Photo by Aristocrat (cc)

Today, 24^th March 2009 is the first Ada Lovelace Day. Bloggers around the globe are invited to write a blog post about  a women in technology that they admire. The aim is to highlight female role models and encourage women to become leaders in technology.

What does “in technology” mean?

It’s up to you how you interpret the phrase “in technology”. We’re not just interested in hardcore ninja programmers, but any woman who creates, invents, or uses any technology in an innovative way. Feel free to interpret it as widely as you like.

- From the website FindingAda.com

Who is Ada Lovelace?

Ada Lovelace is today appreciated as the first computer programmer. Read more about Ada Lovelace on Wikipedia.

Tell me more about Ada Lovelace Day?

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. Women’s contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognised. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines. Whatever she does, whether she is a sysadmin or a tech entrepreneur, a programmer or a designer, developing software or hardware, a tech journalist or a tech consultant, we want to celebrate her achievements.

- From the website Pledgebank.com/AdaLovelaceDay

Who is behind this/ who started it?

Web 2.0 Expo Europe speaker and freelance social software consultant, Suw Charman-Anderson pledged that she would publish a blog post on Tuesday 24th March about a woman in technology whom she admires but only if 1,000 other people did the same. Suw explains how she came up with the concept in further detail on the FndingAda.com website. Although, the amount of people that have contributed to this so far is over the 1,000 mark, why not add your own contribution? I’m still debating about whom I want to write about for mine…

The unfortunate thing in this case is that the product that was advertised is actually quite a good deal – Meteor have launched their “Broadband to go” mobile broadband service at a competitive rate in comparison to other operators, namely 3, Vodafone and O2 (although I do think that the current 5GB monthly limit is a bit low). However, perhaps a more unobtrusive ad would have caused me (and other potential customers) to check out the product voluntarily and have brought me to the product web page in a less unhappy and frustrated mood!

I learned a lot in 2008… and I loved a lot as well. Read about some of the highlights of my year from music, books, design, the web and technology to Obama, going green, success and failure, who I am/ what I do and sticktuitiveness!

Music:
I continue to and always will love music. I discovered some new music and re-discovered some old favourites in the form of Santogold, MGMT, Katy Perry, the Ting Tings, Lykke Li, Vampire Weekend, Sam Sparro, Duffy, Kanye West, SIA, The Script, Kings of Leon, Jeff Buckley, Jewel, Billy Holiday and more…

Books:
I re-discovered my love of books. Having always felt that I didn’t have enough time (or rather didn’t make enough time) to read more due to studying and a heavy workload, I finally made some progress to read more in 2008. Favourite reads included: “Let The Right One In” by John Ajvide Lindqvist and “What Should I Do With My Life?” by Po Bronson. Read an inspirational excerpt from Bronson’s book.

What/ Who I am… What/ Who am I?
I’m a designer. No, I’m a multimedia producer. No, I’m a developer. No, I’m a project manager. No, I’m a marketeer. No, I’m a web consultant… It can be hard to define what I do because up to now I’ve done a lot of things. In parallel with that, I’m creative, I’m a photographer, a musician, a film-maker, a writer and a human. What I do and who am I are still sometimes quite different and I want them to be more aligned and streamlined… For now let’s go with the working title of creator and communicator. I’m working on it!

Impressing the wrong people:
If you want to impress people, impress the right people – those whom you respect and want to emulate.

Success and failure:
Failure doesn’t feel good but you can learn and grow from it. (Continued) success at the wrong thing can trap you forever. I like freedom.

Going green:
I did more than turn off the computers and lights in 2008. I moved paying my bills online, recycled more, donated more, eat organic and started replacing the regular lightbulbs in my house. Read 50 ways to help the planet.

Breaking up:
There is no such thing as a good break-up. However, you can ease the pain a little by being clear, honest and respectful with yourself and to the person that you are/ were involved with. If all that comes out of a break-up is another lesson in life that’s something more than you started with.
“You have to forgive to forget, and forget, to feel again.”
– unknown

“Hearts will never be practical until they are made unbreakable.”
– Wizard of Oz

Design:
In 2008, I was inspired by websites including The Grid System and Fontstruct and a huge amount of musicians, writers, bloggers, designers, film-makers, artists, logos, t-shirt designs, album covers, furniture, architecture, street art, art art, websites, nature and photography.

The web & social networking:
In 2008, I loved Twitter… Yes, twitter gets all of my web/ social networking love for the year! I also really liked LinkedIn, Tumblr, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo and SlideShare.

Technology:
In 2008, I loved my Apple I-Mac, my Sony Cybershot T-700 and my magic 8-ball (I consider my 8-ball technology and it gives me answers to some very important questions!).

Obama:
Change is good! I loved watching history being made in 2008.

Style:
In 2008, I loved my retro Nike 6.0 Air Morgan’s, my Converse, my skinny jeans, my PLO scarves, my Abercrombie hoodies, my trilby hats, my big chunky watches and my tribal earrings.

Wall-E:
One of the most unique and unexpected movies of 2008.

Advice:
Always listen to advice but don’t necessarily take it… look to your gut. I listened to a lot of advice this year but I’m glad that I didn’t take some of it. Working in a stockbrokers was an experience but I’m glad that I didn’t buy shares!

Travel:
An eternal traveler. In 2008, I got to see Barcelona again and visited Sicily and Lisbon for the first time.

Having fun:
Whether it was playing a wii for the first time, having a game of tennis, chilling out watching a good movie, going for a rollerblade, going to a gig, walking the dogs or just laughing out loud. I loved it all! But I want to have more fun in 2009!

And finally, a new word:
“Sticktuitiveness”. I went to a talk that Erin Brockovich was presenting at and she introduced me to this word. A determination to persevere and to stick with an endeavor once you’ve committed to it while using your intuition. I love it.

Happy New Year all!

- Niamh.

This is my first week of self-employment. Friday was my last day in my permanent job and yes, I did choose to leave that safe pensionable job in the middle of the recession!

Last Wednesday evening I read three blog posts in succession, which turned out to be quite serendipitous. First, I read “Lesson learned from my biggest business mistake” by Seth Godin. Then I somehow found my way over to Damien Mulley’s blog where I read “And?” and lastly, I read “I can’t” by Joe Scanlon. Godin’s blog notes what he views as his biggest business mistake – not believing in the world wide web in 1994. Mulley addresses procrastination and makes the case for entrepreneurship and self-employment. While Scanlon follows-on to address a number of barriers that sometimes prevent people from starting their own business and offers some answers or solutions to these.

Throughout both of my college degrees, I was working part-time in various freelance and contract roles. As soon as I graduated from my Master’s degree I went straight into full-time employment. Since then I have spent the past few years working for a number of blue chip, well-known corporate company’s. Certainly I have learnt a lot in the past few years. I have learnt project management skills, gained my PRINCE2 Practitioner level certification and learnt about working on my own initiative as well as working in varied, dynamic teams. I have learnt about knowledge management, business development, making presentations, negotiations and how to work with stakeholders within dynamic, matrix, Irish and global organisations. I have expanded on my communications skills, my hands-on design and development experience, I have learned a number of new technologies and systems and a hell of a lot about marketing, communications, strategy and branding. However, I know that I have a lot more to learn and want to move my career in a different, more creative and more focused direction.

While online marketing/ communications, multimedia and the web have all had a role to play in my various positions within these companies, they were not the central core of the business but rather functioned as support elements. Furthermore, I want to work with people that are coming from similar backgrounds to me and that share similar interests. And if they are as passionate and excited about user-centered design, new technology and online marketing/ entertainment/ communications developments as I am, all the better!

Conventional wisdom is that it is always better to get a job when you are in a job. However, a 9 to 5 job does not necessarily start at 9 and end at 5 so making time, outside of work and other daily commitments, to plan out your next move, do the research required, search for, identify and then apply for a suitable/ desirable position can become extremely difficult to do, if not almost impossible in some cases. Therefore, I made the decision to take some time out to think, plan, network, learn more about myself and what I want, and to up-skill while I plan my next move. So far this week, I have gained one contract, been to a bloggers Christmas party, attended a digital media start-up event and have met a variety of interesting people in the digital space in Ireland… Surely only the beginning!

Thanks to Seth, Damien and Joe for their recent articles.

- Niamh.

I saw the new Microsoft advertisement on tv earlier today. Microsoft’s response to Apple’s “I’m a PC… I’m a Mac” advertisement seems more like a retaliation than an innovation. “I’m a PC and I’ve been made into a stereotype.” Is that an admission that the smaller rival is winning or are they taking them head-on?

What’s clever about Microsoft’s ad is that it focuses on the everyday nature of the PC and the good they can do in the world. A nerdy PC-user is just a scene setter. The ad then quickly moves through lots of different types of PC users including an African school teacher, a blogger for Obama, a McCain supporter, people wearing jeans, designing jeans, and studying genes and not to mention some celebrity endorsement in the form of Pharell Williams, Eva Longoria and BG himself. This is a refreshing contrast to the Apple ads because they take place in a variety of different, colorful locations, with a variety of races and cultures, rather than existing within Apple’s clinical, white world.

Microsoft’s I’m a PC – Life Without Walls website features more information and a chance for users to become a PC on TV by uploading their own “I’m a PC’ videos, which Microsoft will use for their online advertising and TV campaigns.True, this could be considered a great Parthian shot at Apple but what about the people who use both PC’s and Mac’s? We’ve got 2 Mac’s and 4 PC’s in our house… what does that make us? *Niamh walks away saying “I’m a PC and a MAC”… Though, I’m more of a Mac! *

Watch the “I’m a PC” video on YouTube.

ESB Customer Supply, in association with the Power of One energy efficiency campaign are just one of the Irish businesses supporting Earth Hour 2007. According to Friends of the Environment, Dublin was the first Irish city to commit to Earth Hour.

Light Pollution in Ireland. Source: Irish Light Pollution Awareness Campaign website

So, when did this all start?

Earth Hour, under the working title ‘the big flick’, was conceived in December 2005 as a way in which parts of the Australian community could be engaged by and alerted to the need to address climate change.

“A partnership was formed in August 2006 between WWF-Australia’s Andy Ridley, Leo Burnett’s Nigel Marsh and Fairfax Media’s Phil McLean with a planned campaign date of early 2007. Earth Hour was launched publicly as a Sydney-only event on December 16 2006 by Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and took place at 7.30pm on March 31 2007.

Following significant interest from both inside Australia and around the world, Earth Hour was formed into a non-profit entity owned by WWF-Australia, Leo Burnett and Fairfax Media. The decision was taken to make Earth Hour an open source model, allowing any genuinely interested individual, company, media or government anywhere in the world to adopt the campaign for 2008.”

I wrote an article in August 2007 about Wikinomics and how it is changing the World. To re-cap briefly, Wikinomics is based on four ideas: Openness, Peering, Sharing, and Acting Globally. That article came to mind while I was writing this post because I remember how I ended the article:

“… could wikinomics change more than the way we do business? Could it save the world?! Tapscott argues, it is indeed a power for good: ‘For the first time, we have a worldwide movement to fight global warming. The stake, survival of the planet, is worth the risk.’ ”

Despite a certain level of criticism and debate from commentators that questioned whether whether humans are responsible for global warming in the first place or whether the hour caused a significant reduction in electricity consumption at all, the campaign undoubtedly has caused major capital cities to unite with each other and has raised awareness about this issue. At the very least, it symbolises people’s commitment to find solutions for climate change and sends out a clear message – that action is possible and together we can try to create a sustainable future.

“The event itself will clearly demonstrate in participating cities, the connection between energy usage and climate change, showing that we as broader community can address the biggest threat our planet has ever faced.”

From http://www.earthhour.org/about:

“It started with a question: How can we inspire people to take action on climate change?

The answer: Ask the people of Sydney to turn off their lights for one hour.

On 31 March 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour – Earth Hour. If the greenhouse reduction achieved in the Sydney CBD during Earth Hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year.

With Sydney icons like the Harbour Bridge and Opera House turning their lights off, and unique events such as weddings by candlelight, the world took notice. Inspired by the collective effort of millions of Sydneysiders, many major global cities are joining Earth Hour in 2008, turning a symbolic event into a global movement.

Note: Astronomy Ireland is holding a special astronomy evening at the Papal Cross Car Park in Phoenix Park hoping to be able to show ‘some of the objects in the night sky which would normally be difficult to see because of light pollution’.

Related Links:

• “See the difference you can make” – Earth Hour 2008 official website

• VOICE: Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment: Global Earth Hour – March 29^th 8pm – turn off your lights! (*Side-note: I did work experience in VOICE when I was a teenager. )

• Wikipedia: Earth Hour
• Irish Light Pollution Awareness Campaign website
• MTV ‘Switch’ Campaign

Good luck to those that have been nominated! If anyone fancy’s a sneak peak before the nominations have been disclosed, apparently there’s leaks popping up already.

Cecchini, who previously dyed the waters of the Trevi Fountain red in October of last year, told Italian interviewers that he uses “art – if we want to call it art – to stress our malaise.”

He added that this latest gesture “was an artistic gesture to demonstrate the problems we have in Italy… Both the Left and the Right are telling us so many lies and I and the Italians have had enough they have broken our balls and hence this live art display.”

The balls bounced down the steps, filling the Barcaccia fountain in the piazza below the steps in a spectacle that stopped passers-by in their tracks. Officials were forced to briefly cordon off the popular tourist spot as police detained Cecchini and three others. Street cleaners later shoveled the balls into garbage trucks and hosed down the stairs to remove strays.

• European Year of Intercultural Dialogue;
• Australian Year of the Scout;
• International Year of the Potato;
• Year of the Beijing Olympic Games…

and more!

One of my new years resolutions is to write (and blog) more, to read more and to design more (designing in my own time that is and on more self-directed/ creative projects.) I can’t use the excuse of not having enough time due to work anymore… there’s a whole 128 hours left in a week after work afterall! Which reminds me, another resolution should be to sleep more! So that leaves about 80 hours!

2007 was good. The Christmas break was nice and I had some time to rest and relax, spend some time with friends and family, play with my new I-mac (more on that in a later post)… and even had some ‘me’ time.

I’m looking forward to the coming year… Happy New Year everyone!
Niamh.

The indexing web site hosts torrent files or files that contain the basic information about a file or set of files, such as the file name, size, date created etc. The web site allows users to browse these torrent files and enables peer to peer sharing by facilitating the online exchange of films, music and TV programmes. As of August 2007, there were over 1,000,000 user submitted torrents indexed on the site and over one million users. TorrentSpy billed itself as the “The Largest Bit Torrent Search Engine”, a central location to find files distributed on BitTorrent P-to-P (peer-to-peer) networks.

Torrentspy’s first major legal troubles began in May 2005 when the site was forced to remove all links to torrents of the “Star Wars: Episode III” film after a stolen workprint was leaked to the internet. In February 2006, the MPAA filed a lawsuit against Torrentspy for “abusing technology to facilitate infringement of copyrighted works.”

In May 2007, a federal judge ordered that TorrentSpy begin monitoring its users’ activities and to submit these logs with information including what BitTorrent files users requested as well as the time and date of those requests, to the MPAA. This would show whether the users were on the site for legal purposes or whether the service existed to enable piracy. The defendants argued that they never tracked visitors’ activity and as the websites servers were located in the Netherlands, they were protected by Dutch law from having to turn over server logs. However, the judge responded by telling them to retrieve the information from their servers’ random-access memory, or RAM.

TorrentSpy argued that RAM is far too ephemeral to be considered “stored data.” In this unprecedented decision, the judge ruled that data found in RAM is a tangible document that can be stored and must be turned over in civil litigation. The decision was widely criticised as being an unreasonable standard because information held in RAM is temporary.

In August 2007, TorrentSpy appealed the decision but lost. During the time a judge was reviewing TorrentSpy’s appeal to overturn the order, some adjustments were made to the website. In a new ruling, the judge found that TorrentSpy had destroyed or altered several types of evidence, including user IP addresses, discussion forum postings about the trading of movies and moderator identities during these modifications. Ira Rothken, TorrentSpy’s attorney argued that “the primary reason for the changes was to protect end-user privacy worldwide.” “It’s not a ruling on the merits of the case, one person’s willful destruction of evidence is another person’s willful attempt to comply with customer privacy policies.”

The company then shut down access to U.S. residents and international users using US-based ISPs on the basis that if TorrentSpy had no U.S. users, then there wouldn’t be any information stored in the company’s RAM about US users. Only data on International users would be logged and U.S. courts don’t have authority over them. In response, the MPAA filed documents calling TorrentSpy’s denial of access “another illegitimate attempt by defendants to evade authority of this court and the May 29 order”, and asking for sanctions. TorrentSpy’s attorney, Ira Rothken, has stated that TorrentSpy would rather deny access to U.S. users before it started monitoring anyone, since such monitoring is in violation of TorrentSpy’s own privacy policy.

The result of the case this week has effectively labelled TorrentSpy a pirate site. John Malcolm, the MPAA’s executive vice president and director of worldwide anti-piracy operations, said that “the sole purpose of TorrentSpy and sites like it is to facilitate and promote the unlawful dissemination of copyrighted content. TorrentSpy is a one-stop shop for copyright infringement.”

Source: BBC News

Related Links:

• Wikipaedia – Torrentspy
• Hollywood Asks YouTube: Friend or Foe?