The video(s) from the Nokia Open Lab 2008 are now up on the Ovi channel.
For all the attendees who were baffled as to why we were invited and what the purpose of the Lab was, in the part 2 of Jari Pasanen’s introduction to the Nokia Open Lab event, he states what, as VP of Strategy, he was hoping to get out of the event:
“How we can actually improve the communication dialogue between guys like your self, because you also are not only leaders but also censors. You have a lot of understanding where this business is going. Nokia is now moving fast into the internet business. We are not saying we are an internet company. We still have our legacy, we are a mobile phone company, even though we call some of our products ‘multimedia computers’….”
As I have watched some of the video from the event that is up on the Nokia Open Lab Ovi Channel, it has helped me to more clearly remember was was said, but… and this is a big but, I am even more forcefully struck then I was at the time by the lack of women present. The four of us who were invited did talk about the lack of women during the event and were told when we asked that more women were invited but couldn’t make it.
In the video(s) of the Lab, it appears that Nokia’s interest in brainstorming and/ or the experts about mobile and the interwebs’ is only a guy thing. Yes, Anne, Micki, and I are featured in the videos (sorry, I haven’t seen Rebecca yet in the vidstream), but the greater majority of the event invitees are men (4 women, over 35 men).
Where was Darla? Where was Cat? Where was Rita? There are a lot of women in mobile and internet who have expertise that should be shared with Nokia at an event like Open Lab.
If we are to take Jari’s introduction seriously and statement that the Open Lab was a way for internet folk to share their expertise with Nokia, then there were many women with expertise in social media, blogging, media, creation, and the internet who could have been invited, such as: Danah Boyd. Lynne D. Johnson. Sharanya Manivannan. Jen Beckman. Anne Galloway. Megan McMillan. Molly Wright Steenson.
Just sayin’. For next time.
Also, next time, 2 or 3 days of workshopping / discussions / brainstorming would be better than 1.5 days. We were just getting comfortable to really get down to the issues when it was time to go home.
Go watch the videos on the Nokia Open Lab Ovi Channel, there is some good stuff there. And some funny stuff as well. ;o)
thanks for the feedback! Next time the process choosing people will be different =) The way we looked (Open Lab 08) was to get as many people from different locations and good mixture of peoples talents / interests etc. Hard fact is that 60% of “bloggers” are Male (according to technorati http://www.technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/who-are-the-bloggers/) its hard to find the right talent for event like this. I agree we would have invited more people if we could but we had some ristrictions like keeping the groups relatively small to keep it manageable. Again have to do some great improvements for the next event =) => more females next year
Hi Anssi,
You are a brave, brave man… Stepping into the murky waters (ney, quicksand) of the gender divide in blogging and the tech worlds… ;oD
If we use technorati’s numbers, then of 40 folk, 15 or 16 should have been women. But I am not splitting hairs, as I said above, it was really only on watching the videos did the numbers seem weird.
I have been involved in this world long enough to realize that there is not a lack of interesting accomplished women blogging and / or making a career in the internet who would benefit to be invited to events; the real lack is that of the circles of networking & influence overlapping between companies & conferences who are seeking invitees/speakers and the places on the internet where the women are.
We invite who we know and the people who know the people we know or who they can recommend. This is true socially and in business. It is hard to find folks who are 3 or 4 or more circles away from our circle. Whether it is the geek bbqs I have been known to hold (mostly women attend), whether it is holding a conference, whether it is looking for folks to write a book or an authoritative article on a subject, be one the organizer or editor – it is hard to find new folks outside of the circle of recognized experts or A list folk or folk in our communities.
One of the things that has come out of Misbehaving Women, Blogher, and the various other websites that have sought to highlight the accomplished women is that now women are more “out there” to folks who are organizing events.
One of the big things that I applaud about your team is that you all are going out there and searching for folks. I have over this last year, been passing on names and blogs of interesting women in a variety of fields to the WOM World folk. I am more than willing to inflict my list upon you… ;o)
smiles, jen ;o)