Let’s Rawk The Web

A Manifesto

Denise Jacobs //Girl Geek Dinners Miami /

/ July 2011

Rawk The TweetsWho’s Rawkin’:@denisejacobs

The Venue:@miamishared #girlgeekmiami

What I’m rawkin’ about:@rawktheweb #rawktheweb

“This one goes to 11”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aarronwalter/4629078087/

Author + Speaker & Trainer +Pan-Creative = RAWK!

man·i·fes·to[man-uh-fes-toh], nouna public declaration of motives, opinions, intentions,

and/or objectives, as one issued by a government, sovereign, or organization.

from It. Manifesto, 1644 "public declaration explaining past actions and announcing the motive for forthcoming ones," from L. manifestus.

- Dictionary.com

Typical tech conference line-up

UX conferences

Typography conferences

Tech book authors

Tech company startup crews

http://www.technologyreview.com/web/24555/

There is plenty of diversity

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ejflavors/3367083875/

There is plenty of diversitySome

^

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ejflavors/3367083875/

There is plenty of diversitySome

^

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ejflavors/3367083875/

There are diverse web experts

Divya Manian@nimbui

Dan Mall @danmall

Lea Verou@leaverou

So…what gives?

• At FOWA 2009, Kristina Halvorson pulled a surprise in her presentation and asked, “why am I the only woman on stage here?”

FOWA Miami 2009

http://www.flickr.com/photos/judxapp/3308023998/

• And today in 2011, I’m asking “why am I one of very few women of color on the stage at the conferences I present at?”And at present…

• I love guys.

Much like Kristina…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/judxapp/3307193183/

• I love (white) guys.

And just so you’re not confused…

(white)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/judxapp/3307193183/

Honest!

photo 2: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thereisnocat/4492069431/; all others are the author’s

Potatoes & the web industry

Lack of biodiversity

http://www.flickr.com/photos/benmillett/281344513/

Exponential growth & influence

http://www.infographic.nu/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/death-of-print.png

Newspaperhttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:African_American_boy_selling_The_Washington_Daily_News.png

Radiohttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StateLibQld_1_105248_Group_of_friends_gathered_around_a_radio_in_Brisbane,_ca._1942.jpg

Television

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Family_watching_television_1958.jpg

Globally pervasive

1) http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcmetroblogger/4731961032/, 2) http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcmetroblogger/3861295403/, 3) http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosipaw/5308977361/, 4) http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiwanja/3169449999/

Did you know?The number of books estimated at 130 million,

while the number of of websites in 2008 was 160 million.

Currently, there are ~20 billion pages on the web.

There are a LOT of different potatoes…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aarronwalter/4629078087/http://www.flickr.com/photos/flatbushgardener/2105741902/

Approximately 4500!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/benmillett/241673100/

More voices to be heard

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lynneluvah/3365184823/

(and diversity)

Let’s Rawk the Web1. Why2. Where (to start)3. How4. What5. When

• Lament in the industry for several years now

• Lack of role models can discourage potentials

• Diversity of voices encourages innovation • Why Not?

“I go to only a small fraction of conferences and what do I see? The same handful of speakers….few new faces, fewer new ideas, rarely anything new to learn.”

- Nick Finck“Beyond the A-List, Diversity in the Web Community”

February 2007

A diversity of voices encourages innovation

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shirinwiniger/3680885289/

Why not?http://www.flickr.com/photos/auntiep/3083645776/

• Get clear• Get inspired• Get support• Get a plan & a system in place

Get clear

http://www.jenseninman.com/convergese & http://makeawesomeness.com/

• rtw, bbw, girls in tech, ggd, conferences, etc.

Get inspired

http://royhoes.deviantart.com/art/Out-of-Inspiration-85588391

Get support

• Get support

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kara_allyson/5358611092/

Get a plan & a system in place

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mozi/401717944/

• Do • Document• Deliver/Disseminate/Distribute

DO

http://weburbanist.com/2008/01/24/more-unusual-art-from-everyday-materials-16-post-it-note-pranks-sculptures-and-murals/

Document

http://www.flickr.com/photos/indi/119410966/

Deliver/Disseminate/Distribute

Achtung!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/glimeend/2661332153/

“I don’t know enough”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuant63/2908064018/

“They’ll discover that I’m a fraud”

“I’m skurred”

• Create/develop – content, brand/reputation, audience/platform/following

• Connect & collaborate• Propose• Promote

• Create/develop – content, brand/reputation, audience/platform/following

Create/develophttp://www.flickr.com/photos/kenturamon/83083170/

Connect & Collaboratehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/aarronwalter/4629078087/

Propose

• Propose

http://www.flickr.com/photos/junkchest/47929871/

Promotehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/thivierr/1177775772/

(Are you surprised?)http://www.flickr.com/photos/zen/3446600695/

Not about “Viva La Raza”`

Photo by Carlos Miller, 2011

Nor is it about ego

Visible presence has effects

Both overt and subtle

(One of) My goal(s)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mjlaflaca/317471107/

Change mental image to this:

Femi Adesina@designjuju

J. Smith @mrjsmith

Tiffany B. Brown @webinista

Conference line-ups more like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hellquist/4669645994/

Bring out inner rawkstars

http://www.flickr.com/photos/torley/2761300969/

Now’s the time

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8286330@N03/4322042366/

Change the world for the betterhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/sepblog/3527804859/

Ready to Rawk?RawkTheWeb.comTwitter.com/RawkTheWeb

Launching: Fall/Winter 2011Used with permission: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cindyli/5525695760/