Technomama – Ana Sisnett — my tech heroine for Ada Lovelace Day

Ana Sisnett (1952-2009) was Executive Director from 1998-2006 of Austin Free-Net, a community technology center. But her pioneering on the internet began earlier when she co-founded Technomama with Gisele-Audrey Mills. Technomama worked with the Institute for Global Communications (IGC) and the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) back when the text-only internet presented more opportunities for social justice activism than for consumerism. Funded in part by the Foundation for a Compassionate Society, Technomama trained women left out of the digital revolution and viewed equal access and ability as an international human rights issue.

An early adopter who delighted as much as the next geek over a new application or gadget, Ana nevertheless always thought through the complex questions of access, training, and ability. If the technology excluded, well, then…where’s the fix? She admired the work of Knowbility, whose annual AIR-Interactive (Accessible Internet Rally) features a web-design contest focusing on assistive technology and accessible design.

Over the last three years, Ana struggled with ovarian cancer, and she passed away on January 13. She leaves behind many, many people who were touched by her vision of a usable and just technology that bridges differences and helps us realize our better selves.

Turing award goes to woman for first time

Frances E. Allen, who began work at IBM in 1957, has received the Association for Computing Machinery’s 2006 Turing award and is the first woman to receive this honor in the forty years that it has been offered. Her work has focused on compilers and machine architecture. For some historical perspective on pioneering women, check out Ada and Grace: Practical Visionaries.

16% — up from 14%

Much is being made of Nancy Pelosi as the first woman speaker of the house, especially since the 110th Congress began yesterday. Wow. While it’s important to applaud this moment, let’s put it into perspective. Patting ourselves on the back for finally having a woman speaker of the house is like throwing a celebration party for a pampered athlete who’s won a race after 109 attempts: the victory rings hollow and should have happened a long time ago.

16% of the members of this nation’s governing body is made up of women — that’s 2% more than the count on Wednesday, the Republicans’ last day as majority party. Women make up 52% of the population. You do the math.