[UbuntuWomen] Sites and site edits

[Clytie Siddall]

Welcome, Elizabeth :)

I'll have a go at answering your questions from my own experience.

On 18/03/2006, at 10:40 PM, Elizabeth Krumbach wrote:

> The site in question was this:
>
> http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/UbuntuWomenFAQs
>
> I got to the "Why isn't there a Ubuntu (fill in minority here)?"  
> section and
> was somewhat troubled by the bit in the second paragraph about IRC.  
> I would
> like to edit it, but first need clarification as to what the point  
> of it is.
>
> Is the point that women are easily identified in IRC, and once they  
> are they
> are discriminated against? In my experience women are NOT easily  
> identified in
> IRC unless we want to be, many women intentionally use gender  
> neutral nicknames
> so people don't know their gender. In fact, even my own IRC nick  
> "pleia2" is
> often assumed to be male if people don't make the Leia connection.

Should we have to hide our gender, to avoid discrimination?
>
> Or is the point that not many women use IRC?

Also true.
>
> Or is the point that F/OSS projects often have meetings in IRC, a  
> medium that
> not many women communicate in, and so are somewhat shut out of  
> these meetings?

Also true.
>
> All of the above?

Definitely. :)

It's not so much about iRC, as it is about the channel's community.  
When you're a member of a inclusive group, where your input is  
valued, and behaviour is mature, you are much more likely to try a  
mailing list, or forum, or Jabber or IRC, for the first time.

Everyone has limited time and energy. We're not likely to spend it  
learning a new skill, in order to try and communicate with a group  
that doesn't include or value us, and/or where behaviour is -- I need  
a better word than "immature", but don't want to go into negative  
details.

Positively, I think if we encouraged people here to get on our IRC  
channel, said someone would be there to help, helped set up software  
etc., we'd probably get some takers. I got a large project using  
Jabber once, in the same way. It really took off, with lots of people  
trying it for the first time, and it's now used for a wide range of  
functions. I love to see that happen. :))

from Clytie (vi-VN, Vietnamese free-software translation team / nhóm  
Việt hóa phần mềm tự do)
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/vi-VN