Any other female makers out there? (Other than charlotte_godley?)
I see, the XX, YY, XY, YX thing now 
, only kidding, it would be an interesting stat to know, perhaps E14 may have this as part of the profile of the members ? spannerspencer
I know on my and other EE youtube channels, we tend to run at about 5% Female, a little sad really given the times
It's funny because I recently interviewed for social media for another tech site and I quickly decided it was not a good fit for me. So, this topic is rather fresh in my mind right now. I remember participating in a contest for Element 14, as well as a discussion on wearables. What I found is that mostly the same people responded. There is a small core group that is polite and encouraging, and then I feel like there is a wall. I suspect in my case my knowledge base was too simplistic for the crowd at Element 14. I'm not an engineer and more of just a STEAM fan and educator. I think Element 14 is already in the niche of engineer, so it isn't really my circle, even though I do occasionally look at people's projects or new controller reviews here. So, then I ask the question why aren't more female engineers chatting here? I think there is a normal tendency for women to be cautious nowadays due to some issues found on the net. For instance, the site I previously mentioned has a lot of one-upping going on in their comments. There was also no protection for those making comments and the site was not willing to police them. So, it wasn't exactly encouraging collaboration or discussion. The other thing is that once a woman is working in engineering, usually she has to tend to a million other things when she gets home. So, is there time to do personal projects or participate in conversation once the other day to day stuff, including social media is done? Not sure. I don't have kids, so it is easier for me to have time for these kinds of things 
. I just find from hanging out on other female tech forums that most women are juggling career and kid stuff so much that they would rather just have some down time, especially with their significant other.
Thanks for encouraging the conversation, and I remember how much thought when into whether I would ever post a pic on any of my tech accounts. Needless to say I took the leap.
ooo you haz books - will look them up! 
DAB! When I mentioned encouraging people, you are probably the top of the list! How are you? How is your book coming along? I have two projects currently in stuck mode 
, so give me some time. I'm always the artist first and coding is always the trickier part.
Spanner, I keep wanting to call you SP2 
Anyway, I was laughing because at the end you said "you guys". I'm from Philly so I totally have the same problem. Anyway, I was trying to think of ways to make the community more inviting and I finally just determined it is best to give you this link for allies developed by some of the best geek women I know. There's a lot of good info there concerning myths, conduct and language. This Wiki is my first go-to for corporations and conferences wanting to be more inclusive.
I do think your idea to create an area for educators is perfect and could potentially be a good place for me to share art projects/questions as I start creating more. In fact, I'm ready to give a talk soon on Raspberry Pi and Arduino used for art with some people that want to work on triggering projection. So, build your area and I'll come with my questions. 
Spanner, I keep wanting to call you SP2 Anyway, I was laughing because at the end you said "you guys". I'm from Philly so I totally have the same problem. Anyway, I was trying to think of ways to make the community more inviting and I finally just determined it is best to give you this link for allies developed by some of the best geek women I know. There's a lot of good info there concerning myths, conduct and language. This Wiki is my first go-to for corporations and conferences wanting to be more inclusive.
I do think your idea to create an area for educators is perfect and could potentially be a good place for me to share art projects/questions as I start creating more. In fact, I'm ready to give a talk soon on Raspberry Pi and Arduino used for art with some people that want to work on triggering projection. So, build your area and I'll come with my questions.
Combine a bunch of those with stuff like EL Wire should be a blast 
I was probably thinking of the things I enjoyed doing/making when I was a Girl Guide - spinning / origami / building camps / pioneering (strapping lumps of wood together to make things) / leather work / carpentry / corn dolly making / embroidery etc. - I didn't have access to electronics then, but all could now be combined in some manner to make interesting things.
I would be very interested to see some of the "artistic" electronics projects here - putting the A in STEAM 
ooo you haz books - will look them up!
