Today is Ada Lovelace day, with more than 1,700 bloggers uniting
to write about women in technology they admire.
The day was started by social media expert Suw Charman-Anderson
who wanted to increase awareness of the achievements of women in
the area.
The aim is to boost the number of women and girls interested in
technology, with a lack of role models being cited as one reason
for the low numbers of female IT staff.
Ada Lovelace,
Lord Byron's daughter, was the world's first computer programmer,
but is not widely credited for her massive contribution to the
science.
We have put together a
picture story of some of the women in technology we admire, and
there are plenty more ideas at the
Ada Lovelace Day website.
One possible role model is
Sue Black, a
softwear engineer and one of the driving forces behind the Saving
Bletchley Park campaign.
Another is Michele Hyron, the chief integrator at Atos Origin,
who is in charge of IT at the London 2012 Olympics.
Charman Anderson said she is delighted with the response. "It
has been an amazing response; people have blogged in about a dozen
languages from all over the world.
"It is astonishing, I really did not expect people to react so
positively to the idea. I am hoping to make it even bigger and
better next year."
It is still possible to sign
the pledge and take part until midnight tonight.