*A Gathering of Feminist Women for Hacking Technologies *

(as part of http://www.htmlles.net/2012/ )

(the event will be bilingual cf FemHack en français - a mettre à jour)

November 17th 2012

Organized by Foufem, the Montreal Women and Feminist Hacker group, this whole-day event represents a marathon of activities on a number of tech & art topics. The aim is to demystify technologies, learn from peers, and create a core group of local women interested in technologies and hacking. There will be hands-on workshops, presentations, art performances & craft experiments. The event is experiment-friendly, diversity-friendly, innovation-friendly and errors-friendly. It is dedicated to (self-identified) women, techno-feminists, their children and allies.

HackFem will have four spaces of parallel activities:

  • presentation session
  • free sharing and learning space
  • children workshops
  • discussion hangs out corner

Program of the day

  • 9h30-10h00: Welcome, coffee and visit the Espace Fibre

  • 10h00-10h30: Introduction session

  • 10h30-11h20: Nancy Mauro-Flude, Hands:On Tactical Magick: social software: fiction, action-at-a-distance and dolls [Presentation]

Nancy Mauro Flude http://sister0.org/, http://www.miss-hack.org/ our special guest from Australia, will open the day by sharing her experience with founding of a female-friendly hackerspaces and organizing kids-friendly feminist hacking activities.

Rather then speaking as an programming expert, my presentation is as an acknowledged outsider, as a performing artist who has a vested interest in redefining models of engagement and access to knowledge, but whose expertise is not necessarily those of a IT professional although I do programme and point to computer culture and most importantly engage with it in a speculative manner. I refer to Miss Despoina's Critical Engineering space, the /Eclectic Tech Carnival (/etc) http://www.eclectictechcarnival.org/ and other so called 'hackspaces' and their associated 'public sphere’. I ground the analysis in my experience as a developer/& or founder of these events or spaces. I rethink self-organising meeting and visibility spaces by considering gender approaches to in computer subcultures and software/hardware development. MORE INFO: http://bit.ly/software_dolls

Parallel sessions:

  • 11h30-12h20: Valery Walker WomenSpeak => ComputersListen [Presentation]
    My talk will be on approaching technology as a new language which one has to learn how to use. I'll link in a bit herstory via ada lovelace, the loom as computer concept, the basic parts of a computer: what they do and how we work with them, the web browser as computer interface, an overview of software Design aka coding aka translanting one's thoughts into machine thought, which should set them up for learning python next.

  • 11h30-12h20: Alex Ruaux Intro to 3D printing [Workshop] Imagine a world where you can print solid objects from your computer, where virtual designs can be made tangible from within the comfort of your own home. Are you interested in finding out what the 3D printing hype is really all about, what it can do and want to see it in action? Then this is workshop is for you. See various printers in action, see some of the cool objects and learn more about the whole process.

12h30-13h30: Lunch-Potluck! Bring a dish of your favorite meal and share with the other participants.

  • 13h30-14h20: Anne Goldenberg Some Laptop AutoPsy [Workshop]

Inspired by the project Effeuillage d'Ordinateur­ http://vimeo.com/38361339 by Annie abramams, but focusing on the innerworld of your own laptop, Some LaptopAutoPsys questions the relation we have to our own computer, through an intimate dissection among electonics fragilities, mysteris and discoveries.

  • 13h20-14h20: Suzon Fuks: Water-Wheel [Presentation]

Waterwheel offre une plate-forme pour activistes, artistes, scientifiques et enseignants afin de débattre, présenter, archiver et échanger des informations et idées à propos de l'Eau. Waterwheel permet le partage créatif et constructif sur le sujet essentiel de l'Eau, grâce à son système unique et gratuit de vidéoconférence et mixage de médias : le Tap - une sorte de combinaison de Skype groupe vidéo (jusqu'à 6 webcams) et YouTube pour toutes sortes de médias. http://vimeo.com/waterwheel/demo

  • 14h30-15h20: Stefanie Schirmer: Introduction to Python [Presentation/Workshop]

Here we will learn to program in Python together. Python is a clear and expressive programming language, both suited for beginners and complex tasks. No previous knowledge is required, everybody is welcome. :) If possible, bring a computer with Python (http://www.python.org/getit/ -> pick 2.7.x) and a text editor (gedit, sublimeText2, notepad or whatever you have / prefer) installed. We can also help you installing those.

  • 15h30-16h20: Sophie Toupin Intersectional feminism and hackerspaces

  • 16h30-17h00: Foufem

  • 17h00-19h00 - 5@7 (bring your drinks, there's no bar)

flyers !

This event is proudly and happily part of the HTMlles http://www.htmlles.net/ ?log EN grey.png