This morning, I went to the Science Museum to talk to Ada Lovelace herself about Charles Babbage, his computing machines, and her vision and brilliance.
Ada was a most fascinating lady, and I hope that because of today, more people will know not just about her, but about all the other amazing women in technology.
I’d like to thank Steph Troeth and Steph Booth for helping me with Ada Lovelace Day. Both of them helped me to figure out what shape the campaign was going to take and were then invaluable in kick-starting it. Without their help and encouragement I’m not sure that Ada Lovelace Day would have happened at all. Thanks also go to Vicky Riddell at the BBC for deciding to run with the story on the BBC News Channel and doing such an amazing job of getting so many smart techie women on the news.
I also need to thank two men, firstly Tony Kennick, who very kindly cobbled together the Ada Lovelace Day Collection mash-up, and who put up with my last-minute-ness with grace and good humour.
And secondly, my wonderful husband Kevin who has provided me with endless support and help over the last three months, who shot the video above, and who came with me to BBC Television Centre this evening and helped me calm my nerves before my interviews.
Thanks are also due to everyone who has taken part. Ada Lovelace Day was a community effort, with everyone playing an important role in making it the success it is.
But it’s not over yet! We have another 15 hours before the day that is Ada Lovelace Day is finally over as midnight arrives in the Baker Islands, and we have a lot more blog posts still to be added to our Collection.
Even then, it’s not over. We have our first event booked at NESTA for 10th June – on which more to come – and I have a few other ideas up my sleeve too. So don’t go away – keep FindingAda.com in your RSS reader, or follow us on Twitter, and keep up-to-date with our news.
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Is ADL going to be a yearly event? I’m asking because I had a splendid idea for a post ten minutes after I’d posted the one I did in fact post.
gah, ALD.
Thanks for having the idea and doing *so* much work, Suw – it’s been great fun (and I still have about a million posts to read). An annual event would be wonderful.
Thank you so much for Ada Lovelace Day! I came across it only a few minutes ago, so it’s likely I won’t get a blog post up today, but I so appreciate what you’re doing. As a student of computer science and a member of several organizations for women in science, engineering, and technology, I cannot tell you how important this is, not just to me, but to so many of the girls that I mentor (not to mention the future of the world). I would love to offer my assistance in helping to make Ada Lovelace Day an annual event.
Thank you again!
Rachel Shadoan
This is great, thank you for making this happen! I am enjoying reading the blog posts and learning more about what women are doing in technology.
If you get the chance, a search on the mash up would be really helpful, or even just listing 3-4 times the number posts on one page so that there are fewer pages.
Rain