References

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Currie, K., & Pomerantz. (2009). Chapter 2: “Hardly innocent” popular meanings of girlhood (27- 52). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Driscoll, C. (2008). Girls Today: Girls, girl culture and girls studies. Journal of Girlhood Studies, Summer 1(1) 13-32.

Driver, S. (2007). Queer Girls and Popular Culture, (1-30). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Girls DJ.com. Retrieved Nov, 26, 2011. http://www.girlsdj.com/participants.html

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/oct/28/female-dj-mag-top-100

Lesko, N. (1996). Past, present, and future conceptions of adolescence. Educational Theory, 46(4), 453.

Lipkin, E. (2009) Girls Studies. Berkley, California: Seal Press.

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http://www.slideshare.net/terriko/how-does-biology-explain-the-low-numbers-of- women-in-cs-hint-it-doesnt

Journal #1: The Beginning

When Nat, Erin and I began to formulate the idea of interrogating girls’ relationships with technology, the idea sort of spurred a mini revelation in me. I had flash backs of my own girlhood. One flashback was of me at eight years old in computer class, defiant about learning to type and always peaking under the typing skins. I still pick and pluck at a solid ten words per minute. My second flashback was seeing my mother always getting my dad to fix the VCR, or push play on the “boom box”. My mom is still fearful of the universal remote and every time I try to teach her how to text on her cellphone, she yells. “TOO MANY STEPS!!”. My revelation was: at a young age, girls are not encouraged to be tech-savy, and as a result, many avoid technological jobs or degrees in computer science, or they remain fearful of technology in their adult lives. Most cartoons and sitcoms depict men as boys as the nerds, mad scientists or the brains behind the operation. Girls and boys in elementary schools learn behind the same computers, but it is the boys who are most likely to be found behind laptops, soundboards, cameras and video game consoles in their free-time. I don’t believe it is for lack of desire that girls don’t engage technology as often as boys but instead, they are deterred by the negative "computer nerd" stereotype and girls are simply just not encouraged to do so.

Think back to high school, who was that kid the teacher always called upon to fix the power point or projector? Was it a boy? How many DJ’s do you know that are girls? How many girls have grown up to work for Apple? Open Source? The media support centre at Uvic? I am excited to begin this quest to find and locate these geek girls, computer chicks, and techno-freak females, that often go under the radar and deconstruct this social conditioning around girls and technology. I am excited to learn how to blog from Erin, to learn how to use iMovie from Nat, and to put to death my girlhood fear of everything technological, so other girls can too!

In Acknowledgement

We would like to start by acknowledging the territories. We would like to acknowledge that the area where we live and learn is unceded Coast Salish traditional lands. We recognize Victoria is located on Lekwungun traditional territory, and thank the peoples of the current day Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations.


Secondly we are in gratitude to Dr. Jo-Anne Lee,whom without her vision and support we would not have had the opportunity nor the inspiration to participate in this process. For this we Thank You!


We would like to thank all of our wonderful survey participants for sharing such candid accounts of your relationships with technology. You inspire us! And through access to our blog, and through your work, will continue to inspire girls throughout your paths in this world.


We would like to thank our friends and colleagues for their input and their advice.


We would also like the thank the readers of our blog. We aspire to understand further the societal barriers that prevent us girls from feeling more confident in entering and succeeding in this Tech-World we live in. We hope that this site has provided some insightful, feminist analysis, and perhaps some inspiration and tools to delve further into these fields and forms of production.


Thank You and Enjoy,


Girl Power 3.0