Posts
 |
| Photo: IDG Connect |
My favourite Financial Times journalists are Lucy Kellaway and Gillian Tett. And I can’t help wondering if it is coincidental that both are women…
Maybe, but maybe not. Neither of their approaches are some mad-pejorative-dresses-and-perfume idea of femininity. Yet Gillian Tett does tend to focus on big picture societal impact. While Lucy Kellaway places a lot of emphasis on individual corporate experiences and even wrote the comic novel, Martin Lukes: Who Moved My BlackBerry?
So what has all this got to do with women in tech or Ada Lovelace Day? Well, there is clearly a lot of stuff and nonsense written about both subjects. The worst end of this appears to champion drafting in as many women in as possible for no apparent reason.
There is one reason why having more women in different environments is a good thing: different people come with different perspectives. In fact, probably the least interesting thing about Ada Lovelace is the much touted label that she was ‘the first programmer’…
 |
| An illustration inspired by the A. E. Chalon portrait created for the Ada Initiative, which supports open technology and women. Photo: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Daughter of the notorious poet Lord Byron
Lord Byron was a pop star of his age. He was a member of the aristocracy – which was as celebrity as it got back then – he was handsome, and he wrote poetry. He also had a debauched life complete with lovers, debts and even incest. When he married the highly educated Anne Isabella Noel – for her cash – the union wasn’t happy. The mother left and their only child, Ada, never met her father.
However, the paternal legacy was everywhere in her life. As her mother didn’t want her to suffer from the “insanity” of her father she was encouraged into maths. All this made her quite notorious in her own right from the word go.
Ragingly ‘hatstand’ and a chirpy approach to communication
Ada Lovelace had the type of personality that sets people in good stead for success. She was bright, unconventional, fiercely independent and extremely likeable. Although she studied science, she embodied what people think of the ‘spirit of the arts’, making her a brilliant blend of two disciplines.
Read more...
Related link
Ada Lovelace (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Source: IDG Connect
