Ada Lovelace. Image sourced from Wikipedia

Today is Ada Lovelace Day, which is all about bringing women in technology to the fore by writing a blog post about your favourite woman in technology. You can read more about the initiative @ the Finding Ada website, and also discover all the posts (more than 1,500 people pledged to write for Ada day) via the AdaLovelaceDay09 tag in technorati and delicious or the #ALD09 hashtag on Twitter.

I totally and completely love this idea.. but its taken me all day to realise that I cant pick just one woman in technology! There are a whole host of talented and intelligent women in my local networks, who I collaborate with and learn from on a regular basis.  How do I decide? I tried all sorts of different criteria, but couldnt come up with just one name.

And so, I give you my 2009 Ada Day List of Favourite Geek Girls! I could have chosen more famous people perhaps, but I decided to focus on women that I have worked with in some form or another over the last few years, and I truly value the knowledge and friendship they’ve shared with me!

• Judy O’Connell aka Heyjude Jenns – who’s use of Web 2.0 in Libraries is truly inspiring! Jude uses technology to do wonderful thing with her students. She isnt afraid to take risks, and uses her network to fuel her mission. She’s also a force to be reckoned with as a project manager/facilitator. It was fantastic to work with you on Simplybooks, Jude and I watch it’s development with much interest!
• Josie Fraser – I’ve been lucky enough to work with Josie on the 2008/2009 Edublog Awards ceremonies and am totally inspired by her work. She does a fabulous job of the awards, drawing a diverse, sometimes quite grumpy community of Edubloggers together and deserves total praise for her calm committment to the event. She is also totally entertaining as the event host and has brilliant taste in virtual gowns! (teehee!)
• Julie Collareda – Julie works in the vocational edu sector @ TAFE in NSW and was my boss for about 3 weeks several years back. I’ve been lucky enough to work with her on a number of different projects since then, including the Sydney Institute’s Blogs and Wiki’s project which was a huge learning curve for all of us, and has had some big impacts in terms of the types of learning spaces teachers and students are using both at Sydney Institute, but also more broadly across TAFE. She inspires me because she is tenacious,  is a change agent, and uses technology creatively to create educational opportunities.
• Peggy Sheehey aka Maggie Marat – Peggy does amazing things in virtual worlds. Her work in Teen Second Life is legendary, as are her online resources. Although I dont know Peggy as well as some of the other women on this list, I had to include her as her work has really inspired me over the last few years, and I totally appreciate her willingness to share her wisdom with others. She was the absolute hit at our jokaydia Unconference in 2008, and continues to inspire with her work with the Atlantis Seekers Community.
• Robyn Jay – I have learnt so much from watching the way Robyn facilitates and motivates professional development communities using technology. Her work with NSW Learnscope Teams and AFLF projects is well known and has heavily influenced some of my thinking on how to facilitate the communities I manage. I love her quiet approach to people management, and also her fierce defence of students’ and teachers’ right to access technology and online learning and digital literacy opportunities.

So happy Finding Ada Day! Go and thank your local geek girl for her contribution to your digital world today!