Registration for new events has been turned off. Please contact Suw Charman-Anderson if you have an event to add.
- This event has passed.
Ada Lovelace Day 2016 at the University of Edinburgh
11 October 2016 @ 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Free
On Tuesday 11th October 2016, in Room 1.12 of the University of Edinburgh Main Library, we will again be running a Wikipedia edit-a-thon to celebrate Ada Lovelace Day 2016, an international celebration day of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
What’s involved?
We begin at 10am with a range of guest speakers in the morning:
- 10.00am to 11am – Talks.
- Melissa Highton – Welcome and intro about Ada Lovelace & Mary Somerville
- Jenni Houston – Mentoring
- Frances Grebenc – The mentoring programme at Edinburgh University
- School of Maths – The maths of Ada Lovelace.
- Stewart Cromar – The latest on the Lego Lovelace project – 10,000 votes later.
This will be followed by fun technology activities from 11am to 1pm:
- Metadata games
- Fun with BBC Microbit – a handheld, fully programmable computer that you can use for all sorts of cool creations, from robots to musical instruments – the possibilities are endless.
- Fun with Sonic Pi – the live coding music synth for everyone.
- Create Lego calculators/adders.
- Colour in a giant ‘Garden of Ada’ design; hand drawn by our Interactive Content team along with a number of other Ada Lovelace OER resources.
Did you know that approximately only 16% of the biographies on Wikipedia relate to notable women? If you’d like to help redress this imbalance, new editors are very welcome and participants will be supported to develop Wikipedia articles; creating new role models for young and old alike.
Wikipedia editathon on Women in STEM 1-5pm:
Full Wikipedia editing training will be given at 1-2pm. Thereafter the afternoon’s editathon from 2-5pm will focus on improving the quality of Wikipedia articles related to Women in STEM!
The event page can be accessed here: http://bit.ly/2cGapkn
The focus might shift a little this year to female mentors given that Mary Somerville is to grace the £10 note this year so our event will have an extra focus on women in maths too.
Who was Ada Lovelace?
Ada Lovelace (1815–1852), the only legitimate child of the poet George, Lord Byron and his wife Anne Isabella Milbanke, was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage‘s early mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. Her notes on the engine include what is recognised as the first algorithm intended to be carried out by a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first computer programmer with her work a major influence on Alan Turing & inspiring countless others. There’s now a graphic novel of her short but brilliant life and you can read more about her here.
Want to come?
For booking purposes, the day is split in two parts: talks & technology activities in the morning and the Women in STEM Wikipedia editathon in the afternoon.
You can attend both morning and afternoon sessions or just one.
- To book a place for the morning activities (10am to 1pm):
- To book a place for the afternoon editathon (1pm to 5pm):
Time for lunch?
Food can be brought into the room and the fun technology activities from 11am to 1pm can be dropped in and out of. Tea & coffee will be provided and there is also the Library Cafe downstairs where you can get refreshments and a bite to eat.
Not a student or staff member of the university? A limited number of tickets are available through Eventbrite (links are on the event page).
Want to take part remotely? Drop me an email at ewan.mcandrew@ed.ac.uk
Suggestions for notable Women in STEM who could & should be represented on Wikipedia?
Feel free to suggest name of notable women we could include as part of this day of celebration. Email me at ewan.mcandrew@ed.ac.uk
Hope to see you there!
Ewan McAndrew
Wikimedian in Residence