Frances Bell’s Blog

As I pledged that I would and to mark Ada Lovelace Day, I am blogging two women who excel in technology and can provide role models for women in  technology.  Naturally their achievements intersect with my own interests and concerns but are also applicable to many women in technology.  They have in common that they are talented, funny, resilient and are very supportive to women and men with whom they come into contact. Lastly, they are both mothers - this may not seem significant but is worth mentioning, I think, in recognition of women who combine their professional aspirations with family life.

I am only supposed to blog one woman but who’s going to stop me from blogging two?

The first woman that I’d like to blog is Alison Adam, who is currently a Professor in English, Sociology, Politics and Contemporary History at the University of Salford, and was formerly with the Information Systems group in Salford Business School (their gain was our loss).  Alison has combined her interest in Information Technology and the Philosophy of Science to generate a wealth of work around gender, ethics and information technology. In her inaugural professorial address  at Salford in 2005 “Desires and Devices: Exploring the Gender-Technology Relation” , Alison drew links between the stereotype of women’s supposed lack of knowledge of ‘modern’ technologies and their proficiency with textile technologies such as knitting and sewing to make a powerful argument for the role that women can play in effective design and use of information technology, see http://francesbell.com/2007/01/09/67/. 

She is an inspirational role model for women (and men) in academia who want to tackle the challenging ethical, cultural and professional issues in IT.  Alison led the Informatics Research Institute’s submission to the Library and Information Management for the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise.  Alison’s research in the experience of women in IT raises big questions about the possibilities for us to achieve effective action, equality and diversity in a gendered, digitally saturated world.

The second woman that I wish to celebrate is Josie Fraser, an independent consultant.  Josie has been effective in influencing practice  (in her work with further education colleges in their adoption of learning technologies) and and in policy, for example in her work in digital literacy.  Josie’s view of digital literacy moves beyond the stultifying approach of cybersafety to regarding young people as empowered agents who may benefit form support in effective behaviours.  Josie’s work on this and her role in the EduBlog awards was recognised when she won the ALT Learning Technologist of the year award in 2008. I have had the honour to work with Josie (and others) in workshops at ALT-C 2007 see http://web2slam.wetpaint.com and ALT-C 2008 see http://digdivslam.wetpaint.com.  Workshop organisers and participants had a lot of fun and learned a lot about Web 2.0 and the Digital Divide in the process. Josie brought a freshness and sense of engagement to the ventures that has really influenced me in my work with students and colleagues at Salford.  I have seen at first hand the support that Josie offers to others on Twitter , on the JISC Emerge community and in person

Let’s draw attention to women like Alison and Josie - real women, real role models!