893868022015-10-30T12:18:00.001-07:002015-10-31T13:54:10.352-07:00Thought Diversity Necessary for Formation of the Internet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Most of us in the computer field know that having a diverse workplace is important for making decisions on what products to develop and how to market them. But is diversity important for solving computer science and engineering problems? I say YES. Diversity helped form the modern networking field. Without diversity we would not have the Internet. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The following parable is from a US point of view. Lots of work was done in Europe too, but that is for another post when I have more time. :-) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the early days of networking, most of the data communications experts were on the East Coast. So we had the mainframe which polled the slave terminals. We had <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-232" target="_blank">RS-232</a> where terminals had to Request to Send (RTS) and get a Clear to Send (CTS) to communicate. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We had error correction, network control, and time division multiplexing, where nodes waited their turn to talk. The algorithms were orderly, hierarchical, predictable, and unwieldy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">With the culture changes of the 1970s and 1980s, ideas for algorithms were infused with more creativity, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Token_ring" target="_blank">Token Ring</a> was invented. A ring sounds like something from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hobbit" target="_blank">The Hobbit</a>, with liberal connotations, where all the nodes in a circle sing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumbaya" target="_blank">Kumbaya</a> and use a token to determine who gets to speak. However, the algorithms were still mechanistic and militaristic. A network node <i>seized</i> the token in order to talk, and when the node was talking, every other node was <i>required</i> to be <i>silent</i>. An active and standby monitor were needed to <i>oversee</i> the operations. In bridged networks, nodes used <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_routing" target="_blank">source routing</a> to <i>dictate</i> which path the data frames should take. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The engineering was still being developed by the New Yorkers in suits and white shirts with pocket protectors. Token Ring was expensive and hard to troubleshoot, and it mimicked human communications found in hierarchical, autocratic, traditional societies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Out on the West Coast and in Hawaii, on the other hand, we had the surfers and the hippies working on networking! In the 1970s, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Metcalfe" target="_blank">Bob Metcalfe</a> flew to Hawaii and all hell broke loose. :-) </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Metcalfe's research on</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALOHAnet" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">ALOHAnet</a>, <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a wireless packet network that was developed by the University of Hawaii, led to the development of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrier_sense_multiple_access" target="_blank">CSMA</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet" target="_blank">Ethernet</a>. With CSMA, nodes listen before they send, but if they don’t hear anything, they just send anyway. If multiple nodes sense that there’s quiet, they just go ahead and send, so there could be multiple nodes all talking at once. The nodes also listen while sending, and back off if necessary. It’s like a big party! Aloha!</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ethernet was inexpensive, easy to set up, easy to troubleshoot (at least compared to Token Ring), and scalable. We still use it today with speeds up to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_Gigabit_Ethernet" target="_blank">40 Gbps and 100 Gbps</a>. The work of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radia_Perlman" target="_blank">Radia Perlman</a> on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanning_Tree_Protocol" target="_blank">Spanning Tree Protocol</a> allowed robust bridged networks to dynamically form a spanning tree. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Routing across Ethernet networks became possible with the invention of the Internet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Internet was developed by men and women, working on the West and East coast, and parts in-between. In the West, UCLA, UCSB, Stanford Research Institute, and the University of Utah first worked on ARPANET and then the Internet. On the East Coast, universities, the US federal government, and various companies helped develop protocols and algorithms. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The developers decided to break up data into packets and to forgo traditional point-to-point telecomm links and circuits that needed to be set up in advance. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This led to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Science_Foundation_Network" target="_blank">NSFNET</a> and then to the commercial Internet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Internet’s infrastructure was designed by engineers seeped in human communications styles very different from the hierarchical, autocratic, traditional styles mentioned earlier. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If the development of network algorithms had been left only to the stuffy East Coasters with their crew cuts and slide rules, we wouldn’t be having this conversation today, on a public, gigantic Internet that is built on top of Ethernet and wireless technologies. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; text-align: start;">Kitty Joyner, electrical engineer, at Langley in 1952.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It was the diversity of thinking that made modern networks possible. This isn't just some politically-correct maxim that applies only to product design and marketing. Diversity helped solve the engineering and computer science problems that made the Internet possible.</span></div>
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Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-26304549780377317372015-09-16T10:57:00.000-07:002015-09-16T15:10:06.557-07:00Top Ten Reasons Not to Publish Top Ten Women Lists<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcU027Vqyexn0_GsL6FqztPH7k_raHGEQ7jaC-5Iwk4gwtNfl90G2dSckx1l30XE-24UyE2Zji-Q1D3mZmEN1ZZsEi_5nz2H7C1o0TETvQ7nkFW8b12nDKkTIqPBKseCQ2ce8QysSPJNQ/s1600/Sophie_age14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="371" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcU027Vqyexn0_GsL6FqztPH7k_raHGEQ7jaC-5Iwk4gwtNfl90G2dSckx1l30XE-24UyE2Zji-Q1D3mZmEN1ZZsEi_5nz2H7C1o0TETvQ7nkFW8b12nDKkTIqPBKseCQ2ce8QysSPJNQ/s400/Sophie_age14.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sophie Germain by Auguste Eugene Leray</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm guilty of making my own list of women who do great work in tech, but nonetheless there are at least 10 reasons we should stop publishing these "Top X Number of Women in Some STEM or Leadership Role" articles. And that is 10 decimal, not binary. :-)</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">These lists are really getting old. Get creative. Stop copying everyone else.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lists of women in tech call attention to the <a href="http://pxlnv.com/blog/diversity-of-tech-companies-by-the-numbers-2015-edition/" target="_blank">shortage</a> of women, and can be discouraging. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If we must make lists, let's make lists about top reasons to be a computer professional. Be encouraging! </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">An in-depth article about an ordinary woman and her work is more inspirational than a list of sound-bites about "top women."</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lists are often not well-researched. A CEO with no engineering experience doesn't belong on a list of women engineers, for example. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sometimes a woman in a "top 10 women" list was actually a man previously.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's 2015. Maybe it's time to talk about top performers in tech, regardless of gender.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The actual work is being done by the thousands of women and men you left off your list. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Too often the list includes <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace" target="_blank">Ada Lovelace</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper" target="_blank">Grace Hopper</a>, or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr" target="_blank">Hedy Lamarr</a>, whom we all love, but there are lots of <i>living</i> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_computing" target="_blank">women in computing</a> too. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When the tech workforce becomes more gender diverse, what are you going to do then? Top <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Germain_prime" target="_blank">Sophie Germain prime number</a> of women in tech? :-) </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">p.s. To see my list of women in tech, go <a href="http://www.themakersofthings.com/2014/11/thank-women.html" target="_blank">here</a>. </span>
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Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-73342699878272030852015-05-25T11:50:00.000-07:002015-05-25T15:27:00.786-07:00A Mini-Review of Ex Machina from a Feminist Point of View<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP-pnD-TXtfL0794f0347t7S_Z7nyard0leh1VScjFGXnCOPT_iA2LXebMa5lCy4yOkj21V2JcLIGRJ5Sc7SoOKJYpSHdYu9nz0RX29rHEfoYIAo7fCgYBvHAZt2q-3bTVq8vrJljCfrE/s1600/MV5BMTUxNzc0OTIxMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNDI3NzU2NDE%2540._V1_SX214_AL_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP-pnD-TXtfL0794f0347t7S_Z7nyard0leh1VScjFGXnCOPT_iA2LXebMa5lCy4yOkj21V2JcLIGRJ5Sc7SoOKJYpSHdYu9nz0RX29rHEfoYIAo7fCgYBvHAZt2q-3bTVq8vrJljCfrE/s1600/MV5BMTUxNzc0OTIxMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNDI3NzU2NDE%2540._V1_SX214_AL_.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of my main takeaways from the Ex Machina movie was that if men design robots, the robots will be beautiful young females who are so dumb they wear 7-inch stiletto heels in the woods! Despite this idiocy, the robots will be cunning and able to use their female wiles to seduce human men and make the men act dumb.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Seriously, if we don't get more women in tech, the robots that could replace humans some day will be a male fantasy of everything immature men love and hate about women. This is a scary thought.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Spoiler alert: The naked female robots in the closets are creepy and unsettling.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Entrepreneur Elon Musk recently tweeted: “Hope we’re not just the biological boot loader for digital superintelligence. Unfortunately, that is increasingly probable.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If the movie Ex Machina is a good prediction of the future, then we are in fact the evolutionary ancestors of the digital robots that we will create and that will one day take over the world. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As Nathan, the brilliant Google-like engineer who created the Artificial Intelligence in the movie, says, "One day the AIs are going to look back on us the same way we look at fossil skeletons on the plains of Africa. An upright ape living in dust with crude language and tools, all set for extinction."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I can't think of a better reason for why we need more women in tech! If we are truly creating our descendants, then we need the creators of these descendants to be a diverse group with varied decision-making styles and a maturity that comes from overcoming challenges. Without help from people not like them, the young white and Asian men who make up <a href="https://gigaom.com/2014/08/21/eight-charts-that-put-tech-companies-diversity-stats-into-perspective/" target="_blank">80-90% of tech</a> today simply won't make all the right decisions about what our digital descendants should be capable of doing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Even if we're just creating robots that will do chores for us, or intelligent agents that can perceive their environment and act in some rational way to benefit us humans, the robots will be more functional, less buggy, and more benevolent if they are designed by a diverse group. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I actually did love the movie for its thought-provoking elucidation of the philosophical underpinnings of artificial intelligence research, but I found the overuse of gender norms disheartening. What if the programmer selected to run the Turing test had been female? What if some of the robots were handsome young males? Or even old, chubby males or females? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What if some of the robots were androgynous? I think that would have made a better movie. And in the real world, I think a diverse group of technology creators will make a better future, both for humans and robots. </span></div>
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Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-79113190876948406252014-11-24T11:13:00.000-08:002014-11-24T11:36:09.734-08:00Thank the Women<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Do You Use the Internet? Thank These 10 Women!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you are using the Internet right now, you have a woman to thank. We've all heard of the men who created the Internet as we know it, <a href="http://internethalloffame.org/inductees/al-gore" target="_blank">Al Gore</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vint_Cerf" target="_blank">Vint Cerf</a>, <a href="http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/" target="_blank">Tim Berners-Lee</a>, and so on, but women made huge contributions to the field too. Let's give them a huge thank you. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Elizabeth Feinler</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Before GoDaddy became the best-known (and most <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyclay/2012/09/10/5-reasons-you-should-leave-godaddy-and-how/" target="_blank">controversial</a>) Internet naming registrar, there was Elizabeth Feinler. Feinler developed the first directory of Internet names and addresses. She also co-invented the domain-naming scheme we still use today to identify organizations as .com, .edu, .gov, or .org.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.internethalloffame.org/inductees/elizabeth-feinler" target="_blank">http://www.internethalloffame.org/inductees/elizabeth-feinler</a></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Anne-Marie Eklund Löwinder</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Domain Name System is a helpful technology that lets Internet users enter names instead of addresses, but there are security problems with the system. Anne-Marie Eklund Löwinder is working on a fix. Löwinder works on DNS security extensions that help Internet users be sure they are visiting the website they think they are visiting. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://internethalloffame.org/inductees/anne-marie-eklund-l%C3%B6winder" target="_blank">http://internethalloffame.org/inductees/anne-marie-eklund-löwinder</a></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Latanya Sweeney</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Speaking of security, you probably have concerns about privacy on the Internet as well as security. Well, so does Dr. Latanya Sweeney, and she is working on your behalf to improve Internet privacy as the Chief Technologist of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Sweeney has a PhD in Computer Science from MIT and is on leave from her work as Director of the Data Privacy Lab at Harvard while she works at the FTC. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latanya_Arvette_Sweeney" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latanya_Arvette_Sweeney</a></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">4) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Radia Perlman</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Without the work of Dr. Radia Perlman, you could not be reading this Internet blog post. Dr. Perlman develops routing and switching protocols that form the underpinning of the Internet. Ask any network engineer if they have heard of Perlman, and the answer will be a resounding yes. Many engineers learned networking from her influential book, "Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches, and Internetworking Protocols." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.internethalloffame.org/inductees/radia-perlman" target="_blank">http://www.internethalloffame.org/inductees/radia-perlman</a></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">5) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sally Floyd</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Have you ever called tech support to complain that the network is slow? You have a woman to thank for the technology that can fix the problem! Dr. Sally Floyd invented Random Early Detection and other networking technology that can automatically recognize when a network link is congested and redirect traffic around the problem.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Floyd" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Floyd</a></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">6) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Barbara van Schewick</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Speaking of network congestion, should Internet service providers be allowed to charge extra for handling huge video streams from companies such as Netflix? Net neutrality experts, including Dr. Barbara van Schewick, might say no, arguing that innovation arises from a more hands-off approach where all network traffic is handled equally. Van Schewick knows both the law and the engineering behind net neutrality. She is a Professor of Law at Stanford, holds a PhD in Computer Science, and is the author of the book "Internet Architecture and Innovation."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.law.stanford.edu/profile/barbara-van-schewick" target="_blank">https://www.law.stanford.edu/profile/barbara-van-schewick</a></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">7) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Kim Polese</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of the most common programming languages in use on the Internet is Java. Kim Polese was responsible for bringing Java to market in 1995 when she was the Java product manager for Sun Microsystems. Java revolutionized the way that software is written for the Internet, allowing programmers to write one app that can run on multiple platforms. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Polese" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Polese</a></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">8) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sandy Lerner</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Cisco Systems manufactures the equipment that controls much of the Internet. Founded in a garage in 1984 by Sandy Lerner and her then-husband, Len Bosack, Cisco grew to become a multinational corporation. Lerner went on to found the cosmetics company Urban Decay and to write a sequel to Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." She is a Renaissance woman, and without her, the Internet may never have grown to what it is today. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Lerner" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Lerner</a> </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">9) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Diane Greene</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Another huge networking company was also founded by a husband and wife team, with the help of others. VMware was founded by Diane Greene, her husband Mendel Rosenblum, and colleagues. You've heard of "the cloud," right? Well, you have Diane and her colleagues to thank for the cloud and other virtualization services that run the Internet as we know it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Greene" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Greene</a></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">10) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Joyce Reynolds</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Finally, let's end with an early Internet pioneer. Joyce Reynolds was one of the most prolific authors and editors of the earliest Request for Comments (RFCs). RFCs specify the protocols that run the Internet. RFCs are still being written today. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://icannwiki.com/Joyce_Reynolds" target="_blank">http://icannwiki.com/Joyce_Reynolds</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Summary</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In summary, if you read a history of the Internet and no women are mentioned, don't believe it! Yes, many more men than women worked on the protocols and infrastructure, but it wasn't only men. Far from it! Then and now, women work to enhance, secure, and document the Internet, and they deserve our thanks. </span><br />
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Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-40919550970383586012014-10-14T15:47:00.001-07:002014-10-14T15:47:30.308-07:00Frequency-Hopping Inventor, Hedy Lamarr<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In honor of <a href="http://findingada.com/" target="_blank">International Ada Lovelace Day</a>, I am writing about the actress and inventor, Hedy Lamarr. I like this photo of Lamarr because I like to think she's reacting to the Internet idiots who post comments claiming women don't belong in technology. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Really," she would say, in her smoky, low voice. "You should have been there when I invented frequency-hopping, a technology still used today on wireless networks. I invented it to prevent Hitler from jamming the Allies' radio-controlled torpedoes. How about you, dude? What have you invented lately?" </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lamarr was a Hollywood film star in the 1930s and 1940s. She was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in 1913 in Vienna, Austria. She married young and was unhappy in her marriage. She wrote in her autobiography that her husband, Fritz Mandl, a munitions manufacturer, was extremely controlling. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the 1930s, Lamarr accompanied her husband to dinners and meetings with arms developers and learned about control systems for aircraft. The marriage broke up in 1937, and Lamarr, an anti-Nazi of Jewish descent, escaped to Paris, then London, then Hollywood. She took her knowledge of control systems with her. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lamarr met her co-inventor, the avant-garde musician George Antheil, at a party in 1940. At the party, Lamarr proposed the idea of frequency-hopping as a method for radio remote control of torpedoes. Frequency-hopping could reduce the danger of detection or jamming of radio-controlled torpedoes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Although the idea of radio control for torpedoes was not new, the concept of frequency-hopping was. Broadcasting over a seemingly random series of radio frequencies, switching from frequency to frequency at split-second intervals, prevents radio signals from being jammed. The receiver can be synchronized to the transmitter to allow the two to jump frequencies together. If both the sender and receiver hop in sync, they understand the message, but anyone trying to eavesdrop hears random noise. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lamarr and Antheil obtained a patent for their "Secret Communication System" on August 11, 1942. The US Navy was unfortunately not interested in this early version of frequency-hopping. However, the idea was finally implemented in 1962, when it was used by US military ships during a blockade of Cuba, after the patent had expired. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Subsequent patents in frequency-changing have referred to the Lamarr-Antheil patent as the basis of the field, and the concept lies behind anti-jamming devices used today. In modified form, frequency-hopping is used to send secure wireless transmissions in many modern communications systems.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Electronic Frontier Foundation honored Lamarr with a belated award in 1997. Lamarr died in Casselberry, Florida on 19 January 2000. She was 85. </span>Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-60968267414839304062014-10-08T11:10:00.001-07:002016-07-08T18:52:32.004-07:00Advertising Matters<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Today at the <a href="http://gracehopper.org/" target="_blank">Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing</a>, the CEO of GoDaddy, Blake Irving, is on a panel for male allies. This worries me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">From 1984 to 2013, the number of women graduating with a degree in CS sank from 37% of the graduates to 14%. GoDaddy may be singlehandedly responsible for a large portion of that decline. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">For years GoDaddy advertised their domain name services with disgusting ads that showed nerdy IT guys and female sex objects. The message was clear: IT is for men. Displaying sexy body parts is for women. The 2013 GoDaddy Super Bowl commercial was the most tasteless ad ever made, not to mention one of the most sexist. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I like to compare this to the ads that I grew up with. The print ads from IBM and other mainframe companies showed glamorous women, solving interesting problems using computers! I wanted to be that woman! Well, maybe not the woman in the following photo, because she's a blonde, but the ad is intriguing because it shows a woman working on an</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> IBM System/360. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Check out this brunette, in an ad for the Control Data CDC Cyber 70 Series mainframe</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">. I could be her! I'm a brunette. She's not in the ad to sell to men. She's there to convince women to join the rank of programmers, especially if they use CDC computers. (We had an Amdahl mainframe at the University of Michigan where I went to grad school, but close enough!) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Like Control Data and Amdahl, International Computers Limited (ICL) created</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> machines to compete with IBM. As was typical for the times, ICL showed women working on their computers in their ads.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Check out this picture of a woman working at NSA on an IBM 360. I want to be her! :-) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I got this photo from a 1970s <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic_heritage/60th/1970s/index.shtml" target="_blank">timeline</a> at NSA. I suspect the photo might be an ad, not because the woman in the picture couldn't do the work, but </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">because the screen doesn't appear to be on? :-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I also like this photo from NSA showing a Cray supercomputer. Note that the women are discreetly dressed, working on the computers, and not kissing the nerdy IT guy (as the GoDaddy 2013 Super Bowl ad showed.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The GoDaddy 2013 Super Bowl ad was so disgusting that customers fled from the brand, both women and men. The company managed to insult both women and men. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzPBU1-XdxoO2tQReygJBvNJ7YlUJkeSzUzwrSQDqaIDPrRSx9JBybSp3QZs5VFJyyP0jyGITw3PzN8RUJe3CyzbJLThHLrge4MLM9jf_UxuaU3ym8UxkZ_b1Y05uST5s5fgJ_4LnpX4U/s1600/GoDaddy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzPBU1-XdxoO2tQReygJBvNJ7YlUJkeSzUzwrSQDqaIDPrRSx9JBybSp3QZs5VFJyyP0jyGITw3PzN8RUJe3CyzbJLThHLrge4MLM9jf_UxuaU3ym8UxkZ_b1Y05uST5s5fgJ_4LnpX4U/s1600/GoDaddy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">After the 2013 ad, I moved all my domain names but one from GoDaddy. Ironically, TheMakersOfThings.com is the one record I still have at GoDaddy but that was because I was planning to give up on the blog. Why write about women in tech if the industry is dominated by pigs like GoDaddy? Why encourage young women to go into a field where the women don't solve technical problems? They just show off their boobs. Why go into a field where your male coworkers will be pimply, out-of-shape geeks? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Well, hopefully things will get better. Anita Borg Institute and the Grace Hopper conference will hopefully set GoDaddy on a track that supports the equitable treatment of women in tech. The male allies panel is actually a good idea, but the CEO of GoDaddy better start by deeply apologizing to women in tech.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the meantime, I'm glad to see positive articles like <a href="http://www.glamour.com/inspired/2014/09/women-in-tech-reveal-secrets-of-silicon-valley" target="_blank">this one</a> from Glamour magazine about women in tech. Maybe soon we will start to see ads that show gorgeous women working on computers again. </span><br />
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<br />Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-52041774658614472262014-09-02T12:04:00.001-07:002014-12-10T11:12:39.776-08:00Allied Forces<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Innovating Women</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In September, 2014, a new book on women in STEM called <a href="http://innovatingwomen.org/" target="_blank">Innovating Women</a> shipped, after many months in development. I helped work on this book. The main <a href="http://innovatingwomen.org/authors/" target="_blank">authors</a> are Vivek Wadhwa and Farai Chideya, an Indian-American man and an African-American woman. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A few women have asked me why a man should write a book about women in technology. The last thing we need is yet another man telling us what we already know!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I don't think it matters that one of the authors is male, as long as he's not acting patriarchal. (I don't think it matters that the other author is not really in STEM either, since she's a great writer). Both of these authors are allies. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What does it mean to be an ally? Many people have written about this, so Google it for better explanations than mine. But I think it means </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">being a person with privilege who is operating in solidarity with someone who has been denied the privileges. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's a tricky business being an ally, though! I know I've made numerous mistakes as I've tried to ally with friends and relatives fighting for legal same-sex marriage and African Americans fighting for justice in Ferguson, Missouri, and throughout the United States. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sometimes allies act like they deserve a big reward for being an ally, or like they are the knight in shining armor coming to the rescue of the poor underprivileged people. That's not helpful. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The easiest mistake to make when being an ally, however, is to turn the conversation to yourself. For example, those of us who work on the "women in tech" issue hear things like:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I've worked in tech for many years, but I've never seen any sexism. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I hired a lot of women when I was a manager. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I had a woman boss once and I didn't have a problem with it. </span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We hear comments like this from both men and women. The speaker is turning the conversation to be about him or herself. These individual experiences, with a sample size of one, do not add anything to the conversation.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAguIe0rV5R3Fj_FLMUpWQpiqtumJUz60sj5nX619XTt13xLPm9SzATrWfBNZAc0AEi33_tvX3ZvNLCyL3GseMaU2KexPTEEUwVEeesw9unlcHR3Qte38mMmfh_owtV20zF-ITe23DHIQ/s1600/people.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAguIe0rV5R3Fj_FLMUpWQpiqtumJUz60sj5nX619XTt13xLPm9SzATrWfBNZAc0AEi33_tvX3ZvNLCyL3GseMaU2KexPTEEUwVEeesw9unlcHR3Qte38mMmfh_owtV20zF-ITe23DHIQ/s1600/people.png" height="382" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now did our male author of Innovating Women try to turn the conversation to be about himself? Is he expecting some sort of huge accolade for helping the ladies? Maybe, a little bit? Is he an ally nonetheless? YES. Here's why I think he's an ally:</span><br />
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">He spearheaded the Innovating Women project, then <b><i>got out of the way</i></b>.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">With the help of female colleagues, he opened a forum for women to discuss the challenges that we face as women in tech. Hundreds of women joined the discussion. <i><b>Our content became the book</b></i>. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">He did not participate in the discussions. Only women told their stories. He just <b><i>listened</i></b>, which is an important skill for allies. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The book development project was crowd-funded at <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/innovating-women" target="_blank">Indiegogo</a>, giving <b><i>lots of people an opportunity</i></b> to get involved. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Vivek and colleagues <b><i>recruited numerous female role models</i></b> to tell their stories, including Google[X] VP Megan Smith (possible next <a href="http://fortune.com/2014/09/02/googler-megan-smiths-white-house-job-basically-a-done-deal/" target="_blank">White House CTO</a>!), venture capitalist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Roizen" target="_blank">Heidi Roizen</a>, and <a href="http://www.anoushehansari.com/" target="_blank">Anousheh Ansari</a>, a serial entrepreneur and space explorer.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Vivek <b>took on the old boys' club</b>. When he first started writing about women in tech, men were extremely critical of him. Vivek didn't stand down. He argued with them. So, he's not just talking to women about what we need, as some of his female critics have assumed. He's talking to his own people too (men). That makes him a good ally.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Vivek will not directly benefit from the book</i></b>. The profits will go to a fund at Singularity University to educate women about advancing technologies and to fund their startups. As far as Vivek "building his career, reputation, fame on women in tech issues," as a Twitterer said, that's bunk. He is already famous. </span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The decision that someone is an ally resides with the person being allied, not the ally, according to Jamie Utt in this terrific <a href="http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/11/things-allies-need-to-know/" target="_blank">article</a>, "So You Call Yourself an Ally: 10 Things All 'Allies' Need to Know." </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyDiKe0dc7gNIi6d9G7AhUvZxrM0ezm884cD8XNavqqVhkdAyVtrg8dYX2rHhCxzp-2ZjRm2Jy2Yflwk9MfB-eLQ_Rbf877ZrMiPW5HYxuWZU42DYEY1-ehM3y120H8iRYdC-gaVGZmz4/s1600/ally.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyDiKe0dc7gNIi6d9G7AhUvZxrM0ezm884cD8XNavqqVhkdAyVtrg8dYX2rHhCxzp-2ZjRm2Jy2Yflwk9MfB-eLQ_Rbf877ZrMiPW5HYxuWZU42DYEY1-ehM3y120H8iRYdC-gaVGZmz4/s1600/ally.png" height="166" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So Vivek doesn't get to crown himself Mr. Big Super Ally, but I get to declare that I think he is an ally. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Other women can make up their own minds, but I consider both Vivek Wadhwa and Farai Chideya allies of women in tech. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">By publishing a book that showcases the words and work of successful women in tech, the authors are helping women learn strategies to overcome artificial barriers. And by focusing on innovation, the book will help organizations learn how to benefit from the creativity and intelligence of all people, not just men.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcWOkM382Z6g6a4YZhozVz6FK4Af9y8AstsmfggRPyg-LVd02ijpCKW3LFnx14SJNlNainDG6V27yyJJiurGA_86t_6huCayJo2WH84BiZMFqn9Gqk9Io4LPrTa4vA-k58AaxD7C3Yq5w/s1600/book_cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcWOkM382Z6g6a4YZhozVz6FK4Af9y8AstsmfggRPyg-LVd02ijpCKW3LFnx14SJNlNainDG6V27yyJJiurGA_86t_6huCayJo2WH84BiZMFqn9Gqk9Io4LPrTa4vA-k58AaxD7C3Yq5w/s1600/book_cover.png" height="640" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://innovatingwomen.org/" target="_blank">Innovating Women: The Changing Face of Technology</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-63333054477197344322014-05-30T13:53:00.000-07:002014-05-30T17:09:16.819-07:00Prince Charming Isn't Real Either<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-hXDlkhZva9ieRz075oFlo2fO8E-EWuQtf3JUCL1OrbsVCqonfGqxdNxnNv7vC9fXrhSqe_6DiecYcPCfwLeGPFzF1Qh89JjhjBjGEf2dyLxozGmva2Hf5JVBUYZtZCz4gGmLqFl0YLo/s1600/AandP2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-hXDlkhZva9ieRz075oFlo2fO8E-EWuQtf3JUCL1OrbsVCqonfGqxdNxnNv7vC9fXrhSqe_6DiecYcPCfwLeGPFzF1Qh89JjhjBjGEf2dyLxozGmva2Hf5JVBUYZtZCz4gGmLqFl0YLo/s1600/AandP2013.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I like Arthur Chu's blog that discusses the dangers of nerdy guys believing the myth that as long as they work hard, they'll get the girl. (<a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/27/your-princess-is-in-another-castle-misogyny-entitlement-and-nerds.html" target="_blank">Your Princess Is in Another Castle: Misogyny, Entitlement, and Nerds</a>) My only criticism is the ending. He says these men need to grow up. While that may be true, it's not enough. Perhaps Chu can write Part 2? In the meantime, I have a few comments on the topic... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I love nerdy guys. My husband's perfect GPA from MIT was a big part of his sex appeal! :-) I hate to see nerds suffer. Chu's article made me sad for the nerdy guys. Who is giving them advice when their hearts get broken? Where can they go to cry? The men's rights organizations are too focused on rights, and no, men don't have a right to a girl. But they do have a right to pursue happiness. Perhaps they could learn from women? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When women are heart-broken, we call our friends and talk for hours. We get pedicures and read <a href="http://www.vogue.com/magazine/" target="_blank">Vogue</a>. We get massages. We re-read every <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridget_Jones" target="_blank">Bridget Jones</a> book, and call our moms and our grandmas. We have access to about a million self-help books that teach us how to be self-sufficient, to rebound from a broken heart, to take care of ourselves. What do men have?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We women grew up thinking that Prince Charming would arrive. We've had to learn the hard way that he isn't coming, but at least we have support. We have girlfriends, guy friends, sisters, moms, aunts, grandmas, all willing to talk about our feelings and to help us return to thinking rationally about our love lives. And if that fails, there's always Ben and Jerry, and old Hugh Grant movies. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In my case, Prince Charming didn't arrive, but love did, in the shape of a tall, gangly, brilliant software engineer. He wasn't Prince Charming, but he was somewhat charming, chivalrous, and romantic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">He was also persistent. He had to be persistent "to get the girl." But his persistence wasn't pressure to have sex (I had to get that going! :-). His persistence was taking me out on dates, bringing me fresh strawberries as a surprise one morning in February (we lived in California where strawberries ripen early), teaching me modular arithmetic, and going to movies together. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We knew we were meant for each other when we both agreed that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_III:_The_Search_for_Spock" target="_blank">Star Trek III: The Search for Spock</a> was way better than that silly <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terms_of_Endearment" target="_blank">Terms of Endearment</a>! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I think <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_to_the_Future" target="_blank">Back to the Future</a> sealed the deal. We both loved that movie and still do. So we got married! Our plans for our 28th anniversary Sunday are dinner at a fancy restaurant, followed by watching <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley_(TV_series)" target="_blank">Silicon Valley</a>, followed by watching <a href="http://www.cosmosontv.com/" target="_blank">Cosmos</a>, <strike>followed by...</strike> (censored). :-) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Perhaps any nerdy guys who read this can learn from my hubby. Or maybe they could take my advice to watch Hugh Grant movies!?! OK, I admit, a lot of guys can't stand Hugh Grant... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So, guys, start helping yourselves. You understand what will help better than we women do, whether it's support groups, blogging, movies, talking more to each other, etc. But be sure to talk to us women too. We're good with this touchy-feely stuff, and a lot of us would be glad to help. </span><br />
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Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-26256977787020825542013-12-04T14:09:00.000-08:002013-12-04T14:13:03.984-08:00Thoughts on JFK Assassination<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAUpfyizlx-GGUK28bZXgthcf8E0xhuGxyZPPTMhfwjeb8y1FhalPkCqUkfseYuQ0k5ZniPRSwcZO2Req4efSt5kn2bV8Ar4U9MtaBAVjoLdepVO6qQ1UrHbM6enZM7a-2mK34wy_VNUo/s1600/JFK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAUpfyizlx-GGUK28bZXgthcf8E0xhuGxyZPPTMhfwjeb8y1FhalPkCqUkfseYuQ0k5ZniPRSwcZO2Req4efSt5kn2bV8Ar4U9MtaBAVjoLdepVO6qQ1UrHbM6enZM7a-2mK34wy_VNUo/s320/JFK.jpg" width="250" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I wrote this piece on 11/22/13 and posted it on Facebook. I decided I really should post it here too, even though it's a bit tardy…</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had only recently realized that teachers had conversations that weren't about students. Back in October I had been surprised to hear them talking about the World Series and to hear them laughing at the Yankees for getting swept by the LA Dodgers. Now it was November and they were huddled in groups again, talking in their teacher voices. This time they weren't laughing though. In fact, some of them were crying. It was November 22nd, 1963. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">President Kennedy was cool. He was young and handsome with a gorgeous, fashionable wife. Because of him and his plan to send us to the moon, we got to study "new math" and learn about engineering and science. The Weekly Reader promised us that we could travel to space, and have flying cars, and never have to cook because we would have automatic meals prepared by a robotic chef. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Suddenly the future looked less fun than we had imagined, though. Our teachers told us that Kennedy had been shot and we should go home early. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mothers would be home, of course, waiting to greet their kids in their pretty Donna Reed dresses, ready to comfort them with Campbell's soup, Jell-O, Nestlé's Quik. They would then set them down on the Hoover-vacuumed carpet to watch TV until the Dads came home from work. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We didn't have a TV. We didn't have carpeting, either, and my Mother wasn't too happy to see the five of us tromping in sooner than she expected. She was busy with a one-year old and a five-year old, and was probably hoping they would take a nap so she could have her ciggie and coffee in peace. We were quiet, though. We trooped into the living room, dropped our book bags, and picked up our books to read. It was as quiet as church in there. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When my Dad got home, we turned on the radio and learned that Kennedy was dead. My Dad was a professor at Notre Dame. He said that people had spontaneously gone to the church on campus and prayed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't remember much else from that day. It seems like life returned to normal pretty quickly, and soon we were back to playing dolls, making up stories for the dolls to grow up and be famous politicians, or at least the tragic wives of politicians. At school we went back to learning Venn diagrams and multiplication tables. Music lessons continued. We moved to the right side of the tracks and bought some rugs. The Yankees lost the World Series again and didn't win again until 1977.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People talk about the loss of innocence that day, but I was too young to lose my innocence then. That came later when MLK and RFK were assassinated. Today, in 2013, I may no longer be the naive girl I once was, but I'm still inspired by space travel, flying cars, and robots. President Kennedy wasn't perfect but he inspired a generation of nerds and we still love him for that. </span>Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-24057382389064852732013-10-15T00:06:00.001-07:002013-10-15T09:28:31.054-07:00A Passionate, Adventuresome Heroine<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In honor of </span><a href="http://findingada.com/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Ada Lovelace Da</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">y, I'm blogging about a woman in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). I chose </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan_Smith" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Megan Smith</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> this year. Megan is a VP at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_X" target="_blank">Google[x]</a>, the branch of Google that is bringing us Google Glass and the driverless car!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOeIKjItzF99aCjZ8cPcls2NQZRlPYBjIUinRTwCfbkBuljuTU854c85I9I8qw7EYtw01F7l113jFABYcrdOvWhKmIGDvd3jSuuLHYcJ0bzJCi-Da7CNaMfT8E3cYeecVYX8csIQIVTTY/s1600/Megan_Smith-GHC.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOeIKjItzF99aCjZ8cPcls2NQZRlPYBjIUinRTwCfbkBuljuTU854c85I9I8qw7EYtw01F7l113jFABYcrdOvWhKmIGDvd3jSuuLHYcJ0bzJCi-Da7CNaMfT8E3cYeecVYX8csIQIVTTY/s400/Megan_Smith-GHC.tiff" title="Megan Smith" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Megan joined Google in 2003 and led the acquisition of some of Google's flagship technologies, including Google Earth, Google Maps, and Picasa. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before joining Google, Megan was CEO of PlanetOut. She also worked at General Magic and Apple Japan. As a student at MIT, she was part of a team that designed, built, and raced a solar car 2000 miles across the Australian outback. She earned a BS and MS in mechanical engineering from MIT, where she now serves on the board. She completed her MS thesis at the </span><a href="http://media.mit.edu/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">MIT Media Lab</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I chose to write about Megan Smith, not just because she's awesome, but also because I love her post <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/megan-smith/women-in-tech_b_4086332.html" target="_blank">here</a>, which is based on her keynote speech at this year's <a href="http://gracehopper.org/2013/" target="_blank">Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing</a>. The <a href="https://talks.facebooklive.com/videos/377/megan-smith-vp-google-x-keynote-address" target="_blank">keynote</a> was called "<b>Passion, Adventure, and Heroic Engineering</b>."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love the fact that Megan applies <b>passion</b> to her work at Google and elsewhere. We should all be passionate about our work! And I love the fact that she sees STEM work as an <b>adventure</b>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another thing I love about Megan's post is that it mentions the fact that we women <i><b>were</b></i> in computing, before so many women disappeared en masse in the 1990s and 2000s. I get irritated when people act like women in the computer field is a new thing. Most tekkies have heard of <a href="http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/adalovelace/" target="_blank">Ada Lovelace</a> and <a href="http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/bios/Grace,Hopper/" target="_blank">Grace Hopper</a>.</span><br />
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<img alt="" border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmm4hEyXXbrmo6HM5zA8Gg7OjeVpmSzTS3ZTxE5bxQgJAtObBvPdqNDcRRkkvrkY15UmHpJEC4iAvXKoh0-RcfyEbraCzY9PuhYyN_VAlMk_KdAJidgXw5llHpbXXKq2GOkWWKAByoRYw/s320/Grace_Hopper_and_UNIVAC.jpg" title="Grace Hopper" width="320" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But there were also the code-breakers at </span><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9520807/What-happened-to-the-women-of-Bletchley-Park.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Bletchley Park</a>,<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and the </span><a href="http://www.topsecretrosies.com/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">women</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> in the US who calculated ballistic trajectories during WWII, six of whom were recruited to become digital programmers for the </span><a href="http://eniacprogrammers.org/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">ENIAC</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, and many, many more recent </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_computing" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">examples</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">(Why did women disappear? It's complicated, so I won't answer that question here. I cover it briefly in my talk </span><a href="http://www.priscilla.com/womenincs.pdf" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">, though.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To get back to Megan Smith, let's talk about <b>Heroic Engineering</b>. Wouldn't technology be a lot better if the developers of the technology all saw themselves as heroes? We aren't just making stuff work. We are solving global problems. Megan Smith knows this. She co-hosts Google's <a href="https://www.solveforx.com/" target="_blank">Solve for X</a>, a forum to encourage and amplify technology-based "moonshot" thinking and collaboration.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By the way, I blogged about some of my other heroines for previous Ada Lovelace Day celebrations, including <a href="http://www.themakersofthings.com/2010/03/melissa-hathaway-internet-security.html" target="_blank">Melissa Hathaway</a> and <a href="http://www.themakersofthings.com/2009/03/radia-perlman-she-radiates-intelligence_24.html" target="_blank">Radia Perlman</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also put together an entire page about heroines when I made a</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.themakersofthings.com/2012/03/cs-professor-recommendations-for.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">list</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of professors whom I would like to see teach a <a href="https://www.udacity.com/" target="_blank">Udacity</a> class. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I look forward to reading many </span><a href="https://witness.theguardian.com/assignment/5253fb57e4b0099005df3644" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">more stories</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> about women heroines in STEM as people post them in honor of Ada Lovelace Day! </span><br />
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Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-3812893910016867752013-05-15T11:25:00.000-07:002013-05-19T09:22:55.183-07:00Generational Differences<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Generations in a Family" photo by Alan Oppenheimer</td></tr>
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Last week I attended a fantastic conference on <a href="http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130502/NEWS/305020317" target="_blank">"Generational Differences in the Workplace"</a> organized by the Oregon Department of Human Services and others, and taught by <a href="http://fig8consulting.com/" target="_blank">Figure 8 Consulting</a>. The workshop was educational but also surprisingly moving. We learned about unconscious biases, cultural agility, self-awareness, self-management, and the gifts that people of other ages offer us. We talked, we listened, we learned, and we opened our hearts to people not like us.<br />
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Per our instructors, this is the first time in a long time that there have been four distinct generations in the workplace:
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<tr><td><b>Birth year</b></td><td><b>Generation</b></td></tr>
<tr><td>1920-1945</td><td>Traditionalists</td></tr>
<tr><td>1946-1964</td><td>Baby Boomers</td></tr>
<tr><td>1965-1983</td><td>Generation X</td></tr>
<tr><td>1984-2002</td><td>Millennials (Generation Y)</td></tr>
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Of course each individual is unique, and stereotyping should be avoided, but it is helpful to broadly categorize the characteristics and working styles of the different generations. That way we can work together better. Here's what I learned in the workshop about the different generations:
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<b>Traditionalists</b> just want to work hard and get the job done. Their motto is "no whining!" They are digital immigrants (as opposed to natives) but able to work effectively with technology anyway. They don't like it when younger people just do the technical work rather than teaching them how to do it.
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<b>Baby Boomers</b> are creative and like to be valued for their individuality. Nonetheless, they do like to work in teams and they value diversity. They like to work hard and to be in charge. They are comfortable with technology. In fact, they take credit for creating a lot of the technology we use today (although Generation X said that too). Some Baby Boomers feel over-worked and under-appreciated. Some of them said they feel like "the sandwich generation" because they are taking care of their elderly parents while also helping their kids and grandkids.
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<b>Generation X</b> workers are fiercely independent. Many of them grew up as latchkey kids, so they know how to work alone. They are very efficient and want to be able to just go home if they finish their work early. They need to know why they are doing something, and don't like to be told "because that's how it's always been done." They like it if managers and clients can just tell them the expected end product and then get out of the way so they can get the job done! Many of them are raising small kids and appreciate flexible work hours. Of all the groups, they are statistically the least likely to be divorced. This is the group that taught us the importance of work/life balance.
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<b>Millennials</b> are digital natives. They love technology and are good at using it and creating it. They like to multitask and to collaborate. They are efficient, resourceful, and able to use their social networks to find answers to problems. They can work anywhere and often work during their off hours. They like instant feedback and appreciate clarity. They want to be mentored but like it when older people "cut to the chase" and don't explain too much.
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Near the end of the workshop, the proctors divided the class into generational cohorts. The task was to talk about what events defined us (whether it was Sputnik, the 1960s sex/drugs/rock-and-roll revolution, the Challenger space shuttle explosion, 9/11, etc.). We were asked to also discuss our key characteristics, how we like to work, and what we like and don't like about working with the other generations. We were told to find a spokesperson because after we met in our cohorts, we got back together and shared our thoughts with everyone else. It was fascinating to see how the cohorts worked.
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The <b>Traditionalists</b> stayed in the room and didn't finish all the tasks because they reminisced about events for so long.
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The <b>Baby Boomers</b> went outside into the sunshine and immediately formed a circle. Nobody told us to form a circle, but we just did it spontaneously. If we weren't so task-oriented, we probably would have started singing Kumbaya. :-) We complained about the Millennials, saying that they talk too loudly, are always on their phones, and often dress inappropriately. Our Baby Boomer spokesperson changed this to say "Whereas we appreciate the social graces of the Traditionalists, we think the Millennials are lacking in social graces." I loved that. We avoided insulting anyone.
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The <b>Generation X</b> folks didn't form a single group. We had learned that they are very independent, so it was interesting to see that they worked in a few small groups instead of one big group.
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The <b>Millennials</b> were fun to watch. They were very energetic. They were a very diverse group, with fewer white people than any of the other groups. Unlike the other three groups which took notes on paper, they took notes on an iPhone. That got a big laugh! There wasn't a dry eye in the house, though, when their spokesperson told us how much they appreciate the other generations.
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The young man clasped his hands, and paused for a few seconds, and then told us earnestly, "You can trust us. We recognize that you fought for our civil rights and equal opportunity. We know the importance of what you achieved and we can carry the torch now."
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I still get tears in my eyes just thinking about it. Maybe they don't dress appropriately sometimes, but who cares? What matters is that they can carry on. To quote Ted Kennedy, "...the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."<br />
<br />Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-87296550202665446712013-04-02T14:32:00.000-07:002013-04-02T17:47:59.724-07:00A personal story of individuality and leaning in<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recently there's been a lot of talk about "leaning in" since Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, published <a href="http://www.leanin.org/" target="_blank">Lean In</a>. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I find myself thinking about times when I've leaned in and remembering my 9th-grade Civics class. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's also been a lot of talk about face-to-face teamwork since <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/yahoo-telecommuting-article-1.1273250" target="_blank">Marissa Mayer</a> infamously brought all the telecommuters back to the office at Yahoo. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today this terrific <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/04/02/do_groups_really_foster_creativity__117750.html" target="_blank">article</a> by Froma Harrop questioned the link between creativity and teamwork, and reminded me again of my Civics class.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Civics class was a toxic mix of political correctness and American jingoism, taught by an ex-marine. The school administrators thought it would give the wrong message to divide the Civics classes by ability, so we were all mixed in together, honors students with juvenile delinquents, future business leaders with future drug addicts, me thrown into the same class with my twin brother who had recently been kicked out of Benedictine boarding school. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The photo shows us about that time, with our siblings. I'm in the middle. My twin brother is at the top left. My younger brother is at the bottom right. Note that he's looking angelic. Don't believe it for a minute! He was no more angelic than my twin brother, just better at not getting caught. :-) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our Civics teacher didn't like me. Now I admit this might have had something to do with the “Spiro Who?” t-shirt I wore, making fun of our illustrious American Vice President, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiro_Agnew" target="_blank">Spiro T. Agnew</a>, who later resigned in disgrace after he was charged with tax evasion. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Civics teacher disliked my twin brother even more, though. My brother often came to class stoned, which didn't help. He also had a little mechanical frog that he liked to hop across the wooden floor, causing everyone, even the good students like me, to giggle. In addition, he had a tendency to argue with the teacher every chance he got, somehow weaving Marxism or Malcolm X or Muslim theology into discussions that the teacher had expected to simply extol the virtues of American culture. My brother may have been a stoner, but he was also very smart.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When the time came for our final project in the Civics class, the teacher divided the class into three groups. One group would work on team projects doing things like writing scripts for a movie, composing patriotic songs, building papier-mâché cities, anything that in the teacher's mind didn't require too much intellectual ability. Another group would visit the local prison and do a group presentation on their experience. Finally, the individuals in the crème de la crème group, mostly made up of honors students, would each write a research paper on a topic of their choice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Civics teacher had been talking about this final project the entire semester. I had already developed a topic and started researching it: “A Hero's Journey: Comparing WW II veterans with Homer's Odysseus.” As you can probably tell, my favorite class was AP English (although my English teacher would be surprised to hear that, considering how much grief I gave her when she made us read “Romeo and Juliet” multiple times, each time using a different literary criticism technique. I loved “Romeo and Juliet,” actually, but my reaction to it at the age of 15 was heartfelt, not analytical.) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, you can guess what happened in the Civics class. The teacher assigned me to a team project of all girls. Our job was to write a movie script about the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_Airforce_Service_Pilots" target="_blank">Women Air-Force Service Pilots (WASPs)</a>. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He didn't even give us a choice. He assumed we would be interested in the WASPs, which none of us were, especially since the boys made fun of us whenever the topic came up. (I am more interested in the WASPs today, but back then, no.) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My brother had been placed in the top group, the group that got to write individual research papers. How unfair was that!? The teacher must have recognized that my brother was more capable than he let on, but then took out his irritation with “the twins” on me anyway. Either that or he simply assumed I wasn't smart because I was usually very quiet, despite the occasional giggles at my brother's antics.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At home, my Mother encouraged me to go talk to the teacher. I didn't want to, but I also didn't want to do the team project. My Mother said I should write a project proposal for my research paper. I hesitated, but then she brought out the big guns. She pulled out her favorite books from the bookshelf, books by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Campbell" target="_blank">Joseph Campbell</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung" target="_blank">Carl Jung</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Hesse" target="_blank">Hermann Hesse</a>. The proposal turned into a professional-looking 5-page paper with references!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day, I brought in my proposal. The teacher was shocked at first but then thrilled! He let me do the project and I got an A. I leaned in and showed that I could work as an individual, all while ignoring my brother's increasingly bizarre behavior as he partied more than he studied, eventually writing his own paper on how LSD could revolutionize American politics. </span>Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-38153055782212178832013-03-15T14:09:00.000-07:002013-03-15T14:09:22.318-07:00Leaning In with Lucille, Madeleine, and Sheryl<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This will be the strangest review of Sheryl Sandberg's new book, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lean-Women-Work-Will-Lead/dp/0385349947/" target="_blank">Lean In,</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that you will read! Why? Because, due to simultaneous recommendations by </span><a href="http://anitaborg.org/initiatives/systers/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Systers</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, real-life sisters, and my female book club, I found myself reading three books at once.</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lean-Women-Work-Will-Lead/dp/0385349947/" target="_blank">Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead</a>, by Sheryl Sandberg</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Listening-Madeleine-Portrait-LEngle-Voices/dp/0374298971" target="_blank">Listening for Madeleine: A Portrait of Madeleine L'Engle in Many Voices</a>, edited by Leonard S. Marcus</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Love-Lucy-Lucille-Ball/dp/0425177319/" target="_blank">Love, Lucy</a>, by Lucille Ball</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This blog post is my attempt to synthesize these books. Sheryl Sandberg may have the bullhorn right now for a few fleeting Internet seconds, but she's not the first person to demonstrate that women can be smart and successful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What do Lucille Ball, Madeleine L'Engle, and Sheryl Sandberg have in common?</b></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">High IQ</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">High <a href="http://psychcentral.com/lib/2007/what-is-emotional-intelligence-eq/" target="_blank">EQ</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leadership abilities</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Writing skills</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Talent</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wisdom</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A sense of humor</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hard workers</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good story-tellers</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Courage</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Passion</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Honesty</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Financial success</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Assertiveness</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Extraverted, out-going personalities</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good at running meetings</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wives</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mothers</span></li>
</ul>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In what ways do Lucille Ball, Madeleine L'Engle, and Sheryl Sandberg differ?</span></b><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unlike Madeleine and Sheryl, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucille_Ball" target="_blank">Lucille Ball</a> came from humble (rural upstate New York) beginnings. Her father died when she was young. Her mother supported the family by working in a dress shop. As a teen, Lucille moved to New York City where she failed in acting school and took up modeling instead. She didn't give up her dream to be an actress, though, and started to find good roles, but in B-rated movies. She moved to Hollywood after getting better known, and became one of the most popular and influential comedic stars in the United States. She was also the first woman to run a major television studio, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desilu_Productions" target="_blank">Desilu Productions</a>. Sandberg would have liked her.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unlike Lucille and Sheryl, Madeleine L'Engle wasn't beautiful, at least not physically beautiful. Her friends and colleagues describe her as big and gawky, with thinning hair. Per a story in "Listening for Madeleine," her publisher once arranged for a professional shopper to help Madeleine update her wardrobe for a book tour. Without this help, she might have dressed like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Wrinkle_in_Time#Mrs_Whatsit" target="_blank">Mrs. Whatsit</a>! </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">L'Engle is the most religious of the three women. She <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/november-17-2000/madeleine-lengle/3639/" target="_blank">declines</a> to call herself a Christian writer, but her writing has religious themes. Although Lucille Ball talks about her strong Protestant work ethic, and was a follower of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Vincent_Peale" target="_blank">Norman Vincent Peale</a>, she doesn't mention faith or going to church in her "Love, Lucy" book. Sheryl Sandberg has a Protestant work ethic also, although she is Jewish (according to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheryl_Sandberg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>). She doesn't seem to talk much about religion, which is fine. There's no reason she should. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Compared to Lucille and Madeleine, Sheryl Sandberg is very serious, although there's lots of humor in "Lean In." According to her family, "Sheryl never actually played as a child. She really just organized other children’s play.” (<a href="http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/07/confidence-woman/" target="_blank">Time Magazine</a>) Hopefully she did read, though. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wonder if she loved L'Engle's </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Wrinkle_in_Time" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">A Wrinkle In Time</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> when she was a girl? Most smart women did.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Who would be the best lunch partner?</b></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Madeleine L'Engle was a great conversationalist and a good listener, and she liked to go out to lunch. She wins the lunch contest. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lucille Ball would be a fun (and funny) lunch partner.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lunch with Sheryl Sandberg would have to be a power lunch. I would need to come prepared with well-researched, challenging business questions. I wouldn't ask "What is the culture like at Facebook?" (Sheryl says in "Lean In" that this typical question irritates her because it's so easily answered with an Internet search.) I also wouldn't ask, "Will you be my mentor?" This typical question also irritates her when it comes from women she doesn't know. She says that mentor relationships should develop naturally between coworkers who know each other's challenges and potential.</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Which woman should run for president?</b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The recent <a href="http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/07/confidence-woman/" target="_blank">Time Magazine</a> article about Sandberg says, "There is always chatter, especially among Californians, that Sandberg, who’s a big Democratic fundraiser, will return to the public sector." I'm sure she would face backlash from the far-left anti-corporate crowd, from minorities and others who say she only represents privileged white women, and from Hillary-hating misogynists, but a lot of men and women would love to see her leadership abilities in the White House. I would probably vote for her!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lucille Ball is probably already President of an All-Stars Comedy Club in heaven. RIP.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Madeleine L'Engle is probably President of the Best Writers of All Time writing group in heaven. RIP.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>In conclusion, what one message do all three women offer to other women?</b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lean in and assert your power! Sandberg says this explicitly. The other two women were living examples of the message.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that concludes the strangest review of "Lean In" that you will read, if you really did read it. (Admit it. You skipped to here to see if you could get by with just reading the conclusion, didn't you? :-)</span>Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-30958898521336913142013-03-06T17:37:00.000-08:002013-03-06T18:51:51.897-08:00Makers: Women Who Make America<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuhKb-po533M3m-Qfd4WnVZpcBOdNmB-JsQBzGsBicUDwmGz9OUde51_of7V2EmrLw_QmdmAo1oUtWZ1i_vbjf44Hfdj7HXZSO42JtAb9YuPkDKgf6zVoq1eFTbNHv1oXx5Sk70dWBfbU/s1600/Mother&Computers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuhKb-po533M3m-Qfd4WnVZpcBOdNmB-JsQBzGsBicUDwmGz9OUde51_of7V2EmrLw_QmdmAo1oUtWZ1i_vbjf44Hfdj7HXZSO42JtAb9YuPkDKgf6zVoq1eFTbNHv1oXx5Sk70dWBfbU/s400/Mother&Computers.jpg" title="My mother in the 1980s" width="328" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With a website called "The Makers of Things," which mine is, in case you hadn't figured that out from the blurred-together characters in the domain name, it would be a shame not to review the fantastic </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Makers: Women Who Make America" documentary</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> that premiered on PBS February 26th, 2013. If you missed it, you can still watch it at </span><a href="http://www.pbs.org/makers/home/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">PBS.org</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> or the film </span><a href="http://www.makers.com/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Makers" tells the story of the women's movement in the US from 1950 to today. It's about three hours long with three distinct parts that can be watched individually. The film is educational, inspirational, and entertaining. I loved the use of music from the times and the fashions from the 70s and 80s. But mostly I was very moved by the fight that my elders took on. I've encountered sexism, but in general, I was able to assume equal rights as my birthright, thanks to the work of the activists and trailblazers in the film.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The film tells a positive story, with a good arc. Right overcomes wrong. The underdogs fight adversity and come out ahead. One of the most interesting aspects of the show is the discussion near the end about young women today. Many young women don't want to be called "feminist" and the show does a good job of explaining why. It also introduces the audience to young activists and writers who embrace the term, though, including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Richards" target="_blank">Amy Richards</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Education_of_Shelby_Knox" target="_blank">Shelby Knox</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I like the fact that the film talks about the women's movement and class. It was interesting to learn that many working-class women and women of color weren't interested in the movement at the beginning. They felt that it focused on issues only relevant to wealthy and middle-class white women who felt stuck being homemakers, whereas the working-class women were already holding down jobs and raising families. The movement also didn't welcome lesbians at first. But by the late 1970s, lesbians, working-class women, and women of color had joined forces with millions of other women in what <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_English" target="_blank">Diane English</a> in the show calls, "The biggest social movement in the history of the planet earth." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My only criticism of the show (and it's not really a criticism but more of a "feature request") is that it should do a better job talking about women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). It should have mentioned not just Rosy the Riveter, but also the <a href="http://www.topsecretrosies.com/" target="_blank">Digital Rosies</a> (women who calculated ballistics trajectories on the ENIAC computer during World War II). It should have also mentioned <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper" target="_blank">Grace Murray Hopper</a>, an American computer scientist and US Navy admiral who developed the first compiler in the 1950s and may have been the first person to use the term "debugging" in relation to computers, when an actual bug (a moth) caused problems for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Mark_II" target="_blank">Mark II</a> computer at Harvard University. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When the "Makers" show got into recent times, it could have mentioned many women in STEM and <a href="http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_women_in_Computer_Science" target="_blank">computer science</a>, although it was great, at a minimum, to see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marissa_Mayer" target="_blank">Marissa Mayer</a>, CEO of Yahoo, and <a href="http://www.makers.com/sheryl-sandberg" target="_blank">Sheryl Sandberg</a>, COO of Facebook. The show makes it clear that women fought hard to get to the board room, and today belong any place where they can continue making the world a better place. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's still much work to be done to ensure equal pay for women, to protect women's reproductive choices, and to inspire more women to speak up, but at least nobody calls me "Girl Friday" or pinches my butt, just because I can type fast. I can use my typing skills to write <a href="http://www.topdownbook.com/" target="_blank">books</a>, write <a href="http://www.priscilla.com/icertify.html" target="_blank">software</a>, configure networking <a href="http://www.priscilla.com/ipsecexample.htm" target="_blank">devices</a>, and <a href="http://www.themakersofthings.com/2009/02/female-nerds-vs-male-nerds-message-for.html" target="_blank">blog</a>. </span></div>
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Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-21182128299000814862012-10-28T13:37:00.002-07:002012-11-01T10:49:23.125-07:00Binders of Women!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Can you guess what my Halloween costume was for the <a href="http://ashlandmonsterdash.com/" target="_blank">Monster Dash</a> run to benefit the <a href="http://www.ashlandschoolsfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Ashland Schools Foundation</a>? Some people were able to guess it. Other people thought it had something to do with PhDs because quite a few women in the pictures have PhDs and I put that after their name. Kids liked the costume but had no idea what it meant. One guy from Alabama said I would get beat up in his home state wearing the costume. Mostly I got great feedback though.<br />
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I also attended the Ashland downtown <a href="http://www.ashlandchamber.com/Page.asp?NavID=783" target="_blank">parade</a>. It's supposed to be for kids, but kids of all ages join in!<br />
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<br />Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-71324696858389517632012-09-11T12:56:00.000-07:002012-09-11T13:01:56.630-07:00Sibling Rivalry at Work<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">A number of discussions I've had with technical women recently has gotten me thinking about the possibility that male and female workers tend to fall back on old family habits and engage in sibling rivalry. We get a "script" as youngsters, and sometimes are unable to cut loose from it. When you put men and women together in work places, the script can become toxic, especially if women take things personally and men deny that anything is happening under the surface.</span><br />
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If you read between the lines in some of the things that men and women say at work, you hear:</div>
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<li>MOM! She messed with my stuff again!</li>
<li>Why does he get more allowance than me. It's UNFAIR!</li>
<li>Why does Dad pay more attention to him than me?</li>
<li>I want the front seat! Why does she always get the front seat?</li>
<li>Don't touch my toys!</li>
<li>Look how strong I am. I'm superman! Pummel, pummel, pummel.</li>
<li>It's not fair. She's getting special treatment 'cause she's a girl.</li>
<li>I got all A's on my report card. What did you get? Let me see your report card.</li>
<li>I'm going to do way better than you in soccer. You're a girl. You can't kick a ball.</li>
<li>Girls can't do that. Give it to me. I'll do it.</li>
<li>Boys are stinky and stupid. </li>
<li>etc.</li>
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If there is some of this going on, what can we do about it? Here are a few remedies I came up with, especially for women (who bear the brunt of workplace nastiness):</div>
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<li>Recognize the problem. The first step to solving a problem is to recognize that there is a problem. </li>
<li>Recognize when a male colleague is acting bullish or acting out of jealousy, and stay calm.</li>
<li>Recognize when you are starting to focus more on the unfairness and less on the work. </li>
<li>Refuse to get pulled into the negativity, jealousy, competitiveness, the undercurrent of sibling rivalry. </li>
<li>Keep it light. Make jokes. If a guy denounces you for touching his code, try saying with a smile, "you sound like my little brother when he yelled at me for touching his things." </li>
<li>If a coworker blows his own horn a lot, start blowing yours too!</li>
<li>Get good at distinguishing annoying behavior from illegal behavior (sexual harassment and lack of equal opportunity employment). </li>
<li>Report any illegal behavior (after you document it well). </li>
<li>Roll with the punches when there's annoying behavior, (unless it gets unbearable; then start circulating your resume).</li>
<li>Realize that you may never get the recognition that you crave. It will have to come from within. </li>
<li>STAY STRONG. Grow a backbone if you don't already have one! If your brother tried to beat you up when you were a kid, you didn't just crumple, right? You fought back!</li>
<li>Stay flexible and agile. This doesn't mean being a wimp. The best fighters are not only strong; they are also flexible and agile.</li>
<li>On the other hand, try not to focus too much on fighting. </li>
<li>Focus on your goals, your work, your peace of mind. </li>
<li>Remember what Aldous Huxley said, "There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self."</li>
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Growing up, I was the middle child in a family of 5 girls and 2 boys. I have a twin brother. My twin brother was very "special", talented, smart, dramatic. He got lots of attention. My younger brother is a genius (he really is). Now the universe is putting me in situations over and over again where I work with "brothers" who are special, while I'm often overlooked. Until I get the lessons, I think I will find myself returning to the childhood scripts. </div>
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Thoughts, comments? Am I on to something? Am I brushing aside the legitimate, painful, workplace nastiness that many women face everyday at work? Am I overstating the undercurrent of sibling rivalry at work? Am I writing this blog to seek recognition that I'm clever and funny, recognition that I never got as a child, perhaps because I'm not really very clever or funny? :-)</div>
Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-90346709136971601682012-08-23T09:17:00.001-07:002012-08-23T09:17:42.915-07:00My "Beloit List"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">You have probably heard of the terrific <a href="http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2016/" target="_blank">list</a> Beloit College makes every year describing the mindset of students entering college, to help older people understand them. Well, I have my own list.</span><br />
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For students entering college in 2012:</div>
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<li style="font-family: Helvetica;">Token Ring has always been a bad idea.</li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Ditto ISDN.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Cookies have always been stored on computers, not in jars.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Computers have always been plug-and-play, or at least plug-and-pray.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Google has always been misspelled. </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Speaking of spelling, spill checkers have always fixed there miss takes.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">There's never been a need to distinguish "the big I Internet" from an internet.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">The Internet has always been commercial.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">The Internet has always supported streaming video, and it has always sucked.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Al Gore has always been more famous for inventing the Internet and global warming, than for being a VP, or for winning the 2000 election.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">The term "Information Superhighway" has always sounded dumb.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Amazon has never been just a river.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Yahoo has never meant "red neck." </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Red Hat has always referred to an operating system rather than something Communists wear.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Commodore has always been bankrupt. </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Women and African Americans have always been a tiny minority in the computer field (they were just a simple minority in the 1980s).</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">OSI has always been just a model for teaching networking.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">We've always been running out of IPv4 addresses.</span></li>
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Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-64101274259711313622012-04-11T15:28:00.005-07:002012-04-11T16:15:27.245-07:00Watch out for the Udacians!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjapzS6h403CD-4_qR9khnNuKFQ-5XCfKhNQHGDqvSew7o_ivPpJfHWzphqC0NHLkkjz58MEkdRINyxkXDdcGSuxW8WavN_p2KXttbK2xuTr9m4obFUZ8Gpwj4YmLyL1Fin3dUKWJa9xj8/s1600/udacians.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 173px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjapzS6h403CD-4_qR9khnNuKFQ-5XCfKhNQHGDqvSew7o_ivPpJfHWzphqC0NHLkkjz58MEkdRINyxkXDdcGSuxW8WavN_p2KXttbK2xuTr9m4obFUZ8Gpwj4YmLyL1Fin3dUKWJa9xj8/s320/udacians.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730279039981492626" /></a>I just completed my first <a target="blank" href="http://www.udacity.com/">Udacity</a> class. It was fantastic. I took <b>Building A Search Engine </b>which is an introductory class to teach programming using Python. In theory, I didn't need an introductory class, but in practice it's been years since I did any substantial programming and that wasn't with Python. It was with PL/1, Pascal, C, and IBM Series 1 assembly language. I took the class mainly to analyze the <a target="blank" href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303299604577326302609615094.html">success</a> that Udacity is having disrupting higher education, but also because I love to learn.<div><br /></div><div>The Udacity class was outstanding for the following reasons:<br /><ul><li>It was free!<br /></li><li>The professor (<a target="blank" href="http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/">Dr. Dave Evans</a>) was easy to understand, funny, brilliant, and hardworking. His example with bunnies taking over the world, which I changed to Udacians taking over the world, was delightful. </li><li>The class was only seven weeks, so there was no time to get bored.<br /></li><li>Each video lecture was just a few minutes, so there was no time to get bored.</li><li>Each homework assignment focused on challenging, interesting, real-world (usually) problems, so there was no reason to get bored.<br /></li><li>The class was quite advanced (you guessed it, not boring!) We learned about recursion, hashed indexes, for loops, while loops, strings, lists, dictionaries, arithmetic expressions, variables, procedures, etc.</li><li>The <a target="blank" href="http://www.udacity-forums.com/cs101/">forum </a>discourse was pleasant and helpful, with none of the snide haters or arrogant know-it-alls that you often see in online discussion groups. The senior people on the forum (not me, despite my age :-), were extremely helpful, especially with the many test cases that they provided so we could test that our code worked correctly. </li></ul><div>Udacity grew out of the phenomenal success of the free, online <b>Artificial Intelligence</b> class that Stanford University unofficially offered in Fall 2011. I <a target="blank" href="http://www.themakersofthings.com/2011/12/artificial-intelligence-class.html">blogged</a> about that class when I finished it. It was awesome but the homework was too hard. The class I just finished was better than awesome. It was udacious, mainly because the homework was hard (challenging) but not too hard. Though we never heard final numbers, literally thousands of students finished the class. Thousands of new programmers out there! Beware! We will take over the world. :-)</div></div>Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9157450836414287576.post-60431468272365874722012-03-16T13:28:00.009-07:002012-04-27T10:51:11.404-07:00CS Professor Recommendations for Udacity<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYag1AkS6kWguXPUBWzTGXij8-ratiXz8sad920zEi5fTN7TvgeoXoJa8YHmiG1ggTkukuB6GnTzXNSrOeR183R9Df-DhEb6f78n72XJ0Jx2uaAQ9-qnkxamYM6MBSIzqNbEFMMRBYBj8/s1600/hands.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720610654401727010" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYag1AkS6kWguXPUBWzTGXij8-ratiXz8sad920zEi5fTN7TvgeoXoJa8YHmiG1ggTkukuB6GnTzXNSrOeR183R9Df-DhEb6f78n72XJ0Jx2uaAQ9-qnkxamYM6MBSIzqNbEFMMRBYBj8/s320/hands.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a>In a <a href="http://www.udacity.com/">Udacity</a> class that I'm taking, fellow students sometimes make recommendations for a professor they would like Udacity to hire. Well they could hire me. :-) See how nice my hands look when I teach online!? They might look even better transparent. Inside joke. :-) I am already happily and gainfully <a href="http://www.priscilla.com/services.html">employed</a> teaching engineers, however. <br />
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But this did get me thinking about whom I would like to see teach a class. And here's a list that I came up with:</div>
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<li><a href="http://research.cens.ucla.edu/people/estrin/">Deborah Estrin</a> is a professor of Computer Science at UCLA. She is a pioneer in the field of embedded network sensing and is the director of the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS) at UCLA.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.icir.org/floyd/">Sally Floyd</a> was a computer scientist at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, California. She is best known for her work on Internet congestion control. She was the inventor of the Random Early Detection active queue management scheme, and a co-author on the standards for TCP Selective acknowledgement (SACK) and Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN).</li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adele_Goldberg_(computer_scientist)">Adele Goldberg</a> is a computer scientist who participated in the development of the programming language Smalltalk-80 and various concepts related to object oriented programming.</li>
<li><a href="http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/wh/">Dame Wendy Hall</a> is a professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, England. She is a founding director, with Sir Tim Berners-Lee, of the Web Science Research Initiative.</li>
<li><a href="http://ai.stanford.edu/~koller/">Daphne Koller</a> is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at Stanford University and a MacArthur Fellowship recipient. Her general research area is artificial intelligence and its applications in biomedical sciences.</li>
<li><a href="http://privacyink.org/">Susan Landau</a> is an American mathematician and engineer, and, as of 2011, a Visiting Scholar at the Computer Science Department, Harvard University. In 2010-2011, she was a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, where she investigated issues involving security of government systems, and their privacy and policy implications.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.pmg.csail.mit.edu/~liskov/">Barbara Liskov</a> is the Ford Professor of Engineering in the MIT School of Engineering's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department. Liskov received the 2008 Turing Award from the ACM for her work in the design of programming languages and software methodology that led to the development of object-oriented programming.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~jmankoff/">Jennifer Mankoff</a> is an associate professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Her research interests also include mediation of ambiguous, recognition-based interfaces. Application areas of her work include assistive technology for people with special needs and the elderly, health and safety, and technologies that promote sustainability.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~tmm/">Tamara Munzner</a> is an associate professor in the department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia. Her research interests include the development, evaluation, and characterization of information visualization systems and techniques from both user-driven and technique-driven perspectives.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~evi/">Evi Nemeth</a> is an internationally recognized engineer, author, and teacher known for her expertise in computer system administration and networks. She is the lead author of the “bibles” of system administration: UNIX System Administration Handbook (1989, 1995, 2000), Linux Administration Handbook (2002, 2006), and UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook (2010). Nemeth is best known in mathematical circles for originally identifying inadequacies in the “Diffie-Hellman trap,” the basis for a large portion of modern network cryptography.</li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radia_Perlman">Radia Perlman</a> is a software designer and network engineer. She is most famous for her invention of the spanning-tree protocol (STP) for Ethernet bridges and switches and for authoring the quintessential book, "Interconnections." She also worked on Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL), routing security, and numerous other inventions in the networking field.</li>
<li><a href="http://people.math.gatech.edu/~randall/">Dana Randall</a> is a professor of theoretical computer science at Georgia Tech. Her primary research interest is analyzing algorithms for counting problems (eg. counting matchings in a graph) using Markov chains. One of her important contributions to this area is a decomposition theorem for analyzing Markov chains.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~jrex/">Jennifer Rexford</a> is a professor in the Computer Science department at Princeton. Her research focuses on Internet routing, network measurement, and network management, with the larger goal of making data networks easier to design, understand, and manage. Jennifer is co-author of the book "Web Protocols and Practice: HTTP/1.1, Networking Protocols, Caching, and Traffic Measurement" (Addison-Wesley, May 2001).</li>
<li><a href="http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Faculty/Homepages/song.html">Dawn Song</a> is a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California at Berkeley. Her research areas include operating systems, networking, programming systems, and security.</li>
<li><a href="http://people.mills.edu/spertus/">Ellen Spertus</a> is an associate professor of Computer Science at Mills College, Oakland, California, and a senior research scientist at Google. Since January of 2009, Spertus has spent her time at Google working on App Inventor for Android.</li>
<li><a href="http://dataprivacylab.org/people/sweeney/">Latanya Sweeney</a> develops algorithms and real-world systems that allow information to be shared with provable guarantees of privacy (legally and scientifically) while remaining practically useful. Dr. Sweeney has had significant impact on American privacy policy. Dr. Sweeney is a Visiting Professor and Scholar at Harvard University, was a Distinguished Career Professor of Computer Science, Technology and Policy in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, and remains the Director and founder of the Data Privacy Lab, now at Harvard University.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.cs.tamu.edu/people/faculty/taylor">Valerie E. Taylor</a> is the Royce E. Wisenbaker Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A& M. Her research interests are high performance computing, with particular emphasis on the performance analysis and modeling of parallel and distributed applications.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mmv/">Manuela M. Veloso</a> is a professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University where she studies how robots can learn, plan and work together to accomplish tasks. She was the winner of the 2009 Autonomous Agents Research Award from the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Artificial Intelligence (ACM/SIGART).</li>
<li><a href="http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~yelick/">Katherine Yelick</a> is a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California at Berkeley and is also the Associate Laboratory Director for Computing Sciences and the Director of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She is the co-author of two books and more than 100 refereed technical papers on parallel languages, compilers, algorithms, libraries, architecture, and storage.</li>
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Some of these people are getting up there in age. Udacity should grab them while they can! Even if they are retired, perhaps they would like to still share their expertise and help up-and-coming computer scientists recognize that the field isn't all young men. :-)Priscilla Oppenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16200272691941910102noreply@blogger.com0