September 15, 2015 · 10:19 pm

TechWomen and Mentoring Standard

TechWomen Mentors September 2015

The US State Department TechWomen mentoring program has been holding its opening events for mentors in anticipation of 99 Emerging Leaders (mentees) arriving from 19 countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia to the Silicon Valley at the end of this month. My company, Mentoring Standard, is honored to be offering both Mentoring Certification and workshops to the TechWomen mentors.  Mentor Certification documents and celebrates a professional’s past and ongoing mentoring accomplishments – it does not require him or her to join a new mentoring program or take additional training.  However, we are also offering two optional workshops next week on “How to be an Effective Mentor: Best Practices” for interested TechWomen mentors from about 40 companies.

The Mentoring Standard team has been answering questions by our early adopters and polishing up our website, getting ready. So far this week, I have published an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page for those already in the certification process, plus updates of three of my most popular reference documents:

In addition, those of us honored to be elected to this year’s TechWomen Alumnae Council held our transition meeting this afternoon. We said our grateful thanks to the outgoing Council members for their great work and started planning for the coming year.  I am looking forward to serving as the Mentor Professional Enrichment Officer.

TechWomen Mentors September 2015

TechWomen Mentors September 2015

Image Copyright 2015 by Katy Dickinson

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September 7, 2015 · 11:36 pm

Republican Elephant Killed in Accident (1956)

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I grew up knowing about Dolly, the baby elephant my parents took care of during the August 1956 Republican National Convention. I was sad today to learn the end of her story. I have been looking through a family treasure box recently and came across a folder of newspaper clippings from 1956. Some I had seen before – of my parents dressed in Indian finery escorting Dolly, an eight month old elephant from the Louis Goebel Wild Animal Farm in Southern California. There were cheerful news stories from New York, Chicago, Pacific Palasades, my mother’s hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee, as well as from the San Francisco Bay Area. Dolly as the symbol of the Young Republicans, went to all of the convention social events and even greeted President Eisenhower (who was successfully re-elected several months later). She was usually pictured wearing her big “Elephant License 1” from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).

It was a shock to come upon two final news stories about how Dolly was killed in a traffic accident when the truck taking her home from San Francisco overturned. She died near Watsonville, California, in need of a blood transfusion and far from any elephant who could give it to her.

Four years later, by the 1960 presidential election, my mother had become a Democrat, firmly opposed to my father’s continued support of the Republican party. 1960 was the first election I remember: my 3-year-old self was so delighted that my candidate, John F. Kennedy, won.  I wonder if Dolly’s death had anything to do with my mother’s shift in politics?

Wade Dickinson with elephant at Goebel Wild Animal Farm 1956

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1956 Dolly elephant

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September 4, 2015 · 4:15 pm

Family Treasure Box

Wade Dickinson 1964 Louis Goebel Wild Animal Farm with elephant

The family that purchased our San Francisco home three years ago is remodeling and found a big flat metal box in the attic. I am grateful that they were kind enough to ship it to me since it is stuffed with family documents and photographs. I have been sorting and scanning the contents, finding both treasures and surprises. There was a stack of small faded family photos of Swiss ancestors, dated 1863 to 1890 (I recognize a few names and faces). There were also photos of military bomb tests taken my father (Wade Dickinson) in the 1950s, and a picture of my father taking delivery of a baby elephant at the Louis Goebel Wild Animal Farm. He and my mother wrangled the elephant for the 1956 Republican National Convention in San Francisco. Also included were my mother’s diploma from the University of Tennessee (Knoxville 1952), my father’s diploma from West Point (USMA 1949) , plus a humorous 1951 diploma for “Doctor of Nuclear Phenomeknowledgy” from the researchers at the Oak Ridge School of Reactor Technology where my father studied Nuclear Engineering. There is even a flyer from my mother’s first art exhibit in San Francisco (1965?) and a photo of her modeling in the Junior League of San Francisco fashion show.  Unpacking treasure is interesting.

family treasure box 2015

Eleanor Dickinson Junior League Fashion Show San Francisco 1955 . Wade Dickinson USMA 1945

USAF military bomb test 1952?

Wade Dickinson certificate Oak Ridge School of Reactor Technology 1951

1870 Washington DC . Grandma Lily in Geneve 1871

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Photos Copyright 1951-2015 by Katy Dickinson

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August 19, 2015 · 3:33 pm

Organizing TechWomen Mentors, South Bay Activities

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The TechWomen mentoring program of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is looking forward to welcoming 99 Emerging Leaders from 19 countries to the Silicon Valley next month.  I am honored to be the Lead for the Cultural Mentors – South Bay – Arts & Culture group, working with experienced TechWomen mentors Megan Dean Farah, Lori Kahn, Rochelle Kopp, and Shannon McElyea. Arezoo Miot (TechWomen Director) and Jillian Scott (TechWomen Program Manager) of IIE – San Francisco lead the South Bay Cultural Mentors’ orientation meeting yesterday, generously hosted by Flipboard in Palo Alto.

Our Arts & Culture team will work with about fifty of the ELs who are staying in Mountain View – coming to us from Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, Palestine, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Zimbabwe. The ELs are still in the process of being matched with their Professional Mentors and companies. 91 companies in the San Francisco Bay Area have hosted ELs since 2011.  They arrive at the end of September and will be in the US for about six weeks.

Our team will be considering events and activities throughout the Bay Area.  However, since we all live in the South Bay, we have been collaborating to create a list of options closer to home – to reduce transportation management and traffic time. Here is our list so far – for discussion.  We will only pick a small number of these for the whole South Bay EL group to enjoy!

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Pictures Copyright 2015 by Katy Dickinson

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August 12, 2015 · 10:39 pm

How to Make a Short Video

PicnicPortraits_A225_MG_2493 copyright by Saul Bromberger and Sandra Hoover 2014

I am working with a group of technical women professionals of ArabWIC (the Arab Women in Computing Association) who want to make a video about mentoring best practices and experiences. ArabWIC, Gaza Sky Geeks, and the TechWomen mentoring program are target audiences. I am delighted to be collaborating on this project with one of my TechWomen mentees, Mai Temraz of Palestine. Mai (and Seham Aljaafreh of Jordan) and I made a series of videos together last year. We now want to make a somewhat longer video, putting together the thoughts and experiences of several experienced mentors and mentees from different countries in the Middle East and Africa.  This is how to make such a short video.

Here are three short video examples from my YouTube Channel:

You see that these three videos are not Great Art but they do get a simple message across.  Searching the web will quickly give you more detailed analyses and instruction, as well as tips on video creation and production.  However, sometimes you are limited in resources and time but still need to get the job done. For example, Meg Desko and I recorded her video in a Tunis hotel room the night after the Bardo Museum attack, when we realized that she would not be able to present at Tunisia Digital Day as planned.  Her video was presented in her stead.

Our focus was on simple, cheap, fast, and good-enough:

  • Conveying clear content, simply and briefly.
  • Using accessible, relatively-simple and robust tools that we already knew, or could learn quickly.
  • Low cost.
  • Quick cycle time.

Our tools were:

For each of the three video examples, we recorded many attempts before achieving a video that satisfied. I think 15 takes was our highest number! Our requirements for a final recording:

Checklist

  1. Simple, light background – nothing behind the speaker to distract from her message. Standing in front of a corner gives enough contrast for interest.
  2. A room with no outside noise. Background sounds of air movement, beeping, traffic, and voices will get picked up by the microphone and detract from the speaker.
  3. Gentle light on the speaker’s face so that there are no deep shadows or bright spots.
  4. The camera is held very still with crisp focus on the speaker. A simple tripod or stand may help.
  5. The speaker wears a strong clothing color – to give her skin a glow and make a soft visual transition from the light background.
  6. The speaker speaks and looks directly at the camera – to engage the audience directly. Sometimes this is called “Breaking the Fourth Wall”.
  7. The content has a clear start and a crisp end, giving basic structure.
  8. Record one continuous video to minimize editing.
  9. Repeat often: Done is Better than Perfect.

This checklist will be used by the ArabWIC mentors and mentees to

  • Prepare two-to-four minute video segments in English (using an Apple or Android smartphone or tablet computing device) about mentoring best practices and experiences.
  • Upload the video segments to Drive.

I will stitch all the little videos together into a longer video (using iMovie), for posting to YouTube this month. Wish us luck!

Image Copyright 2014 by Saul Bromberger and Sandra Hoover

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August 10, 2015 · 3:23 pm

Water Conservation Landscape Program – Santa Clara Valley

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We have been reducing our home water use for many years and have recently been approved to proceed with a landscape redesign as part of the Landscape Rebate Program of the Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD). In April 2015, we started the process of replacing our 1006 square feet of water-hungry front lawn with a garden that needs less irrigation. During the last four months while the severe California drought has helped our our lawn to die,  John and Paul and I have completed these process steps:

  1. “Pre-Inspection Survey” by Conservision – in which our eligible landscaping was officially measured and evaluated and reported to SCVWD, 8 May 2015.
  2. Returned “Landscape Rebate Program Request for Application Form” to SCVWD, 8 May 2015.
  3. Received blank “Landscape Rebate Program Application Form” from SCVWD – mailed to us 3 June 2015
  4. Returned “Landscape Rebate Program Application Form” to SCVWD – mailed 22 June 2015, complete with detailed garden diagrams (created using Garden Planner software) with plant, materials, and irrigation equipment lists. This required much cross checking of the Sunset Western Garden Book against the SCVWD Qualifying Plant List – as well as family discussions about what we want at the end of this process.
  5. Received “Notice to Proceed” from SCVWD, dated 28 July 2015.

In designing the new garden, I was very disappointed that many of the California native plants I had originally thought to use in my landscape design were marked in the Qualifying Plant List as having “Genetic Concerns”.  I think most home gardeners will be like me – unwilling to hire/pay a plant ecologist (or find a qualifying native plant database) to determine the local wild populations. I ended up picking from listed plants that are non-natives.

“*G = Genetic Concerns This genus contains species native to Santa Clara County or cultivars that have parents which are native to Santa Clara County. Consult a plant ecologist or native plant database to determine if your landscape project is located within 5 miles of wild populations. If so, please follow these suggestions to protect local genetic integrity: 1) select a local ecotype 2) avoid use of cultivars or hybrids, especially those with non-local or unknown parentage and 3) avoid use of nonnative ornamentals which share the same genus in order to prevent unnatural hybridization.” (from the SCVWD Qualifying Plant List)

I think that the complex and drawn-out application process assumes that most people will be hiring a landscaping company to do the work.  The Landscape Conversion Rebate potentially pays $2 per square foot for converting high water using landscape to low water using landscape (through December 31, 2015).   SCVWD will only reimburse for materials (plants, equipment, dirt, mulch, rocks), not labor, so even with the rebate this could be a very expensive project for those who cannot do the work themselves.  My planting list includes:

  • Phormium – flax (purple/brown)
  • Bearded iris (red and purple and yellow)
  • Muhlenbergia rigens – deer grass
  • Helictotrichon sempervirens – Blue oat grass
  • Verbena lilacina (purple)
  • Verbena peruviana (red)
  • Achillea tomentosa – woolly yarrow (yellow/grey)
  • Agapanthus inapertus (purple)
  • Narcissus – daffodils (yellow)
  • Dymondia margaretae (yellow/grey)

I have 90 days from 28 July to finish!

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Photo Copyright 2015 by Katy Dickinson. Diagram created using Garden Planner software

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August 8, 2015 · 12:00 pm

TechWomen 2015, Mentoring Standard, Notable Technical Women, Wikipedia

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TechWomen 2015:  The TechWomen 2015 year has started! Professional and Cultural mentors for the 99 Emerging Leaders from 19 countries who will participate in the five-week program are being notified of acceptances. I have been honored to be selected as a Cultural Mentor for the South Bay Area in the Arts & Culture group. I am looking forward to working with Emerging Leaders and other mentors in the Silicon Valley. Since 2011, 156 women from Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, Palestine, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tunisia, Yemen, and Zimbabwe have participated. The 2015 TechWomen program will expand to include women from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

This year, my company Mentoring Standard will be offering training and certification for TechWomen mentors. Our Team is now developing those materials. We are very much looking forward to supporting this outstanding program of citizen diplomacy by the US Department of State – Bureau of Educational Cultural Affairs.

Notable Technical Women: The Notable Technical Women project by Jessica Dickinson Goodman (California Department of Justice), Dr. Susan Rodger (Duke University), and me is also thriving: Jessica just placed a big re-order of the Notable Women in Computing card decks and posters, and the TechWomen cards and posters continue to sell steadily. TechWomen Director Arezoo Miot is pictured above with the TechWomen poster in her Institute of International Education office in San Francisco.

Want to write for Wikipedia? We welcome corrections and additions to information on the Notable Technical Women materials. Since the first printing in November 2014, eight honorees have had new Wikipedia biographies written (or we found pages about them): Clarisse Sieckenius de Souza, Laurie Hendren, Kathleen McKeown, Betty Snyder (aka Betty Holberton), Valerie Taylor, Marlyn Wescoff (aka Marilyn Meltzer), Linda Petzold, and Lixia Zhang. There are only six Notable Technical Women honorees left (out of the 54 honorees) who need biographies written: Anuradha Annaswamy, Chieko Asakawa, Qiheng Hu, Yuqing Gao, Lila Ibrahim, and Sophie Vandebroek. We update the cards as possible between printings.

IMG_3698 Just-printed posters – July 2015
IMG_7833 Susan, Jessica, and Katy – June 2015

Images Copyright 2015 by Katy Dickinson

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