Todays iPhone Users are Young, Rich, and Technically Savvy
Well, now don’t I feel special.
Via aaronrutledge.com.
About Marci
I am a New York-based user experience designer. Here you'll find my musings on everything digital (and some things that aren't).
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Today’s iPhone Users are Young, Rich, and Technically Savvy
iPhone developer SDK at last!
Women in technology
Interesting post over at zeldman.com regarding the underrepresentation of women in technology.
Much more interesting than the article itself is the lively comment thread below it. I think few women with experience at more than three positions would disagree that misogyny still exists in the workplace. I’m not prepared to say that it’s more so in IT than in any other industry, as I don’t have experience working in other fields. However, judging by the looks I get when I offer up unsolicited code suggestions or mention my terabyte server in front of people who don’t know me, I’d say that it’s a little unusual to be a “nerdy” female.
With this experience — which I don’t believe is uncommon — I find it a bit bewildering to read all the men who post things like “there’s two women on my team, so there’s no sexism in the workplace.” I understand that it can be frustrating to read about bias towards a demographic that you’re not a part of, particularly when you don’t notice any prejudice around you. But I find it to be an incredibly naive argument to say “since I don’t see a problem, there must not be a problem”. We all know that attitudes about gender are something that have evolved drastically over the last 100 years. Is it really so surprising that some people who are part of older generations might retain some prejudice? That some young people might have been raised by prejudiced parents?
The number of generations that have passed since women gained the right to vote in the United States can be counted on one hand. Of course people aren’t used to girls who kick ass at Nintendo.
The allure of the retro
Our culture’s fascination with the old and recycled (more fashionably termed “retro”) has been well documented by authors other than myself. Fashion models/ “it”-girls wear spandex and oversized t-shirts; purposefully amateur web sites (see Borat’s myspace page, which, like his character, blatantly rips off Mahir’s earnest proclamations of internet friendship); and, as I remember screaming at my mother 15 years ago when she gathered my favorite toys into a trash bag, my “My Little Pony” collection would actually be worth something someday.
The one part of retro that I never thought I would quite understand has to do with technology. I pride myself of being on the semi-cutting edge — I have a high-def TV, a next generation game console, and a pre-order in for another
one. Sure, there is a special place in my heart for my Mac Classic, which was old when I got it and basically served as a black and white Solitaire machine, but other than that, I try to embrace new technology.
What, then, is so fascinating about ASCII art? What makes an image made out of random characters so much more exciting than one made out of colored pixels?
I don’t know the answer to this question, but I do know how I spent my afternoon at work:
Marci
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Aaron
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'''''''''''''---~(+zhhDhhhzhzshhhDDDDDDhhDDDDDDDDDDBh+~sBz+<
'''''''''''''-''-((+=zhhhzzz=zDhhhDhDhhhzDDhhhhhDDDD(--hD+~~
''''''''''''''''--~(<=zzzsz==hhhhhhDDDhDszhzhzzhhhD+''<Dz~''
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Via Typorganism.