Robogals!

Robogals is a not-for-profit organization which aims to increase the number of girls undertaking science, engineering and technology courses at university. It has already been super successful in Melbourne and the UK. UQ has the opportunity to start up a chapter too! Robogals is run by university students like us who promote robotics to school girls. So, we'll have to opportunity to go round to schools, play with LEGO and just have some fun!

To start us off, there is a Robogals Bootcamp which will take place in the upcoming holidays (29 Sep - 1 Oct, 2009). We'll get an all-expenses paid trip to Melbourne, and get to hang out with other geek girls from all over Australia.

Please put in application so we can get the UQ chapter of Robogals up and running! Make sure to put in an application asap. If you know anyone else who might be interested, please pass this on (this is open to anyone studying at any level - undergrad or postgrad, and any discipline).

Here's the link to the application form.
www.robogals.org.au/application_form.html

For more information check out their website
www.robogals.org.au/index.html

More info on the Bootcamp?
www.robogals.org.au/bootcamp.html

Our Women, Our State Awards 2009

http://www.women.qld.gov.au/awards/

The deadline for submissions to this year's awards has been extended until this Friday, get your entries in!

2009 report on why girls still dont choose ICT

http://insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insight/misc/specialreports/eun_white_paper_women_it.htm

really interesting report on the current skills shortage in Europe, and the attitudes of school girls in the 'pre' university years. It seems that the same reasons for not choosing ICT careers and study still apply (as we have known for some time) - lack of positive female role models, and lack of understanding of the types of ICT jobs and careers available.

A huge skills shortage is upon us, so the lack of females is negative in two main ways, they are an untapped resource that the industry needs, and women are also missing out on great career opportunities. This report shows the importance of informational resources such as Tech girls are chic :)

Tech girls book available on ThinkGeek.com!

The tech girls book is now available on ThinkGeek.com! Very exciting, the guys there are uber supportive of us Aussie gals, and gals in tech all over the world! So if you have any contacts in the US, feel free to promote it to them! xxx

An ode to a coder girl

Thought you might find enjoy this vid..well done to the creators!

Tech girls profile on Spy Journal

I was recently profiled by local Brisbane company SpyJournal so I thought you might like a read...Thanks Tim and Amanda!

Jenine's geek girl blogger profile

While you are there, you should check out the other geek girl blogs, very interesting reading!

Geek Girl Dinner # 6 an insight into the legal side of IT

Thursday evening the 2nd of July was our 6th Brisbane Geek Girl Dinner. Kay Lam-Beattie, our resident legal IT expert who runs her own business IdeaLaw answered the many legal questions from our Geek Girls. UQ Law Professor Kim Weatherall also helped out with all the many questions....the discussion went well into the night which was a sign of the interest in the many legal challenges that we all face every day as technology professionals, and as everyday users in the online world.

It was a great night of catching up and stimulating conversation, and it was nice to see lots of new faces! Thanks also to the Hutch Bistro for the great food and service! And thanks Tim from SpyJournal for the great pics! Here are just a couple of the pics you can see the rest on Flickr.