Women not on IT-committees – “a phenomenon”

If you’re hanging around Denmark these days, you’ll notice that there has been quite a bit of focus on gender and IT. Many girls stop playing computer games in their teens, teenage women on the whole are not aspiring for an education in IT-related fields, and women are not representative in IT-firms …and so on and so forth.

Computerworld released the news today that out of Denmark’s top 100 IT-firms there are:

no women in the position of board chairperson,

two women holding the position of administrative director, 

and only 9% of all board members are women
[Computerworld Number 38. 20. October 2006].

So the two poles are the idea of the “Old boys club” vs. the idea of a shallow “recruitment pool” of women. Networking does (weirdly) often happen in the “locker room” – a space where not exactly all the “players” are present. So when considering people for positions on the board, individuals may have a tendency to name someone from their own inner network – or as Caroline Søeborg Ahlefeldt noted to Computerworld,

“ …The fact is that there are adequate qualified women, but men recommend other men to head positions” (Computerworld – my translation of Danish text)

Where-as IBM’s vice director refers to another slant – IBM’s efforts in recruiting women to head committee positions has been without great success due to an apparent scarcity of women in the branch itself.

It sounds like a school-yard he-said, she-said – nevertheless, 20+ years down the road we stand and this “variance” has not truly started to be resolved. Norway has an affirmative action policy stating that each sex must represent at least 40% of the members, as noted in the Norwegian Gender Equality Act,

“Since it is not possible to achieve gender equality merely by prohibiting discriminatory treatment, measures which give one sex certain advantages in some areas in the short or the long term are regarded as necessary.” http://www.likestillingsombudet.no/english/act_scope.html

I find it disheartening to think that a law must be implemented to see official IT committees with diversified membership. For that reason, I look forward to seeing renewed efforts to diversify this sector not only by the government, but by the institutions of education (also focusing on how IT is being taught), and by the firms that would proffer from having diversity (thinking more about management training, advancement schemes, and mentoring programs from within).

Diversity is key to innovation. Let’s see initiatives that embed the roots for new growth into an innovative and transformed IT sector.

(Another post not directly related to computer gaming – sorry)

Bully Bully

Rockstar games is coming out with yet another controversial game this month by the name of Bully . You get to play Jimmy Hopkins, a Wayne Rooney look-a-like kid in a school overflowing with stereotypical nerds, bullies, Snape-esque teachers and manipulative passive young women. It doesn’t sound like anything out of the ordinary for Rockstar, actually it seems to be their standard recipe put in new clothing.

Yet, in the UK the 15+ age game has caused a commotion, where the big question of media effects is raised again – do such violent games, and in this particular case, games that depict many of the players “everyday lives” (pretty much just the school context), bring about an effect on the consumers “real life”?

I have only seen the previews, so I can only guess that the game follows the existing Rockstar recipe of hard hitting fight scenes, but also a well wound-up setting that might also provide for thought provoking instances. If nothing else, the game has re-aimed the spotlight on the seriousness of bullying in schools. Let’s hope that is the media effect of Bully here – awareness raising of the real issue in “real life”.

Dance me to the keyboard …

A new MMO is on the way – Dance! – and as the intro notes,

“Is an amazing new FREE ‘club style’ dancing game that lets you hang out with your friends, and challenge them on the dance floor.”

Hit songs, dance teams and national competions are buzz words along with couples competitions, finding a mate, and even, yep – you guessed it, getting married! Dance! will manage to gather a couple of dollars here and there through character customization and in-game advertising.

Who will play this game? The target market is music lovers (& I’m guessing top-40 here), but as the space is seemingly a virtual chat-room/dressing room, I’m taking a guess that Dance! will be heavily marketed towards young women (If you see any advertising for Dance! – let me know where!), and it will be interesting to see which brands & ads get into this game space, and how much money a player will be using to “look the right way” (other interesting issues such as age resitrictions or purchasing resitrictions will be interesting too). There is a BETA out, so join up now and tell us what Dance! is really about!

LetzPlay & the Danish Night of Culture

Last Friday was the annual “Danish night of culture“, where my project “LetzPlay” held a multiplayer computer gaming event for women at Boomtown netcafé. As always, Boomtown was brimming with groups of blokes having a night out together, playing World of Warcraft, Counter-Strike, Battlefield and the like, so our little event turned a few heads.

Of the O-so-many Danish Night of Culture participants (65.497 with a culture-pass), 25 turned up to our little soiree. And before you turn on your calculator (we have around a 0.04% participation rate - or 0.08% if considering that the event was only available to half of the participants),  I/LetzPlay still consider the event a success. Several of the women have joined the LetzPlay gaming group, as they noted that they haven’t got anyone else already within their network that they feel that they can play with.

There was a mother and daughter who came to have a new, joint experience. A group of six friends came in to play as their Danish Night of Culture theme was “something that we never would consider doing” (and to put that in perspective, this group of women had just come from a viewing of a cadaver). 95% of the participants were “newbies” (in this case – new to modern computer gaming, never had played a multiplayer game, and had never played in a netcafé before).

The reports that women make up over half of online gamers  (this would include free games like chickstop.com, MMOG’s and the like) which I heard broadcast the day after the event seem to be an illusion to the voiced opinions that I hear from manywomen, and from gaming experiences like LetzPlay, where we time after time see literally no women in the public gaming arena (netcafés). Of course, public gaming is a whole other context, yet I wonder about the transition from being a casual or “domestic” gamer to being a highly visible gamer.  Is this new wave of women gaming on-line done with, or through, existing social networks? Do these gamers need to establish new connections to “fit in”? Women do game – undoubtedly – but what is really at stake in gaming in the public space? This is why I/LetzPlay considers the huge 0.04% turnout a success story.

It was great to see

1) so many women gaming in the public and visible space of the netcafé,

2) newbies to gaming throwing themselves into something that is still stigmatized as something “nerdy”, or “not for them”,

3) existing social groups coming together to play an active social activity.

I certainly hope to see more of those 50+% of women gamers on-line coming out into the public arena: if the public face of gaming was more of a mish-mash of gamers: girls, men, women and boys, perhaps it would make it easier for others to step into this social, fun and skillful leisure activity … I will, for one, be keeping my eyes peeled for new events for women and computer gaming, “sightings” of women and girls gaming in public and online, and so forth.

      

Who am I

According to quiz galaxy’s warcraft quiz I am …

Undead Warrior Undead are the forsaken: just like you. While it’s important that you don’t fall apart (physically or mentally), you might find yourself salivating in an unhealthy manner when someone comes selling cookies. Get more sleep.As a warrior, you like to take charge of things. You feel that you’re an important part of what’s happening – and if things turn sour, you like to have a very large weapon on hand that you can use to negotiate.

And I have been playing Druids and Warlocks up till now! Time wasted!!!!

D3’s are comin’!!!

Only a little month away is the first “Danish Electronic Entertainment Expo” – AKA D3’s. Interestingly the “official E3” – the original American Electronic Entertainment Expo – is getting a revamp this year – ESA (Entertainment Software Association), owner of E3Expo, has stated that,

“Over the years, it has become clear that we need a more intimate program, including higher quality, more personal dialogue with the worldwide media, developers, retailers and other key industry audiences.” – Douglas Lowenstein, President of the ESA

And voila – D3 steps in – but will they continue that “trade show” look?

This will be Scandinavia’s first large scale gaming expo, and it will be interesting to see whether it’s a carbon copy of the former E3’s (laced with booth babes) or if it raises the bar and does something different. The program looks to be extremely product orientated, however, there are a few puddles for playing in on the program such as; a “Learning Lab”, for knowledge-sharing and discussion on and about gaming; a meeting with gaming academia and Danish game developers called “New Danish Gaming”, which hopefully will result in some fertile debate; … and of course there is a Girl Gamers section (*sigh*).

The official program will be published next week, and I’ve ordered my ticket – so watch this space for “considerations” of this latest computer gaming event.

Link: http://www.d3expo.dk/