Linux Intro Workshop for women* and trans people 2./3. December 2016

Image Source: “the argentinian friend-modified” found footage pinguin by lale

Is your computer and what it does often a kind of riddle to you? Got enough of “Windows” and already thought it would be interesting to try Linux? And actually you don’t always want to ask some male nerd in your surroundings when nothing seems to work anymore? Maybe this workshop would be the thing for you.

diebin.at and A Noether Network invite you to a workshop for women* and trans people, on 2nd and 3rd December 2016. In this workshop we want to learn and experiment with Linux together. Questions we want to address, while also testing and playing around a lot, are:

• Why Free Software?
• What does an Operating System do?
• What is Linux and how does it work?
• What happens behind my Graphical User Interface?
• What/how can I influence/manipulate that?

Interested? But not sure?

This workshops is for all those of you, who just want to get to know Linux/their computer more. No previous knowledge is required.

Also people who already have some experience with Linux might learn some thing new in this workshop. We want everyone to feel comfortable. Therefore, just showing off one’s own technical skills isn’t something we support. All workshop participants should respectfully learn with and from each other.

And when and where is it?

The workshop will be hosted by Mz* Baltazar’s Laboratory and takes place in their rooms at Wallensteinstrasse 38-40/8 in the 20th disctrict in Vienna. Here you can find it on the Open Street Map.

Workhop hours are:

• Fr., 2nd December 18 to 20 o’clock
• Sa., 3rd December 11 to 16 o’clock

The workshop takes two days. It is important that you can participate on both days.

Ok, I want to participate. Registration:

Participation in the workshop is free of charge. To register, write us an e-mail until 19th November 2016 to workshop [ät] diebin.at

The workshop will be most productive for you if you bring your own notebook (it does not have to have Linux installed and you are also not required to do so throughout the workshop). If you don’t have a notebook, we have one or two Linux-Notebooks in spare.

Please also provide the following information in your registration e-mail:

• Can you bring your own notebook? Which Operating System do you use on it? (e.g. Windows 8, Windows 10, Mac OS, Ubuntu Linux, …)
• Do you have any special needs (e.g. child care, barrier-free/accessible rooms, …)

The workshop is limited to 12 participants. We therefore urge you to make reliable registrations until 19th Nov. 2016. Also if you realize, that you will not be able to participate, let us know immediately, so we can provide this place to another person who is on the waiting list.

As working language in the workshop we will use german. But we can provide translation to and from English if needed.

Follow-up workshops

Image Source: “zenity nrrrd grls screenshot” by jackie

This workshop is part of a workshop series by diebin.at and A Noether Network. You can also join the following two workshops:

• Part 2: Shell Programming/Scripting
• Part 3: How do I set up a (web-)server?

Parts 2 will likely take place in January and part 3 in February 2017. The workshops build on top of each other, but they can be also visited independently.

Notes on our invitation policy

Education and transfer of knowledge about technology is often paired with mechanisms of exclusion, which make access to technology especially hard for women*. We work against attributions and assumptions about who is able to understand technical stuff. Therefore we are also against the dominance of cis men in technical context.

Our goal for this workshop is, to create a room in which especially those feel empowered to learn and play with technology, who are traditionally excluded from this area of expertise. Therefore our workshop is open for women* an trans people only.

We are aware that also women* might act in ways which take away room and agency from other women*. An exclusively female* room therefore also does not solve all the problems we see in this area. Nevertheless it is a well proven method to encourage women* to engage with technology.

In the end it is of course about how we act in the workshop. Therefore we want to use the same Codes of Conduct, which Mz* Baltazar’s Lab set up for their own events: Mz* Baltazar’s Code of Conduct

Python Beginners Workshop for Women* – March 2016

tl;dr: On the first three Saturdays of March 2016 (5., 12., 19.) we will provide a python programming workshop for women* who have little or no programming experience at all. Child care will be available if needed. Ideally bring your own laptop with python installed. There will be a separate python installation support date on Sat., 27th February. If you are interested, please write to python@diebin.at. For more details, see below.

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Python Beginners Workshop for Women* – 5., 12., 19. March 2016

Have you ever wondered how it might be to not only use computer programs, but also write them yourself? Are you curious about programming? Want to try it out? Then this workshop is an opportunity for you to learn basic principles of programming and to code little scripts, which might be fun and/or even help you in your daily tasks, especially if you are studying natural or technical sciences, where python is often applied.

But what about the specific setting of this workshop?

Gender bias is present from very early on in education. Starting with the choice between cars and dolls, little babies are educated to conform to the stereotypes that society still imposes. Various studies show that gender bias is strongly perpetuated by early education at school. Girls are often less encouraged and receive less teacher consideration and constructive feedback, especially in science and mathematics, which are still believed to be not their fields. Boys are expected to be more competitive, outspoken, and autonomous. Moreover, textbooks and children’s literature continue to portray stereotyped gender-role behaviours and characters. The result is that boys dominate the classroom, because they are expected to be more active than girls, and this behaviour is perpetuated in higher education as well. But sexism harms all genders. Boys are also stereotyped into non-flexible gender roles since childhood, and also when they grow up they still feel the pressure to not appear “feminine,” and men who do not fit this pattern are often excluded and feel failure and shame. Already many positive changes have occurred relative to the past, but a false sense of accomplishment has also taken root. While bias is less evident today, its influence is not less virulent, partly because it is more subtle.

Stereotyping is particularly alive in technology and computer sciences. Studies suggest that stereotypes of academic fields influence who chooses to participate in these fields. Men with high math and computer abilities are strongly encouraged to enter these fields, while women with high math and computer abilities are less likely to do so, also because of the stereotypes they hold about these fields. This situation reduces the self-confidence of women to approach computer science problems.

The aim of the workshop is first of all to create a chance for women* to approach to a new topic in computer sciences in a safe environment, where the awareness of gender bias problems in education, and computer sciences in particular, is taken into consideration. Moreover, we aim to exploit this occasion to reflect and learn together about gender issues in the classroom, and how to avoid them.

Who’s invited?

We did this workshop last year in a gender mixed environment, but with the focus on being a feminist workshop and reflecting the pitfalls and potentials of different forms and settings of learning to program. Now we would like to try a women* only workshop. The * at the end of women* points to the social (and of course also biological) construction of women – so we want to invite people who understand themselves and live as women.

And of course the categories of sex and gender also do not determine ones approach to programming. So in addition we want to emphasise that this workshop is for beginners. If you already have some knowledge and experience with programming you are also heartily welcome, but please keep in mind that we will focus on basic concepts and the questions regarding these issues. If you want to have more sophisticated tech talk, keep in mind that this might discourage those people who are not yet so tech savvy and are just trying to establish some basic programming skills. Especially just showing off what you already know might discourage others. So please don’t. Rather try to guide and help. See the notes below how to do so.

Do I have to know anything before? Are there any requirements?

No, there are no requirements, except that you would like to see how programming in python works.

The only other thing that would be great if you bring along your own device (preferably a notebook), on which you can do the coding. This also means that you should have python already installed. If you are unsure how to do that, you might join the python installation gathering on 27th of February, where we can help you to get everything set up.

Also, please consider to be there on all three workshop dates, as the workshop will be consecutive. If you cannot make it to all three date, especially to the first two ones, then please consider to give your place to someone on the waiting list – as there usually are much more people interested than we can host.

What if I already did some python (or other) coding but still are interested?

If you already have a little experience with programming, especially in python, you could consider to help out as a coach for the others. Just write us that you would be interested in that, even if you are not sure if you know “enough”. There will be a preparation meeting for all coaches before the workshops start.

You can also take a look at last years slides, to get a feeling for what we will do in the workshop: https://annoethernetwork.wordpress.com/2015/06/02/feminist-python-workshop-13-06-21-06-27-06/

Registration

If you want to attend, please write us until Feburary 20 to python@diebin.at

We will provide child care if anyone of the participants needs it. So please let us know if you want to bring along a child.

Also if you have any other needs we should be aware of to support you, please let us know.

The space in the workshop will be limited to 25 participants and we will give those seats away on some sort of first-come first-serve basis. If you were on the waiting list of last year’s workshop your registration will be prioritized.

The workshop is free of charge. We are doing this in our spare time. And we are glad for the financial support of the following groups, to be able to provide child care and some snacks and beverages:

• fsinf – fachschaft informatik
• Roter Vektor Physik

If time and resources permit us to, we might try to do another workshop in the fall of 2016.

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Update 2016-02-27:

Here are the installation instructions from our install session: http://ur1.ca/okubt

Update 2016-03-04:

The slides for the workshop: http://ur1.ca/oln9j

 

Winter Semester 2015

Welcome back after the summer. We look forward to inviting you to our forthcoming events. Stay tuned for more information, and don’t forget, the personal is political.

WOMEN IN PHYSICS Symposium

The ‘Women in Physics at an International Level’ seminar group, led by Prof. Ayala, is organizing a symposium about women in physics. This is the official invitation to the event:

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In this meeting, we aim to discuss the present situation of women in the community, their historical role, current position and the difficulties women face as physicists in Austria and beyond. To provide diverse perspectives, we hope to attract as many women as possible from different stages of the academic career. The meeting will take place in the Lise-Meitner hall of the Faculty of Physics at the University of Vienna. In addition to the talks there will be two panel discussions to encourage interaction between all of the participants. The day will conclude with a dinner.
WHERE: Lise Meitner Hörsaal,
Fakultät für Physik, Universität Wien, Boltzmanngasse 5, 1090 Wien

WHEN: June 22,  13.00 – 19.00

All the details at: https://wipvienna2015.wordpress.com/

This event is open to all who wish to attend, but a registration is needed: please contact wipvienna2015@gmail.com with your name and affiliation.

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FEMINIST PYTHON WORKSHOP 13.06 – 21.06 – 27.06

Gender bias is present from very early on in education. Starting with the choice between cars and dolls, little babies are educated to conform to the stereotypes that society still imposes. Various studies show that gender bias is strongly perpetuated by early education at school. Girls are often less encouraged and receive less teacher consideration and constructive feedback, especially in science and mathematics, which are still believed to be not their fields. Boys are expected to be more competitive, outspoken, and autonomous. Moreover, textbooks and children’s literature continue to portray stereotyped gender-role behaviours and characters. The result is that boys dominate the classroom, because they are expected to be more active than girls, and this behaviour is perpetuated in higher education as well. But sexism harms all genders. Boys are also stereotyped into non-flexible gender roles since childhood, and also when they grow up they still feel the pressure to not appear “feminine,” and men who do not fit this pattern are often excluded and feel failure and shame. Already many positive changes have occurred relative to the past, but a false sense of accomplishment has also taken root. While bias is less evident today, its influence is not less virulent, partly because it is more subtle.

Stereotyping is particularly alive in technology and computer sciences. Studies suggest that stereotypes of academic fields influence who chooses to participate in these fields. Men with high math and computer abilities are strongly encouraged to enter these fields, while women with high math and computer abilities are less likely to do so, also because of the stereotypes they hold about these fields. This situation reduces the self confidence of women to approach computer science problems.

The aim of the workshop is first of all to create a chance for women* to approach to a new topic in computer sciences in a safe environment, where the awareness of gender bias problems in education, and computer sciences in particular, is taken into consideration. Moreover, we aim to exploit this occasion to reflect and learn together about gender issues in the classroom, and how to avoid them.

Here is the link to all  three parts of the Workhsop:

Python_Part_1

Python_Part_2

Python_Part_3

Join ANN at the party of the science student unions 7.5.2015!

We will be present at the party of the science student union with refreshing drinks, ready to discuss feminism and women* in science!

Don’t miss it!

When: 7th of May 2015

Where: Physics Department at the University of Vienna,  Boltzmanngasse 4, 1090 Wien

                                                                      Doors open at 9pm!