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JohnMashey

@ljrk @lisamelton
I got to meet Grace Hopper when she spoke at Penn State ~1970. At evening reception, she was still going strong while grad students were flagging.
Sad fact: as a math-origined CMPSC dept, ~1/3 of our 400 undergrads were women. I think that % rose for ~decade, then declined. The 1/3 % was typical of many software groups at Bell Labs while I was there 1973-83.

14 June at 18:24 | Wall-to-wall | Open on mstdn.social
9 comments
lj·rk

@JohnMashey @lisamelton Wow, thank you for chiming in with those stories and links! Always surprised to see people from Bell Labs (I once even used PWB Shell :'D) here on the Fediverse, but it's amazing to hear all those stories from back then. They do serve as a great historical artifact!

I've also heard about
notabletechnicalwomen.org/
and the GDocs
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d
today for the first time, an amazing project to collect more of those hidden women in tech. I'll try to fire of some project at our local queerfeminist hackspace to maybe converge all those DBs and do some Wikipedia Editathon or such.

@JohnMashey @lisamelton Wow, thank you for chiming in with those stories and links! Always surprised to see people from Bell Labs (I once even used PWB Shell :'D) here on the Fediverse, but it's amazing to hear all those stories from back then. They do serve as a great historical artifact!

I've also heard about
notabletechnicalwomen.org/
and the GDocs
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d
today for the first time, an amazing project to...

14 June at 18:29 | Open on todon.eu
JohnMashey

@ljrk @lisamelton
Well, you go far back if you used (my) PWB shell!
That originated at Bell Labs Piscataway, ~1000 software people, largest concentration in BTL, so highest % women and an advocacy group, the Women’s Rights Caucus (I was a member). Younger guys were happy to have more smart women, we’d gone to school with them, some of the older guys (mostly EEs, ie very low female %) occasionally needed education.
AWC had a NJ chapter that invited me speak
awc-hq.org/home.html

14 June at 19:03 | Open on mstdn.social
lj·rk

@JohnMashey Yes, I know!! Imagine my surprise reading your comment :)

I'm quite young though, but had the pleasure of doing an internship under Jörg Schilling/schily of Schillix, star, cdrecord etc. – and he made sure I had at least some knowledge on the history of UNIX, including how PWB Shell worked (I later fixed a dead lock in his Bosh in the evaluation of PS1). That time was also the time where I learned about Mary Ann Horton, SCCS, etc.

What I find so interesting is that the women % wasn't always so low but also not everywhere, as you write! The % of women at a company/org/field always relates to how they're treated and how their peers behave as well as outside image. It's sad on the one hand that many orgs effectively chose to ignore the issue and have women % decline, but also uplifting to see that we can change!

@JohnMashey Yes, I know!! Imagine my surprise reading your comment :)

I'm quite young though, but had the pleasure of doing an internship under Jörg Schilling/schily of Schillix, star, cdrecord etc. – and he made sure I had at least some knowledge on the history of UNIX, including how PWB Shell worked (I later fixed a dead lock in his Bosh in the evaluation of PS1). That time was also the time where I learned about Mary Ann Horton, SCCS, etc.

14 June at 19:38 | Open on todon.eu
JohnMashey

@ljrk
A few more:
Diane Greene, who I knew when she was a software manager at SGI:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_
Megan Smith, an old friend my wife worked with at General Magic:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan_

14 June at 20:45 | Open on mstdn.social
JohnMashey

@ljrk
And another, Sue Owicki:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_
Unmentioned there, she also did consulting for SGI while I was there…
but she’s been a good friend since … 7th grade…. And luckily lives nearby , so still see her now and then. Certainly the most brilliant student in our 400-student graduating high school class.

14 June at 20:51 | Open on mstdn.social
lj·rk

@JohnMashey Incredible lifes! I'm a tad envious to not have met almost any of them, the stories that are lost...

14 June at 21:01 | Open on todon.eu
JohnMashey replied to lj·rk

@ljrk
Well, I’m lucky to have worked at Bell Labs in era crucial for CMPSC, including 100+ talks around USA as an ACM National Lecturer. ( I think only one other did more talks, the indefatigable Adm Hopper!)
Then decades in Silicon Valley, including 22.5 years as Trustee at Computer History Museum.
Being in right places at right times = lucky, able to meet terrific people.

14 June at 21:16 | Open on mstdn.social
lj·rk replied to JohnMashey

@JohnMashey Yup, helluva time! I'm trying the best I can to meet new inspiring people and finding time and positions/options to do so. In the end, technology is cool, but the people even more so!

14 June at 21:33 | Open on todon.eu
JohnMashey

@ljrk
And another distinguished prof I’ve known since ~2004, did talk for her dept at UT Austin & for conference there, also paper for IEEE Micro in 2021:
Lizy John:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizy_J

14 June at 21:09 | Open on mstdn.social
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