I think this might be the first time I’ve seen a woman (Emmy Huang) as a featured presenter at a major tech event. #AdobeMax – intellichick 10/4/2011

This was nicely retweeted by Adobe SVP of Global Marketing Ann Lewnes with a “Go Emmy!”  My friend Jesse begged to differ, tweeting back to me:

Google has had several women introduce features in the past, and Apple has had female developers on stage. –jlevin 10/4/2011

While I do hope that is true, I don’t recall this.  That hopeful likelihood aside, there was definitely a great feeling about seeing a woman presenting at a major technology event.  This moment was perhaps further highlighted by the fact that Emmy Huang was the only female presenter on this second-day session I was watching. 

I’ve grown up being a techie because I love technology.  This domain name was inspired in part from being that random girl that talked tech with her guy friends in high school. 

The timeframe from Ada Lovelace to Emmy Huang at AdobeMax makes me think about a number of things. 

1. My gender is really awesome.  Lovelace existed in a timeframe where women were really limited in their opportunities outside of the home.
2. The fact that success can be garnered then and now tells me that to be a successful person is to think outside of the box and trust in what you love and want to do (see also Thanks for Thinking Differently: In Memory of Steve Jobs). 
3. While I wholeheartedly believe in the recognition of great minds and people, regardless of gender, the visibility of women in technology is very important.

On the third note, if you asked me to name the names I automatically associate as the faces of technology today, I would probably give you the names of men.  This tells me I need to be more educated and an advocate, but it also makes me think how much it would have meant to me growing up having a powerful history of women’s names and faces as part of my understanding of technology, how much it obviously means to me now writing this.   

I’m glad that we are a more educated society and the opportunity to share information across multiple mediums is done with relative ease: Forbes’ list of “The Most Powerful Women in Technology”, Facebook shares, blog posts, and Twitter lists such as “ada list – “50 ace women tweeters who have some connection sci, tech, environment and/or health.”  I am also very glad to be educated on the power of women sway online through sites like Michele Miller’s Wonderbranding.com.  But I think there’s a certain level of visibility that I haven’t really perceived, that perhaps we are at the cusp of breaking the mold of (I hope). 

Perhaps one day I’ll turn around and say “God there’s so many women in technology, I can’t keep track!” 

There’s also the newness of what feels like something absurd: a jet is faster than a bike…why would a bike win?  Yet, I haven’t really heard of anyone who is rooting for the plane to win.  Not to mention, everyone inherently understands the logistics of travel.  It begins from the moment you leave your home, and not all of us has a jet waiting for us in our backyard.

There’s something about the plane, something that – while it takes us across great distances – is more technology than man, even if it was invented by man.  It doesn’t dominate our everyday lives like cars do, where we – especially in this Los Angeles sphere – seem to exist in them like homes more than home itself.  The bike, on the other hand, is that mix of technology and human effort that almost requires equal efforts.  And of course as a public transit rider, I was also happy to hear that Gary Kavanagh (@GaryRidesBikes) took up that part of the helm, which is a space somewhere between FlightVSBike.

This all, of course, makes me look backwards at transportation moments in the past – the invention of the car, flights around the world, diving into ocean depths, and journeys into space.  And I don’t think we’ve had that sense of wonder in awhile nor do I think we were as entrenched in being used to technology as we are now.  All these elements that were once shiny and new in invention are now integrated into our perspectives of how the world is, events like #FlightVSBike & #FlightVSMetro really shine a lot on humans and our oft tenuous relationship with technology.  Not to mention, I doubt that this event would have been created so fast without web technology.

I sort of see the dominant support (as unscientifically discerned from the Twitter Feed anyway) for Bike and Metro as less a support about the technology as it is about the concerns of humans today.  We complain about TSA and fuel costs and flights costs and travel times.  We are becoming increasing advocates of a greener and healthier lifestyle.  And then there’s the missing element – the fact that the car is out of the equation, that perhaps we wouldn’t mind if it was less of the equation in general?

And having switched back and forth, and having written this thing piecemeal, I get to close by saying bikes WIN!  Metro team is closing in for second…and that jet?  Well, we’re all still proud and thankful for the Wright Brothers.

-cct

Pictured: Flight vs. Bike by walterrrr on Flickr

Well…

When I finished creating an event.  The process of creating the event itself is quite annoying.  As I do work for an event-related website, I’m a big fan of “add event/create your event” buttons and links.  But wait this was supposed to be positive…

Okay.  So once you get through the process of adding an event, when you look at the guest list of attending, maybe attending, etc., it now appears in a light box.

Facebook - Event Guest List Light Box

If you’re an admin, you can easily click “Make Admin” button beside the person and authorize that they become an admin.  So simple and concise.

-cct

Screenshot: Facebook Sidebar (4/07/09)

Now added to my “Inefficient” Web Commentary* series is Facebook.  Facebook recently underwent a design change that caused quite the uproar with its users (not that it stops them from using the service, but like the current theme, we do somehow seem okay with living life with a marginal amount of dysfunction and a healthy dose of hope – or ability to complain).   In any case, this series will just be about things I think would make Facebook work more efficiently.  We will start with something I noted today about the Home Page.

I could go on about the insanity of the Friend Feed, but I’m not as bothered by it.  What I want to focus on is the sidebar.  See the screenshot to the left.  It’s a lot of stuff and I’ve even cut out like four boxes from my “highlights”.  I don’t really mind that they’re telling me all this stuff.  What I do mind is that I can’t tell them how important this stuff is to me.

If I had my way, I’d order it
1) Requests
2) Events
3) Highlights and
4) “People You May Know”.

I understand entirely not being able to move the advertisement (they have to make money, right?).

What bothers me a bit is that it’s not like Facebook doesn’t let me do this in other places:

Facebook Profile - Moving Boxes

For now, I guess setting the precedence of my Fluff Friend is about all the power I have.

Next Inefficient: Facebook?  Profile Feed.

-cct

*To be fair, I will have some “Efficient” posts up.  Found one I really liked today on facebook actually.

My first example in this series of posts will be business e-letters.  Letters that have important information, but don’t easily convey to the user exactly what s/he wants to know are inefficient and confusing.  An electronic billing statement is a great example for variability in bad and good design.

Bad Example

A bad e-letter is like having a bad website.  You make an impression and people can automatically know why your letter is an important letter. People don’t want to open an email and be bogged down by text and have to sift through what it is you’re trying to tell them.  See example:

Bad E-Business Letter Example

A long letter that tells a user s/he has a bill due and doesn’t use stylized text or take advantage of breaking down information for easier digestion that must be on there (security text, standard e-enrollment information, etc.) does the user a disservice.

Better Example

Better practice?  How about giving the most important information upfront and basic styling techniques (bold, anyone?) to highlight within that text?

Good E-Business Letter Example

What’s also important to note is that people receive tons of email every day, and we’d like to believe that just because we’re a familiar name or business that people will pay attention.  But the truth is to be familiar is only half the battle.  The other half is to be important and recognizable when it’s most imperative to the person sending the email and the person receiving the email.

Up next? Failed print-to-web collateral.