This is me, age thirty something (mid)… I’m not talking about it … lol, running a Rube Goldberg Machine workshop to teach undergraduates about statistics, and to my despair here is me age 15……
The only difference between these two pictures, other than I think time was good to me, is I don’t actually NEED glasses anymore but I’m still wearing them …. I got my eye laser surgery at 22. So why do I still wear clear lens glasses? I have a terrible theory and I want your opinions.
I often wear glasses, I’ve got to admit, because people take my geekiness more seriously when I do… every time … or at least it feels that way. If I say, well I can code and I’ve just written part of an eBook on tech in education and I’m working on some papers or research or anything really, if I’m wearing glasses, especially those black framed ones its instant unquestioning. People take me seriously. But, without glasses, people look at me like I’m crazy or they seem unsure. I’m not sure If I’m playing the stereotype to its advantage or adding to it, because let’s face it, the average girl geek is pretty much always shown IN glasses. Just google girl geek and it’s full of them. So the question I guess I have for you is, have you done it too? Have YOU faked bad eyesight to have geek cred, or should we all just stick to our own eyesight needs? Or is it just a fashion faze I’ve been having for 15 years…answers on a tweet to @ka81/@lpoolgirlgeeks #girlgeeksinglasses..
Here is my Top 5 “High fidelity style” favourite geeky things this month, I can hear all you 80s kids in joy that I just referenced that lol
1. Make magazine from projects to builds and practice for your coding, physical computing and cool technology. MAKE is the home of makers and the geekiest place on the internet and a source of very cool things to make and do. Also home to the Maker Faire
2. Tested.com the home of Will Smith and Norman Chan with my personal heroes Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman from Mythbusters. Its podcasts are very cool and has a listing of ‘App of the week’ and an amazing forum – one of my favourite places.
3. DoES Liverpool what the guys at DoES don’t know is not worth knowing ☺
Incredibly supportive community of makers, entrepreneurs and geeks who have helped me and my better half Mark Feltham set up the HEdWorks project at LJMU (@HEdSpaceUK) . Patrick and Adrian are amazing, I could talk to them for weeks about all things geeky just wish I had more time to … SO, nip down on a maker night to see what it’s all about.
4. LJMU’s Maker Education Working Group (MEWG) I’m a bit biased with this one as I was part of setting it up, although everyone involved is soooooo geeky and amazing! But we do need more girls as there were just two of at our last mini maker faire (that’s me on the front). If you’re an LJMU student and want to get involved, we are all at the @HEdSpaceUK.
Autodesk’s 123D Catch shown to me by Patrick at DoES , I’m becoming obsessed with taking pictures on my phone with this app to make 3D virtual objects. Just load up the app and take photos… upload them and a 3D virtual object is created from the image. You can get your objects 3D printed there too. Here is my 3D dodo skull. If you’re wondering why I’m also obsessed with dodo’s see here….
Oh I could go on and on and I might. …this is just a few of the ones on my geekometer atm. Although, not everyone who is a geek is into making and coding. I have a group of friends, all girls, who are techy but have much different tastes than me but still amaze me with things they are into.
This month the girls are talking about ….Uber
The days of waiting for a cab in the rain and looking for a cash machine at 3am are over. This app is amazing for women out on a night out, connecting your cab to your phones GPS and bringing the cab right to you. The cab drivers ring you when they arrive (instead of you waiting in the cold) and your fare (which is much cheaper) is billed to your card. All this and it gives you £10 free if you’re recommended by a friend. It’s my new method of getting a cab and avoiding that “It’s freezing, I’m in a bodycon dress in the cold with no coat moment”.
Liverpool Girl Geeks 