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Ada Lovelace Day – anniversary for inspiring women in science and technology

jeanspark — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:43:44 +0000

Ada Lovelace Day is in memory of Ada King, daughter of the poet Lord Byron, who became Countess of Lovelace, and died in 1852. Her Automatic Engine is credited as being the first computer programme. The opportunity for this day is to give credit to women who inspired interest in science, maths and technology by blogging.

I love blogging, giving credit and sharing in a community so I was very interested when I found the information. But as for finding a woman who has inspired me .. that is a completely different matter. Firstly the only woman scientist I have really heard of (which is the point of the whole thing!) is Marie Curie .. and she has never interested me, so it would be wrong to wheel her out.

Then I asked a friend who is a professor of Acoustics and he talked about a woman who is president of the Royal Society and some others ..but using them would be like doing homework. I wanted to find someone who was amazing, that I had heard of but had forgotten. Even after some online research nobody jumped out at me. I don’t have to do this for homework – it is real, so it better be real for me.

Next I thought about women who inspired me where there was some scientific quality. Mary Wollestonecraft Shelley who wrote Frankenstein which is a bit scientific, George Eliot who I know was very interested in phrenology (the bumps on your head), Beatrix Potter with her interest in anatomy and botany. None seemed quite good enough. I love the paintings of Joseph Wright of Derby – lots of early scientific experiments and racked my brains to see if there were any women in the Lunar Society which was all about using science as a way of understanding life, rather than religion .. but there were none.

Then I thought about my own education. Was there an enthusiastic woman teacher of this stuff ever in my life? Maths was taught by men, (goodness – that is a strong subliminal message, isn’t it) the Biology teacher was incompetent and we used to mess around, chemistry was taught by a blue stocking spinster type – I remember finding her dull and a bit scary. Who taught Physics? That was the subject that I liked the most but I have absolutely no idea who taught me! No one comes to mind at all.

Until I started this thought process I hadn’t quite realised how badly science was represented by teachers. But in fact, we were very short-changed by inspirational teachers … one taught French and was fantastic, and while I was doing A level English we had two excellent teachers. But by that time I had made up my mind about which subjects I liked best. If there had been a lively science teacher somewhere in my past I think it would have made a huge difference.

Perhaps I should ask myself whether this is hopeless. Am I capable of being excited by science and technology? Am I meant to be doing this Ada Lovelace Day at all?

The answer is yes! My father describing the solar system using apples and oranges from the fruit bowl at supper, my boyfriend years ago talking about motherboards, the principles of database design and so on had me completely hooked even if I didn’t understand it all. I am fascinated today by using technology in websites .. but I have never been inspired by a woman. I think it has been more that it was a land I couldn’t enter.

If I am really honest the only people who have inspired me are my three daughters. They took to computer games like ducks to water, and are all technically competent even if not particularly interested. The finer details of CAD, Powerpoint, computer hardware or making films are no problem to them. They just assume they can do it, that there is no reason why not. So although I started by looking for some kind of heroine, I have ended up with the people I know best in my own life! Perfect.

They have a mother who supports them to do it, which was the hallmark of Ada Lovelace’s education. Her father (Byron) though a charismatic person was totally absent from Ada’s life, but her mother educated her about numbers and science. Probably the best kind of inspiration.

I must stop now and get to grips with my new Joomla site which was explained to me on Skype last night in a friendly hour and a half call with – yes - a geek in the US. Knowing who inspires me gives me more confidence that I can understand it all and make it work the way I want.

The fact that I have done this blog at all has been inspirational as I can see more clearly the influences on my life. I will read others’ blogs on Ada Lovelace Day about the women who inspire them, and, who knows, maybe by next year a real whole person who inspires me will have come into my life.

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Women in technology – blogging on Ada Lovelace Day

jeanspark — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:00:04 +0000

: Image via Wikipedia

Ada Lovelace is thought to be the first computer programmer. She died in 1852 aged only 37. She was the daughter of the poet Lord Byron, but he played no part in her life.

Ada Lovelace day on March 24th is an opportunity for bloggers everywhere to acknowledge women in science and technology who have been inspirational.

You don’t have to be a woman to blog but you blog about a woman scientist – living or dead – who has inspired you.

More about Ada Lovelace Day.

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Blogging Workshop on International Women’s Day 2010

jeanspark — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:15:32 +0000

: Image by orangeacid via Flickr

Blogging Workshop on International Women’s Day

Blogging is such a great way to build company reputation, and leads to more money, and more happiness through self expression. Many small business owners find writing their website difficult, but have no problem talking about what really matters to them in a blog.

Women are natural bloggers, and can get more spark into their marketing more easily with a blog.

International Women’s Day 8 March 2010 is the date for a blogging workshop led by Jean Wolfe

The workshop will help you gain fluency as well as understanding the interactive benefits of blogging

What to do before you get started
How to grab your reader’s attention
How to write for the other audience – the search engines
Which blog platform to choose and why
Where to find stuff to write about and make it relevant
7 Principles of Copy-writing which should be obeyed
How to fit blogging with email, twitter and social media

In honour of National Women’s Day we will also have a look at what women have had to do to get their work read. They have not always had it so easy …

You will go away with more spark for your business and a clear plan of blogging action – with work done already. Make the most of this unfair advantage in your blogging career.

Date: Monday March 8^th International Women’s Day

Place Berkshire / Buckinghamshire border UK

Time: 10 am – 2: 30 with an additional hour for personal questions 2:30 – 3;30

Cost: £ 99 which includes three weekly follow up blogging newsletters and an online session on March 29^th. Open to men as well as women.

Bloggers Are Us! will breathe new life into all your communications – even one to one meetings.. But if you have not doubled your investment of £ 100 within six months I will happily refund your ticket.

“It’s your enthusiasm which makes all the difference” KN

“Jean you are a natural-born motivator” AS

“You are always a breath of fresh air and I think in a different way. I also feel better about myself and would like you on tap, please, every day!” PH

Jean Wolfe is a champion of independent businesses and communication that builds business wealth. Ex-drama teacher, ex-publicist for authors, ex-creator of solar powered product markets internationally.

To reserve your place please get in touch via the contact form or the comments below.

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Complimentary spam comments on your blog

jeanspark — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:45:59 +0000

Spam comments that told a story and did not appear to be spam did fool me and Akismet, the spam terminator on Wordpress. Because they were not just a bunch of dreary keywords, which I guess led back to a dubious site, I actually preferred deleting them. Well, if you are going to delete spam you might as well enjoy it!

Recently the comments thrown up by Akismet are more complimentary. They have been along the lines of “This is a very interesting post, please write more” or “This is a long and worthwhile post. I look forward to reading your next one.” or simply “Please write more”.

Am I flattered?

Of course!

Do I want to believe they are genuine?

Yes.

Do I actually think they are genuine?

No.. although some may be, and I don’t delete them all.

Recently I read a blog post by Michel Fortin the well-known copy-writer where he talks about instigating a zero tolerance approach to Fake Friendly Comments. As a well-known authority he receives a lot of genuine comments, and an enormous amount of spam comments which recently have been dressed up as compliments.

Now, thinking about it some more I realise when you first start out to comment on someone else’s blog it is in fact quite difficult to know what to say. You don’t know how the blog writer will respond, and as a normal good natured human you do want to spread good around the world. And despite everything that goes on via the internet, most people are good natured!

So writing a complimentary sentence or two is a natural first step. After all you wouldn’t force your way into some else’s house unless invited in, and caution is an appropriate response.

So the spam writers have been clever. They have in fact caught what happens in real life.. where people do make vague compliments about each other. Whether you are writing or receiving a comment on a blog or getting comments that value your business the easiest ones to write are generally non-specific and broadly complimentary. eg

” I have worked with ABC company for years and they are very good.”

“I would recommend John Smith highly.”

“XYZ company are my first choice”

This is the sort of thing people say in real life. Very often they are the types of comment that my clients think will look good on their website. They may have tried to get something more substantial from their clients, but they have waited a long time. The trouble is these comments don’t look real .. even if they are .. and – even worse – they are not interesting to read.

There are no details, no rough edges, no interesting snippets that bring in some life. Nothing about WHO the writer is, HOW the company has helped, WHAT has changed – with real figures, or real results, WHEN it all took place, or indeed WHY there was a problem at all.

Once some of these details are written down, the vaguely complimentary comment becomes a great deal more lively. It is more interesting to read, and becomes of use to the prospective buyer.

“ABC’s financial knowledge has helped us increase profitability by 12% each of the 5 years we have been in business.”

“John Smith’s design work has allowed us to bring in bigger target customers and position the company more confidently in our sector.”

XYZ have consistently cleaned our offices to a high standard. We have moved to larger premises in Anytown a number of times and they are the number one company we call each time.”

In fact it may be quite a relief to just tell the truth and not have to be complimentary at all!

So too with blogs. While a warm tone is of course preferable as the conversation is more interactive, responding to the meat of the blog post is preferable to a vaguely complimentary sentence.

It also means that your comment looks more authentic and is less likely to be deleted as spam.

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Happy 3 month blog birthday

jeanspark — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:43:34 +0000

My blog is three months old! As with all anniversaries it is a good idea to celebrate so please help yourself to a piece of virtual cake and help me blow out the candles!

Blow out the candles on the blog 3 month birthday cake

The other good thing about anniversaries is that they create a natural opportunity to look back and look forward.

What are my thoughts about the blog at this three month birthday?

1. I am astonished that it is only three months! Not just that the time has gone by, but my blogging confidence is so much greater now it feels as though I have been doing this for a lot longer. And of course this is what we do at birthdays. The conversations often have the theme “It only seems a moment since you were learning to walk, going to school “..

2. I now find it harder to imagine what it was like NOT knowing. It is good to learn more – obviously – but in a business context it is very important to remember what it was like to not know. We are speaking to the person before they use our services and the more you can identify with those feelings the stronger the connection is likely to be.

3. Writing down how things are helps to create a kind of audit trail of development. Why does this matter? Because I have every intention of moving on more in the next three months. The journey itself is of value, not just reaching the destination. Plus there is the benefit that what you measure can be improved.

So for the record

in April (which was only 3 weeks) there were 220 unique visitors visiting a total of 658 times

in May there were 457 unique visitors visiting 1681 times

in June 415 visitors stopping by 1966 times

and so far in July 90 people have dropped in for a chat or a quick look around 669 times.

We are talking about real human eyeballs here not bots, or spiders. The interesting ratio is that in the first month the number of visits per visitor was just under 2.99 and the figures for July of visits per visitor is 7.43 – so the number of visits has doubled. I don’t exactly know what or how everything is measured but a development like that has got to be good news.

These figures are from my hostgator hosting account which is how I started measuring on day one. What is satisfying about hostgator is that you can get a minute-by-minute update and if you think the same figure is showing just click the update link, and bingo- some new numbers will have been added! This is incredibly satisfying at the start because you get instant validation that something is happening. Rather like a child watching a plant grow you want instant results! (And without pulling the plant up to see if the roots are growing!).

I also have Google Analytics on the blog but you don’t get instant gratification as the figures are one day old. To be honest there is some discrepancy between the two systems and I guess that in time I will move more to analytics but I still love popping over to hostgator. It feels friendly!

4. Frequency of posting has slowed down. Total number of posts is 44 which means roughly one every other day in a three month period. In the last fortnight in fact I have posted very little for various extraneous reasons. But because I had posted a lot to start with the recent absence does not seem to have dramatically reduced the figures.

The blog is like a human. When it is new born you are alert for every snuffle and sound and extremely attentive to every need. As it grows it can survive on its own for longer without food and even begin to sleep through the night. Despite some benign neglect my blog is still alive and well. It is lying contentedly watching the trees moving in the breeze or the light dancing on the ceiling and happy to see me again, as well!

5. My posts have included some references to current affairs which are hot and topical and bring in lots of traffic. The intention is that visitors will then like what they find and come back to visit again. For example I wrote about Susan Boyle and Britain’s Got Talent (and did some PR around it as well) which was amazingly popular for a few weeks. But nobody wants yesterday’s newspapers, so the posts that stand the test of time re-appear at the top of the most-read list in the next month. You don’t want to be endlessly chasing news stories so a balance is best.

My aim for these first three months was simply to post content. To focus on making the contribution and getting out there in cyberspace. At the same time I have been writing for a client as well and the results are fairly similar – both blogs are getting 60 – 70 visits per day fairly reliably.

What are the plans for the blog for next 3 months?

1. Publish consistently even if I am not around. The next three months includes holiday time, so it is the perfect opportunity to schedule publishing to maintain consistency. Wordpress is very good for this.

2. Plan my posts better around keywords, and check that the shape of the blog is as I want it to be. It is not a novel by Tolstoy (described by Henry James as “a loose baggy monster”) but focussed on marketing… and getting the spark into marketing. Collect the other ideas ( all of them!) and sort them out separately.

3. Make dedicated time for my blog. Don’t let the client work stop me. This will be easier if I am scheduling post publishing as I can let the concentration build up, rather than working in short bursts of time.

4. Get experience of the different monetisation options.

5. Go visiting. Get out and read other blogs and make comments.

Next update in three month’s time! So come back then and find out what has happened. I think three month time periods are motivational. I enjoy new things, so creating some newness and momentum by seeing the world in 90 day periods is good for me.

To read other posts about blogging click on the word “blog” in the tag section in the right hand column.

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Creative spam with a story fools Akismet and interests me

jeanspark — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:03:19 +0000

Spam is getting more creative! I have just received 20 spam comments which Akismet (the Wordpress anti-spam device) has let through its filter, and presented to me to delete or approve.

When I read the first one I was not sure if it was spam.

It started with a feel good quote. I am completely in favour of feel-good quotes – in fact my daily quote from The Universe via Mike Dooley does a lot to brighten my day. But this quote had more of the hard-core persistence I find with some people on twitter.

Then after the quote was a brief personal “story” eg I am [name] and I live in [interesting country].

Then the appeal “I am also learning English please help me / is my English correct in this sentence”

Then a sentence about something slightly unpleasantly medical – a few were fungal related – nothing pornographic – but just enough to put you off your morning coffee.

However I did find them more interesting than the spam comments which just throw a bunch of words at the wall to see if any will stick.

In fact I almost wanted them to be from authentic people which proves the amazing power of stories even in spam! We all love stories, and are wired to listen to them.

The only other good thing about attracting more interesting spam then this blog must be worth spamming! As Oscar Wilde would have said if he were alive today ” There’s only one thing worse than getting spam, and that is having a blog that is not getting spam at all.”

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Wordpress permalinks

jeanspark — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:05:04 +0000

I changed the Permalinks setting. (Settings on the dashboard for Wordpress 2.7.1) The default is number based eg p=15. The alternative straightforward options for “pretty” permalinks include a date reference – either day or month – and the name of the post.

It has got to be good for SEO as real words are being used now.

An added bonus is that it is easier to see how many posts attract views in my hosting statistics. This was completely unexpected and makes life much easier. I will add Google analytics when I have found the plug in, but this is good for now.

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Keyword-rich search term for blog

jeanspark — Thu, 14 May 2009 07:38:09 +0000

Delighted to say the blog received the first real keyword-rich search phrase today.

Great news. This means that someone looking for what I offer
can find my site on the internet among the 90,000,000
my research is beginning to pay off
I have evidence that something is working!

It is all about celebrating the journey and not simply the destination. Focussing on small achievements.

Previous searched terms were in response to well-known organisations or topics which naturally are getting searched. They were more opportunistic (good for publicity) but it is satisfying to be getting the core message heard.
Yay!

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Happy 1 month blog birthday

jeanspark — Sun, 10 May 2009 09:16:27 +0000

My Wordpress blog is four weeks old. Having had a few miscarriages of communication with previous blogs my idea this time was simply to behave as a real parent. My entirely new domain felt like a new domain in every sense.

My blogging aims for the first month were:

To provide the best care I could
To enjoy our time together
Not get phased by other blogs that were more developed, or behaved better.

Provide the best care
A well-cared for blog grows, looks healthy and appears to be thriving.
Having just looked again at my four week hosting stats I see that 377 visitors have come calling over a thousand time and each has visited us on 2. 7 ocasions. (Actually take 33 visitors off because, strictly speaking they are from today).

I am not entirely sure about the other metrics. 23,000 pages, 27,000 hits and about 88MB. 88 MB does it mean that the blog will smile early or is putting on the correct weight? Like an anxious parent I watch signs of progress simply for reassurance, and in times of uncertainty have taken confidence in the fact that these numbers are growing healthily.

Best care? I have had advice and help for technical things like FTP (Paul Saunders thanks) and uploading my own designs, and have dipped in and out of Darren Rowse’s excellent 31DBB31 days to build a better blog.

Posting regularly
Regular feeding. I made a commitment to post every working day. This did slip a little in the third week to twice but I am back on track now.

Enjoy our time together.
This is the real measure of achievement, and I am delighted to say it has been a real pleasure. I have found it very freeing having easy access to writing on the web. Unlike a more formal web site, or a sales letter page the opportunity to be more personal has been an unexpected joy! As in real life the initial exhilaration did leave me and there were a few days of blues (blog blues?) when I wasn’t so motivated. In its place has come a more thoughtful approach, and a clearer sense of my purpose.

Other blogs which are more developed
I deliberately chose to focus on my blog to start with. There is only so much energy and time, and I wanted to make sure we were happy together. The online world is very seductive and I thought if I were not careful I would always be wanting the next thing, whereas the real satisfaction lies in being happy where I am.

As a new mum I did consciously make the decision to not engage in baby competition, or in having the latest accessory or fashion item. Taking the time to love the baby worked in real life. Having started a blog before and stoppped because nobody visited it made me clearer about the way forward this time.

In fact it has been a real revelation to see the lovely people out there! Any comments that have come my way have been wonderful, and I am looking forward to giving back.

Twitter
At the same time I have been on twitter. Again in a straightforward way.. learning the etiquette. Haven’t touched any of the million apps to make your twitter life more productive, but just see what it was all about. I have 380 followers as of a moment ago. Satisfying, and I don’t feel that I have played a game… or wasted too much time. I am beginning to see where it is all leading.

So now I am off to get some bells, whistles (and rattles) to shake because we are at the next blog stage!

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Wordpress.org Wordpress.com – API key

jeanspark — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 09:02:47 +0000

When I first heard about Wordpress I assumed that it was one entity and similar to Blogger or Typepad.

You pick from your prescribed themes and off you go. This is true for Wordpress.com. At Wordpress.com your blog is hosted on the Wordpress.com site so effectively you have the benefit of the masses of traffic that goes to the site, it is extremely quick to set up but you don’t get your own domain name, and you are not building your own business asset.

Then it transpired that the place to go is Wordpress.org where you can sign up for a blog under your own domain name. So off I went, did it all, and have got juicy statistics about 2 weeks later of 13,000 hits. If I had been on the .com site they would all have gone to the greater Wordpress site not to my domain specifically.

Having got the .com / .org division clear in my mind at last I was completely bemused by the instruction to get an API key from Wordpress.com. Not being naturally technical I felt rather exhausted by the whole thing and procrastinated. I had separated the two Wordpress sites and couldn’t put them back together again. I thought I was going to be forcefully swept into some blog vault from which I would never appear… and my blog would be torn apart by ravening wolves.

I so completely didn’t trust the instruction that I put a comment on twitter and asked for help but none appeared. So a week later I decided to believe the instruction and obey it. I have just been over to Wordpress.com, filled out the profile and signed up, and now am the proud owner of an API key.

Wordpress.com - get the key

It was all easy in the end. As these things usually are, once you know how to do them!

The point of the API key is to help remove spam from your blog. I am glad to say I have had no spam yet, but know that the client blogs I work on get a lot. So spammers I am ready for you. Bring it on. Let’s test this API key – and make sure it is worth it!

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