Ada Lovelace Day 2018

On Tuesday 9th October 2018, the University’s Information Services team are running an edit-a-thon to celebrate Ada Lovelace Day 2018 which is an international celebration day of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).

This year the event will have a particular focus on Contemporary Women in STEM and #ALD2018 is to be hosted at King’s Buildings with a evening networking event in the social space at the Joseph Black building (wine and nibbles supplied by the Royal Society of Chemistry).

Talks, activities and networking

There will be a range of guest speakers in the morning followed by fun STEM activities in the afternoon. Full Wikipedia editing training will be given at 2-3pm. Thereafter the afternoon’s edit-a-thon will focus on improving the quality of Wikipedia articles related to Contemporary Women in STEM! This year we will also be hosting a Women in STEM data hackathon.

Following on from last year’s panel discussion, to close the day there will be a more informal discussion and networking event. Five guest speakers from a variety of career stages have been invited to say a few words to promote discussion including Dr. Jenni Garden, Christina Miller Research Fellow at the School of Chemistry and Professor Lesley Yellowlees.

Programme

All four bookable sessions (short talks & activities, HPC Carpentry, Wikipedia editing/hackathon and evening discussion/networking) will be free and open to all.

You can book to attend one, two, three or all four sessions.

Short Talks and Activities – Venue: Murchison House (Room G.07)

Short Talks, 11am – 12noon

Invited speakers:

•  Melissa Highton, Director or Learning, Teaching & Web
• Women in High Performance Computing (HPC) – Athina Frantzana
• Introduction to the Gender and Equality Images Internship – Francesca Vavotici
• Women in STEM Society- Charlie Simms and Yvonne Anderson
• Wellcomm Kings – Rosie and Izzy
• Knitted designs of Ada Lovelace and Mary Somerville – Madeleine Shepherd
• UoE Physics Society – Olivia Jackson

DIY Film School, 12noon – 2:30pm

Introductory talk on DIY Film School and then practising & recording of the below activities

STEM Stories, 12noon – 2:30pm

All participants are given postcards on which they can write a good or bad experience they have had during university to do with equality and diversity.We will have a whiteboard split into good and bad and will get people to put their postcard on the side that applies to them.

Cake Decorating, 12noon – 2:30pm

Each participant will be given a cupcake and biography about a famous women in STEM, and then challenged to decorate their cake to represent her. The aim is simply to educate people on the important female figures within STEM.

 

Book here to attend the short talks and activities (via MyEd).

Book here to attend the short talks and activities (via Eventbrite).

 

High Performance Computing (HPC) Carpentry, 12:30pm – 5:30pm

Venue: JCMB (Room 3211)

Edinburgh University hosts the UK national supercomputer, ARCHER, and many other machines available to Edinburgh researchers. This hands-on session will explain what High Performance Computing (HPC )is, what a supercomputer is, how to use it and what you can get out of it. We have run similar workshops previously under the “Women in HPC” initiative in UK and abroad and are keen to repeat the workshop for a local audience.

Book here to attend the HPC Carpentry session (via ARCHER website).

 

Wikipedia Editing and Hackathon, 2:30pm – 5:30pm

Venue: Murchison House (Room G.07)

Contemporary Women in STEM Wikipedia Editathon

Training in Wikipedia editing will be provided. The editathon will focus on creating pages on contemporary Women in STEM figures crowdsourced from suggestions from circulating this Google form.

Women in STEM data hackathon

Data on Women in STEM can be provided in an editable table – participants fill in blank columns with missing verifiable information.

E.g. Place of study, field of work, notable achievements…

At the end of the Wikipedia and Wikidata workshops we will tweet out the newly created pages and new data visualisations (maps, timelines etc.)

 

Book here to attend the Wikipedia editing/hackathon (via MyEd).

Book here to attend the Wikipedia editing/hackathon (via Eventbrite).

 

Evening discussion & networking event, 5:45pm – 7:30pm

Venue: Social area at the School of Chemistry in Joseph Black building

Following on from last year’s panel discussion, this will be a more informal discussion and networking event. Five guest speakers from a variety of career stages have been invited to say a few words to promote discussion inc. Dr. Jenni Garden, Christina Miller Research Fellow at the School of Chemistry and Professor Lesley Yellowlees.

Wine and nibbles provided by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

 

Book here to attend the evening event (via MyEd).

Book here to attend the evening event (via Eventbrite).

 

 

Header Image: Creative Commons Attribution licenced (CC BY) ‘tickets‘ icon designed by Maxim Kulikov on the Noun Project. Original icon remixed by Stewart Lamb Cromar.