Katy Dickinson

SMUM Computer Girls

John and I volunteer a few hours a week at Studio 17, the grade school homework and computer lab program of Santa Maria Urban Ministry (SMUM). SMUM provides basic services in the inner city of San Jose, CA: both short-term needs such as food, clothing and transportation, and long-term transformation through education, counseling, after-school and seasonal programs.

Last week, John showed the girls who came for Studio 17 the Apple Photo Booth software on his Mac laptop. They were delighted. Here are the girls having fun with John and Padre Lorenzo:

Images Copyright 2008 by John Plocher and Katy Dickinson

Posted at 10:24PM Apr 10, 2008 by katysblog in Church  |  Comments[1]

New PreSEED Term, SEED Event

On 3 April, we announced PreSEED-2, the second pilot mentoring term aimed at helping Sun Engineering staff who have been getting almost all "Sun Standard" (2 or Standard-level) performance ratings onto a path which may lead them to higher engagement. PreSEED-2 applications can be submitted as of 14 April; the term will run June-December 2008. The first PreSEED pilot term is currently under way, running from March-September 2008. The PreSEED-1 metrics and feedback so far are good and the same or better than metrics of a regular SEED worldwide term. Between the announcement and 14 April, eligible Sun Software Members of the Technical Staff who are interested should talk with their managers about this opportunity.

The PreSEED-1 pilot participants are among those invited to the SEED mentoring program's MidTerm Event. The event starts with a dinner tonight (after the Sun Labs Open House closes), then continues with presentations tomorrow. 111 Sun attendees are registered so far. About 20 of those SEED mentees, mentors, or managers are calling in from locations around the world, including Zaventem Belgium, Velizy France, Bangalore India, Prague Czech Republic, and Tokyo Japan. Speakers will include:

• Jonathan Schwartz (Chief Executive Officer and President)
• Marc Tremblay (Sun Fellow, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Microelectronics)
• Tiki Dare (Director Trademark & Marketing Legal) speaking on OpenSolaris
• Chris Frank (Senior Staff Engineer, Industrial Design Architect, & SEED Alumnus, Sun Systems Group) speaking on "Out of the Box: Initial Experiences Create Lasting Impressions"
• Darryl Gove (Senior Staff Engineer, SEED Mentor & Alumnus, Sun Software Group) speaking about his new book Solaris Application Programming
• Nicole Yankelovich (Principal Engineer, & SEED Mentor, Sun Labs) speaking on "Wonderland: Using a 3D Virtual World for Collaboration"

After the speakers tomorrow, there will be a tour of Sun's Menlo Park Enterprise Technology Center by Rob Snevely, SEED Mentor and author of Enterprise Data Center Design and Methodology.

PreSEED is a pilot of the SEED worldwide Engineering mentoring program. More information on SEED is available at http://research.sun.com/SEED/

Posted at 03:19PM Apr 10, 2008 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business  | 

Caboose Portrait

I took this portrait photo of WP668, our backyard caboose, since we are auctioning off a caboose brunch for six as one of the offerings in the SAMA Auction (Middle Eastern Feast and Auction to be held this Sunday, 13 April 2008, at 5:30 pm at St. Andrew's, 13601 Saratoga Ave. Saratoga, CA).

For the event, I am using Auction!, a product of Auction Systems, Inc. in Colorado Springs, CO. So far, the software seems to be well designed and has been easy to use. I will know more when I have survived post-bidding checkout on Sunday night.

Image Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 02:10PM Apr 10, 2008 by katysblog in Caboose Project and Other Trains  | 

How to Talk with the Press

My daughter Jessica is a Freshman at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When she was in High School, one of her essays was published in a book called She's Such a Geek: Women Write About Science, Technology, and Other Nerdy Stuff, edited by Annalee Newitz, and Charlie Anders (2006, ISBN-10: 1580051901, ISBN-13: 978-1580051903). Jessica is also an enthusiastic blogger. All of which may be why she was called for a press interview last week for a major article on Girl Geeks. Jessica called John and me anxious for advice on how to talk with the press. Here is what we told her:

1. Answer the question asked, ask for clarification if you don't understand what is being asked. Ask to skip ahead to the next if a question is too private.
2. Keep positive and avoid speaking ill of anyone; damnation by faint praise is OK if you really feel strongly.
3. Think about what simple message you want to convey and stay on message, it can be "tech is good for girls and girls are good at tech" or "women have great ideas in computer science" or even just "read my blog!" Your message may have nothing to do with the question or subject of the interview.
4. Express opinions in opinion words like "I think that..." or "What I see is..." rather than statements of fact and sweeping statements that are open to broad interpretation.
5. Be very polite and appreciative of the interview, send a thank you email after, no matter how the interview went.
6. Ask if the reporter will tell you when the article is published (it sometimes takes months).
7. Don't be upset if they misquote you or take your words out of context or even distort or make up words for you, it often happens.
8. Provide solid facts and references if you have them.
9. Enjoy the experience!

I passed this list by Carrie Motamedi, a friend here at Sun who has a great deal of experience with the press. Carrie's additions:

• Make sure to call out any information you are giving as background but don't want to be quoted on. (In general there is no such thing as "off the record" but most reporters will respect background if you call it out.)
• What is the topic? If it is something controversial or a trend - do your homework and see what else has been written and what point you can make that will add to the overall conversation happening.
• You can always go back to the reporter after the call if you feel you misspoke on something or want to add.
• Read some articles of the reporter before your interview so you know something about them, how they write (can also use this as an icebreaker).
• If there is a specific point you want to make, try and think of an analogy that would make sense to a broad audience (think 4th grade level).
• Don't be disappointed if the piece doesn't come out at all or you aren't in the final cut - there are lots of edits which happen and interviews that get cut.

Jessica had a two hour interview and said she thought it went well. We are looking forward to reading what gets published...

Posted at 12:08PM Apr 10, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  |  Comments[1]