Currently finished:

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (2nd reading)

Groundswell by Christine Li and Josh Bernoff (2nd reading)

The Moral Animal by Robert Wright (TERRIBLE book, btw)

On the nightstand:

Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Planet Google by Randall Stross

Spent: Sex, Evolution and Consumer Behavior by Geoffrey Miller

Rules of Thumb by Alan Webber

The Power of a Positive No by William Ury

On Order:

The Fourth Turning by William Strauss

The Extreme Future by James Canton

The Transparent Society by David Brin
Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore; Regis McKenna
The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder

What is on your must read list? I have a few projects coming up that require researching and studying a variety of theories and viewpoints, and I’m actively seeking books I have not considered yet. Do you have a seminal work not listed here you rely on for future theory or psychology/sociology of technology? Does one of these works speak to you? What resonates with you?

note: links in this blog may be Amazon affiliate links

Ada Lovelace was one of the world’s first computer programmers, and one of the first people to see computers as more than just a machine for doing sums. She wrote programmes for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, a general-purpose computing machine, despite the fact that it was never built.

What woman will I be honoring in her memory today? You. That’s right, all of the strong women I have met at events or had the pleasure of working with this year. I went to a Girls In Tech Boston event this evening and was surrounded by some of Boston’s best and brightest women in technology. I have been quietly working to build Strong Women in Tech, a project which should start to see real momentum for members this summer, helping mentor girls in school to stay on a path to a career in or around technology, math or science. I’ve talked about women’s issues in podcasts and at events in the past year. I also recently spoke at Geek Girl Camp on Blogging 101, Managing Work Flow In Social Media and ROI Is Not Money.

Through all of these events and all of these big plans, I have been floored at the number of women who are out there, in the trenches, forging a path. Women like Shireen Mitchell, down in DC, a good friend and constant crusader for women’s rights in general, and in tech specifically. Women like Meg Fowler, who lead by example. Women like Leslie Bradshaw and Jen Nedeau, who stay focused on specific goals and niches to make ways for women to succeed. All of the women I know who have started their own tech-based companies in the last few years, leading the way for the next generation. Women I don’t have space to name who touch my work and life, offering guidance and friendship. Our grandmothers, and their grandmothers, who lent us their strength and their stories.

I don’t believe that there is a gender gap holding us back. Not anymore. I believe that we are a tide of powerful women, always moving forward, erasing the rigid marks of the past and writing a new future. We are doing it at our own pace, and in our own times, and each ripple forms our shore for future generations to play. To the women of tech: I salute you.

The final panel for Episode 6 of Topics on Fire has been set and the topic will be Part Two of Gender Gap / Technology/New Media. Myself (Leslie Poston), Shireen Mitchell of Women Wired In, Leslie Bradshaw (recently featured on CSPAN covering the conventions), Meg Fowler of MegFowler.com (currently helping promote SM4SC.com), and Jen Nedeau will be paneling this discussion. Tonight’s podcast will be solution focused, as Part One zeroed in on defining the issues.

“Follow” the show on TalkShoe or stop back here for updates on each episode and notifications that a new episode is coming.

The first podcast on the Gender Gap and Technology was a lively one. As you all know I am always trying to push for real world solutions to the problems we talk about, and we didn’t come up with takeaways in the limited time the panel had to discuss it. Because of that, I’m scheduling a Part 2. I’m hoping that the same panel is willing to come back and take a different approach: instead of rehashing the existing and past issue of gender and technology, as valid as that is, I’d like to start Part 2 by stipulating that the problem exists and acknowledging that strong men and women have done much to pave the way for women in technology. Then I’d like to make the sole goal of Part 2 finding tangible ways to help women feel less disenfranchised in technology, to help women get access to technology for careers and educations and as many other solutions as we can think of in an hour of positive, focused, goal oriented discussion.

Future Topics on Fire Episodes include:

(as panelists confirm I will post them next to the podcast)

10/19 11PM Eastern Episode 7, Politics and Technology (Leslie Bradshaw, remaining panelists yet to be determined)