I noticed that my Audioscrobbler chart of my most frequently listened-to musical artists is remarkably gender-balanced. Six of the top twelve are women (Tori Amos, Shawn Colvin, Alanis Morissette, Dar Williams, Aimee Mann, and Sarah McLachlan), as are …

The thing about conferences – all conferences – is that they have elements of exclusivity. The reason that i go to conferences (and the reason that many of my friends go) is to keep up with friends who we often only see once a year. I love CHI for this reason and it motivates me to publish there. I went to SIGGRAPH for three years after i stopped doing graphics because all of my friends went and there was no other time to go. The regular visitors of a conference get to know each other and they create an insider/outsider impression simply by having intimate relations with each other and being ecstatic to see each other.

This doesn’t mean that these folks don’t want to meet new people, but i’d bet money that those of us who knew >100 people at the conference spent more time with folks we knew than folks we didn’t. I sure as hell did. That said, i was stoked to get to know new people and i am now hanging out with half a dozen new people in SF as a result of SXSW. And when i go to CHI next week, i will see my girls mostly but i’m sure i’ll get to know at least one new person.

This is precisely why i’m motivated to diversify conferences early on in their iterations – once that dynamic starts where everyone knows everyone, it’s harder to break out of it, harder to diversify. I don’t believe it will ever be possible for a conference to rid itself of the appearance of exclusivity simply because too many people know each other and are sooo excited to see each other once again.

You should check this:

http://www.chrisnolan.com/archives/000712.html

& this:

http://www.buzzmachine.com/archives/2005_03_16.html#009264

I usually like your posts on the problems about “boys” and the struggles of grrrls, but I always wonder…especially because of my work around the world, that this problem is really a problem of white American rich boys (and grrrls)…

I think I am closer to Rebecca’s position: that its a really boring conversation in the end of the day. But I am apt to shift my opinion on this… (again…)

i can take a stab it from my (lack of) latin/greek/whatever, but i can’t find it in the dictionary.

care to clarify?

atelierEUROPA: The Spaces of a Cultural Question An E-Mail Interview with Brian Holmes conducted by Marion von Osten (categories: brian-holmes labour work immaterial-labour multitudes) OTHER WORLDS: Social movements and the making of alternatives R…

After reading danah’s and Liz’s post about the equality in numbers in the blogospher / nerdosphere / speaking circuit I felt compelled to add a bit to the discussion.

apophenia: SXSW, why i attended and marginalized populations. Good Points, well stated: “It’s socially and culturally not an equal playing field. You can’t build a meritocracy on top of that and one doesn’t exist. There are biases at every level.