How to Contribute to the Grace Hopper Bloggers Via Your Own Blog

If you are interested in writing blog posts for GHC, you will have to tag each post appropriately and determine the custom URL for an RSS feed with only those posts.  Luckily, if you use one of the more popular blogging services, this should be pretty simple.

The tag you want to use will include ghc plus the year of the conference.  For instance, in 2011, it will be ghc11.  You can add other tags to your post as desired; just make sure to include this one as well.

If you use Blogger, you can get the URL by adding a little bit extra to the end of your RSS feed. The format for the feed is as follows:

http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/ghc11

If you use Wordpress, all you have to do is add "feed" to the end of any category or tag link.  For example:

http://blogname.wordpress.com/tags/ghc11/feed
http://blogname.wordpress.com/categories/ghc11/feed

On Tumblr, you can simply add "rss" to the end of a tag link:

http://blogname.tumblr.com/tagged/ghc11/rss

Terri Oda wrote about how you can set up your feed for Dreamwidth, an independent, open-source community-centric service (if you haven't heard of it, check it out!).  Here are the templates for your tagged posts:

http://blogname.dreamwidth.org/data/rss?tag=ghc11
http://blogname.dreamwidth.org/data/atom?tag=ghc11

Finally, on Posterous, you would add the tag info to the RSS URL like this:

http://blogname.posterous.com/rss.xml?tag=ghc11

If your blog has a custom setup, or isn't one of those mentioned above, then you'll have to do some Google-fu to figure out how to set up your feed. If you get stuck, try leaving a comment, and hopefully someone will be able to help you out.

Introducing a Recent Undergrad Graduate

Hello! I'm Ashley Myers, and I am the other co-chair of the Grace Hopper Conference Communities Committee. As both Ed and Gail I have done, I am here to introduce myself. If you haven't yet, check out other attendees introducing themselves and introduce yourself on LinkedIn, Facebook, or any of the online communities.

I learned of GHC during my first year of college. It seemed like one of those things that only the lucky would attend. "The largest women in computing conference." I was a broke college student, there was no way.

The following school year, a classmate was awarded a student scholarship to attend GHC07. She came back with a ton of photos of her amazing time in Orlando and was totally energized about all things Computer Science. At some point toward the end of that school year, I came to the decision I was going to Grace Hopper in 2008. I applied to be a Hopper (GHC10 Hopper application closes on July 30th), crossed my fingers, secured funds from my university for the flight, saved cash from my summer internship for the hotel and registration (just in case), got a roommate via Twitter to split the hotel room with (Hi @emilyhowe!), and that was that!

Since I had not participated in the official call for participation, Ed (my forever roommate) and I signed up for pretty much everything asked of community volunteers: Twitter, Flickr, note taking, blogging, and video blogging. This involvement has made my experience these last two GHCs. I have met and most importantly kept in contact with so many women through these online mediums. I encourage you to either informally participate by tagging your tweets and blog posts with GHC10, or to officially volunteer (GHC10 online Community Volunteer application is live until August 24th).

The best thing about the online communities is you don't need permission to get involved. Here are all the places you can find and connect with me!

• Twitter: @OrganizeFISH (I will also be tweeting as @ghc, look for my signature ^amm)
• Blog: "Let's Eat That Big Fish!"
• Ed & Ashley's 5 Minute Show
• YouTube
• LinkedIn

This year marks a big change for me. This will be my first Grace Hopper I will attend as a women in industry rather than as a student. I will also be traveling from my new home in Seattle, moving officially for the first time in my life next month.

What's your story? Undergrad? Grad? Industry? Academia? Introduce yourself in the comments below, on LinkedIn, on Facebook, or any of the online communities! I look forward to meeting you!

Hi! My name is Ed!

Hello there!  I'm Erin 'Ed' Donahue and I'm one of the co-chairs of the Grace Hopper Communities Committee.  Just like Gail, I'd like to introduce myself.

That's me!

I went to my first GHC in 2008 with my good friend and forever roommate Ashley.  Just before leaving for the conference, we decided we want to be video bloggers and so we created Ed & Ashley's 5 Minute Show.  Since then, we've continued to do our 5 minute show, focusing on technical women.

In May 2009, I graduated from DePauw University in Greencastle, IN and moved to Colorado for my first job as a software engineer with Lockheed Martin.  Working a full-time job is totally different from being in school, that's for sure!  I'm learning new stuff everyday (although that did happen in school too).  Out here in Colorado, I organize the Colorado Front Range Girl Geek Dinners.  If you're ever in Colorado, please stop by!

I also love to salsa dance, play rugby, swim, and nap outside on my balcony. :)

I'm online!  Connect with me!

• Twitter: @creepyed (I also tweet as @ghc, look for my signature ^ed)
• Ed & Ashley's 5 Minute Show
• YouTube
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

We want to hear from you!  Introduce yourself in the comments or on Facebook or LinkedIn!

Introducing a Passionate PhD Student

Hi everyone! My name is Gail, and I'm on this year's Grace Hopper Online Communities Committee. I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself and hope that you, too, will find a community you can introduce yourself in.

I went to my first Grace Hopper in 2008. We had just started our Women in Science and Engineering group (known as CU-WISE) on campus, and when I heard about the conference, I knew we had to go. My fellow executive members weren't so sure we would be able to get funding, but I pushed us to try, and lo and behold we succeeded! Attending the conference made an enormous difference to CU-WISE and our ability to put on a fantastic program at Carleton University.

In 2009, I wanted to get more involved with the conference. I love blogging, and started to volunteer more and more to help BJ Wishinsky, the Communities Program Manager over at the Anita Borg Institute, set things up. I ended up becoming the Lead Blogger and organized all our bloggers and note takers, ensuring we brought you info on as many session we could!

This year, as I said, I am on the new Online Communities Committee. Our main goal is to "evangelize and promote the Grace Hopper online communities... [by] participating in the online communities, recruiting diverse community volunteers, and evangelizing the communities to all Grace Hopper participants." I'm super excited to help everyone make the most out of the conference with these communities, whether they can attend in person or not!

To wrap up, a bit about me (and why I titled my post the way I did):I finished my Masters last summer and just finished my coursework for the PhD. I am very passionate about education and learning (could it be because my mom is teacher?), and I want my research to tap into that. I am planning on working on educational games, and in particular want to use augmented reality, as I believe there are some real cognitive advantages to the technology. I am also interested in the role of games and technology in the classroom, and want to help revolutionize how we teach computer science.

If anyone is interested in reading my personal blog or connecting with me, here are some useful links - I'd love to hear from you!

• My blog, The Female Perspective of Computer Science
• Twitter, @gailcarmichael
• Linked In
• Flickr
  

Finishing Touches

I'm mostly packed. Of course my netbook, Egg, isn't packed yet since that would cut me off from the online world and then I would go through withdrawal symptoms and no one wants that. As I was finishing packing, I realized there's one last thing I have to do and it's not running through the dish washer. I have to optimize Egg for GHC!! What does that mean? For me, it means making sure everything I'll need for GHC is right at my fingertips...on Egg, of course!

My Browser
I'm involved in the GHC online community and I want to make sure I keep up with it while I'm at GHC! I've set new homepages in Google Chrome so that when I open it, all the important GHC pages open. Here are the pages that I open:

• GHC Program Overview: http://www.gracehopper.org/2009/assets/GHC_2009-program_overview.pdf
• #ghc09 Twitter Search: http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23ghc09
• GHC09 YouTube Group: http://www.youtube.com/group/ghc09
• GHC Blog: http://ghcbloggers.blogspot.com/
• GHC09 Flickr Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/ghc2009
• GHC09 Wiki: http://community.anitaborg.org/wiki/index.php/Ghc2009
• My mail
• My calendar

Note-taking/Blogging

Although I'm not an official note-taker, I'll still probably want to take notes in sessions. Being a blogger, I'm also going to want to write several blog posts at GHC. There's also the possibility I'll want to outline a couple episodes of Ed & Ashley's 5 Minute Show. I want to make sure that all of my notes, posts, and outlines are organized and in one place. I set up a notebook group in OneNote dedicated to GHC. I have notebooks for notes, blog posts, and the show. Everything is in one spot so I'm not searching for it later!

My Taskbar

I've also set up my task bar for GHC. I'm running Windows 7 RC, but you can create a Quick Launch menu with the same functionality. Here's my taskbar:

• Internet browsers: IE, Firefox, and Chrome (with all my GHC tabs)
• Sticky Notes, to take quick notes and write down to-do's
• Tweetdeck, my Twitter client of choice with its own columns for GHC Tweeters and a #ghc09, #ghc search
• OneNote, for all of my conference notes, blog posts, and outlines

With all these fabulous tweaks, Egg is ready for GHC!!

Celebration time!

I can't believe the Grace Hopper conference is less than a week away!

As a senior undergraduate, I'm so excited to be attending GHC this year! This will be my second time attending. I can't wait to have the opportunity to network with professionals, learn about the newest research, visit with recruiters, and attend Sponsor Night. I will also be participating as a blogger and note taker during the conference. I figure this is a great way to give back to GHC for the student scholarship they gave me.

My first time was the 2007 conference in Orlando, and wow - I came away from that experience SO motivated! I wanted to participate in research, volunteer with woman in computing groups, work in industry, continue networking with all the wonderful women I met...oh yeah, and finish my undergraduate degree. It's funny how these small things get in your way. ;-)

My experience two years ago taught me a few key things:

1) Print out your resume!
As a newbie to the GHC, I had no idea that I would have such a great opportunity to connect with companies looking to hire women. I found myself scrambling to find a printer and print out my resume -- not a fun time!

2) Attend as many sessions as you can!
I always like pouring of the schedule beforehand and planning out my day accordingly. Torn between two sessions? Go to the first, then visit the second if you feel like that. And don't forget that we will be having note takers to try to capture some of the main points of session.

3) Introduce yourself
There are so many opportunities to network with the woman at the conference, whether it's before/after a session (and something during!), at the breakfast buffet or lunch table, in the elevator, at Sponsor night...the list goes on and on. Challenge yourself to meet someone new every day.

4) Bring your dancin' shoes!
The award presentation and dancing on Thursday is always a great time. How often do we get to have dance parties? It's a total blast.

The best thing about GHC is that it is business and party all rolled into one. It's such an incredible experience to be surrounded with thousands of woman who are just as psyched as you to be involved in the computing industry. So, take it all in! A memorable experience awaits you!

Connecting Online with GHC 2009

What do Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have to do with the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing? They are all great ways to make and maintain connections online with other GHC conference participants!

On LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, technical women from around the world are introducing themselves; talking about their posters and panels; finding rides and roommates; asking and answering questions. But wait, there's more!

Our GHC Bloggers are sharing tips on how to get the most out of the conference, highlighting sessions of interest for first-timers, job-seekers, students, and more. During the conference there will be still more, as attendees share photos, videos, notes and blog posts about the conference. Our GHC community volunteers will be there for you, helping participants use these online communities and sharing their own notes, blog posts, tweets (Twitter updates), photos and videos.

If you're new to Web 2.0 social networking, check out Getting Started. Sign up now so you'll be ready to share your own photos, videos and more at the conference.

In all our GHC online communities, excitement about GHC 2009 is building and being shared. Come join us today!

Contributing to the Grace Hopper Bloggers Via Your Own Blog

If you've been watching the Grace Hopper Bloggers Blogroll (which is to the right of the main content on the actual website), you may have noticed that many contributers wrote posts from their personal blogs. Unfortunately, this means that all their posts show up there, not just the Grace Hopper ones. (I'm guilty of this, too - my posts from The Female Perspective of Computer Science are still showing up there!)

We're going to fix that for the 2009 edition of this wonderful conference. But don't worry - you can still post from your own blog if you want to. The trick is to carefully tag the relevant posts with ghc09 and import the RSS feed just for those tags into this blog.

If you use Blogger, you do this by adding a little bit extra to the end of your RSS feed. The format for the feed is as follows:

http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/ghc09

If you use Wordpress, follow the tips from this page, where the following templates are provided:

• http://example.com/category/ghc09/feed/
• http://example.com/ghc09/feed/ (for WordPress blogs not using “category” in their permalinks)
• http://example.com/wp-rss2.php?cat=4

TypePad has a detailed article on how to do this in their Knowledge Base. Once you set up your template and create the appropriate xml file, you will be able to access your feed via:

http://example.typepad.com/my_weblog/categoryfeed.xml

If your blog has a custom setup, or isn't one of the three mentioned above, then you'll have to do some Google-fu to figure out how to set up your feed. If you get stuck, try leaving a comment, and hopefully someone will be able to help you out.