The Local Scene

Just as in the Netherlands, I am investigating the experiences of women involved with technology here in California. It’s too early to make real comparisons or even to really hypothesize, but a couple of things have caught my attention.  There seems here more of an overlap between the tech culture and the alternative cultural scene, the most obvious example being the community around Burning Man (and Maker Faire, RoboGames, etc). Though there is still sometimes a bit of a boys club atmosphere at some events, there are women centrally involved in all of them.

Further, the concentration of tech companies in Northern California offers more opportunities for women to be involved in industry, and a larger base for the growth of digital culture than in many other US locales.  This summer, I hope to add some locale interviews, as well as organizing those from earlier investigations.

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Update…

This project has been on hiatus for quite some time; I had expected to travel regularly to the Netherlands, continuing interviews I began in 2007 and continued in 2008.  However, in early 2009 the economic troubles in California and in my university system in particular put a halt to my travels for the foreseeable future.  Over the last year I’ve had to work on revamping the project and shifting the focus to local interviews far sooner than I had planned.  I hope to get back to NL eventually, and in the meantime, I’m figuring what I can do long-distance.

And now, back to the project…