Mike takes to heart the adage that ideas are f***ing worthless without action.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Flickr

This is a test post from flickr, a fancy photo sharing thing.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Transparency, A-Lists, and time

Dave Rogers correctly points out that technology doesn't change what we do, only how we do it. The case in point this time is the overwhelmingly male speakers roster at the Office 2.0 2006 Conference. Out of 54 speakers, only 1 is a woman.

Now, I've actually done some thinking about this, rather than just firing off a reactionary posting as is encouraged by the blogosphere. Actual contemplation and discussion is highly discouraged by the sweeping wave nature of discourse among the "a listers", who tend to dive into a topic, and leave it just as quickly..... interesting tangents....

Anyway... I asked Noran about this, and she gave me an insightful and very deep answer, which completely and totally supported Dave's point... technology makes work easier, but in most cases doesn't change what we do, even in the medical field.

Of course... I was actually asking a different question... (what about the underrepresentation of women) and she again came up with an insightful and deep answer... It doesn't matter who speaks, as long as they are the most qualified. We talked about how to make sure it's fair... and we agree it gets very difficult very quickly. (I.E. are all religions and races represented??)

After sleeping on it, getting even further away from the wave of conversation... I reach what I believe to be the proper way to handle this... more transparency.

If we all knew who was invited to speak, and why... we'd all be better served. We could better judge the nature of the conference, and the motivations of the organizers. Better informed decisions help make the best markets. Of course, the converse is that profiteers who want to get something for nothing (or little work) will lose... so they'll prefer to keep things opaque.

Well this is my first Blogger beta post... let's see how it does.

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Update: Shelley Powers reports that they've added three very good women to the roster.

About Me

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Munster, Indiana, United States
I fix things, I take pictures, I write, and marvel at the joy of life. I'm trying to leave the world in better condition than when I found it.