The GeekGirlBlogs Podcast » Podcast

Podcast - Donna Spencer

geekgirlblogs — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 05:36:53 +0000

On the eve of her book release & just back from presenting at SXSW in Austin Texas, then the Information Architecture summit in Memphis; Donna Spencer talks to us today about being an Interaction Designer & how to get experience in useability in your existing role.

She shares what it was like to present at SXSW, about her upcoming UX Australia conference in Canberra as well as being invited to present at UX London and running some workshops in Denmark. Donna’s knowledge & passion for Experience & Interaction really comes across when she describes how to organise a conference from an Experience Design perspective.

We also have a quick chat about what its like to be a freelancer & balance (blend) work & family life.

And as we chatted, Donna got notification that her book was now available to download & she is officially an Author! Congratulations Donna!

Some important Links:

Donna’s Book: http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/cardsorting

Find Donna on Twitter: http://twitter.com/maadonna

Donna’s Website: http://maadmob.com.au/

UX Australia: http://uxaustralia.com.au/conference-2009/

Canberra IA Community: http://iacanberra.org/

It still Sux to be a woman working in IT (Subtitle: Catherine has a rant)

geekgirlblogs — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:30:55 +0000

With International Women’s day approaching on March the 6th, I decided to share some of the chellenges I have faced as a Woman working in IT. I am hoping that we can start a discussion about what it is like to work in IT, and start to address these challenges for the next generation of Women thinking of a career in IT.

Some of the topics I share include what it was like to Study IT at University, working as the only female in IT teams, the effect of taking maternity leave & attending It conferences as a female.

I know this is a bit of a rant, but please - feel free to add your thoughts & comments below.

Podcast: Pia Waugh

geekgirlblogs — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:53:48 +0000

This week I managed to chase down Pia Waugh for long enough to have a chat about the exciting things she has been doing with the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Project. She is a founding member and volunteer for the OLPC Friends organisation. Pia is a passionate supporter of Open Source Software (OSS), actively involved in Australia’s Linux Community and also a powerful advocate & supporter for Women Working in IT, especially working with School age girls to challenge the stereotypes of working in IT to foster a growing Women in IT community.

I always love chatting with Pia - I find her passion & energy that she puts into her projects absolutely contagious - and I always feel so inspired after I chat with her! Pia is one of the awe inspiring Australian Women working in IT we have here, so it was a total honour to get to interview her for this podcast.

(Apologies for the background noise as the only place we could meet was a cafe)

Some handy links for the OLPC project:

The OLPC Friends Organisation Website: http://www.olpcfriends.org/

If you are interested in Volunteering for the OLPC project: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Friends/volunteers

The Australian OLPC Organisation: http://olpc.org.au/

Pia’s Blogpost on her experience setting up the OLPC in Niue: http://pipka.org/blog/tag/niue/

Pia’s Blogposts on Australia’s First deployment of OLPC: http://pipka.org/blog/tag/deployment/

WomenBuild… inspiring career paths in technology

geekgirlblogs — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 04:43:41 +0000

While at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in LA last week, I was fortunate enough to make it along on the Sunday to the Women Build event based on Lego Serious Play Program (LSP). It was a fantastic event in which we got to play with Lego Kits to create models as metaphors for challenges that you are faced with when trying to integrate diversity in a workplace.

Our table had a fantatsic group that was made up of a mix of both male & female participants which included people from different cultures & nationalities. In our group itself, it was interesting to see the range of solutions provided & it really highlighted the value of working together, and the value you can achieve when you welcome the thoughts and opinions of diverse groups & work together (as well as the challenges with doing this!)

Throughout the event, I was able to grab a few of the organisers & facilitators & get some feedback on the ideas of how it all started - and what they had hoped to achieve. These can be found in the 3 short podcasts below:

Podcast 1: Asli Bilgin & Mark Hindsbo

Podcast 2: Lindsay Rutter

Podcast 3: Frank Arrigo

There is now a WomenBuild facebook group that has been created to further support this initiative and we are all interested in getting the discussions flowing here, so feel free to join in & offer your opinions on the site.

You can also register for the MSDN Developer Conference coming to a US city near you for more experiences with WomenBuild and live delivery of PDC content!

One Person Can Change the World

geekgirlblogs — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:36:20 +0000

Today, Sara Ford is releasing her book Visual Studio Tips - 251 Ways to improve your Productivity. What is impressive about Sara’s story is not that she wrote this book in 2 months - in her spare time - but the emotional story behind the book. The result is that she is donating all proceeds from the sale of the book to the Save Waveland Scolarship fund.

She will be at PDC signing copies of her book on Monday - as well as at the Women in IT function on Wednesday night.

Podcast 4.0 - Eileen Brown

geekgirlblogs — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 05:26:24 +0000

While at Tech Ed Australia this year, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to interview Eileen Brown who manages a Team of IT Eveangelists for Microsoft UK. During the podcast, we talk about her experiences as a Woman in IT, as well as talk about what she sees while travelling around being involved in Women in IT events worldwide. Interestingly, in her travels she sees the same issues coming up again & again, for all women around the globe working in IT.

Eileen has collated a blog page that lists all the resources for Women in IT on her blog. If you know of others that arent listed, make sure add it to the comments so that this list can become a comprehensive resource for all women Worldwide.

During the podcast, Elieen mentions the new Women In Technology mentoring site www.evetechs.com which is due for release very shortly! Make sure you check it out…

Podcast 3.0 - Building a Girl Geek Community

geekgirlblogs — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:52:38 +0000

The concept of Girl Geek Dinners was started in London in 2006 by Sarah Blow. Tonight I was lucky enough to pin down the Geek Goddess herself Damana Madden, who started the Sydney Girl Geek Dinners and is now the Asia Pacific Contact for setting up a Girl Geek Dinner on behalf of Sarah Blow. We talk about the importance of this community for Women Working in IT, what its like to head along to a Girl Geek Dinner, as well as some tips for how to get one started in your community.

Damana mentions the next Girl Geek Dinner which is actually a luncheon at this years Tech Ed and includes an amazing panel of local & international Women - and as an added bonus, if you register to attend you get a free days access to Tech Ed. Places are filling fast, so register online here if you would like to attend using the Promotion code of wit08.

To contact Damana for more details on setting up a Girl geel Community, or getting involved in the Sydney one, you can find her on Twitter, or via her blog

We hope to see you at the next event if you are heading to Tech Ed in Sydney, Australia if your heading along please make sure you say hello!

Feel free to post in the comments on here any stories or pictures you may have about your own local Girl Geek Dinner you are setting up or involved in!

Podcast 2.0 - Recruitment For Women in IT

geekgirlblogs — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:27:09 +0000

Our second Podcast is now available!

I had the pleasure of interviewing Jodie Miners, Alison Young & Markus Hafner for our latest Geek Girl Blogs Podcast - each offering tips & suggestions to anyone looking for work.

Jodie gives some great suggestions on what she did differently in her most recent quest for work - and Alison gives some excellent tips for those straight out of Uni. Markus gives the unique perspective of a recruiter - and also offers some fantastic ideas.

Thanks to everyone for their tips after listening to our first Podcast! I hope you all enjoy this months podcast as much as we enjoyed recording it!

GeekGirlBlogs Podcast 01 - Running a Web 2.0 Startup

geekgirlblogs — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:41:30 +0000

This is the first of our Monthly Podcasts where we will be covering topics that are both technical & non technical in an attempt to provide inspiration & support to women working in the IT industry, female students and younger women considering a career in IT. We are going to be interviewing Female Role Models in the IT industry, highlighting some of the amazing work that they are doing, and also talk about issues that affect women working in IT.

Our First podcast for our Geek Girl Blogs PodCasting series is with Bronwen Clune, Founder & CEO of Norg Media. In this Podcast we talk about the challenges of starting & running a Web 2.0 Business in Australia.

Here are some links to the other amazing women working in the web 2.0 space that we mention during the podcast:

Bridget Conway-Taylor who runs Cineplicity

Tanya Love who started My Day My Way

Tina Paters who has set up Online Giving

Louise Gorrie (who I mistakenly refer to as Lisa in the podcast - sorry Louise!) founder of BlackMax Media