QDIS Blog

Roger Summit award address: Why Women Absolutely, Positively, Must (Re)Claim their Place in Computing
Pamela McCorduck

Pamela talked about the lack of women in computer science and gave some numbers. Women are generally underrepresented in sciences except for biology and she emphasized that computing is important and not just an enabling technology, but allowing you to create your own worlds.

She also talked about how diversity is important to solving problems and creating growth and briefly covered roles women have played in computing historically. The number of women in computer science peaked in 80’s and has fallen ever since. She mentioned that this situation is likely cultural.

I’m probably not the best person to comment on this since I am a white male. I thought it was a missed opportunity in that the male members of this particular audience would have been very receptive to helping change the situation from within. I think if there had been some concrete suggestions as to what males could do to help facilitate the needed changes, they would have been willing to try and improve the situation. Instead it seemed to be a call to arms for women to make these changes happen.

General Session 3 Case Study on CI Tom Waters of DOD (contract) Counterintelligence Officer

Tom talked about competitive intelligence and how info pros can tap into that market. he mentioned that competitive intelligence is used even if its not called that and that market research and keeping track of what others are doing is indeed competitive intelligence. The following were some of the sources of information he mentioned:

Regulatory filings (EPA, fire marshals, etc.): lots of competitive info including information regarding foreign companies operating within the US.

FOIA: Japanese carmaker studied a US navy fighter braking system, which they then copied and applied in the automative industry. This is now a case study in many business schools.

Consumer Product Safety Commission investigation; test results are available. A paint business can find out about their competitors formula.

OSHA inspection records and hazardous materials permits are good sources.

The main focus was on Freedom of Information Act and what all can be found via that avenue. He talked about what kinds of information was available and the information that would not be available. He also mentioned that every agency was different in terms of how quickly they supplied the information and their cost was free up to 2 hours of time or 100 pages; beyond that there would be charges but they were low (figure of ~$50 was given). He also said to succinctly state what information you needed; just saying give me everything isn’t enough. The FBI has great information and it is very detailed but given their backlog, it could take years before you received the information (although they must at least tell you they must respond within 10 days even if its just to tell you it’s now in their cue). Also, he stated companies will hire an independent contractor to do this type of of work since the person requesting the information is public record. This way, their competitors can’t tell who is asking for the information and since the contractor and client would have a non-disclosure agreement .

It was a very interesting and though provoking presentation.

Concurrent Session Technology Track

In the afternoon there were two concurrent sessions; one was a technology track and the other was business. Since I was giving a presentation in the technology track session, I attended it, so I can’t comment on the talks in the business sessions.

Mark Goldstein gave a talk on gadgets and technology and how computing has changed with a focus on networks primarily. Then I gave a talk on what’s new with RSS in the past year with a focus on what podcasting is how it can be useful to information professionals. Once I’m back in the office later this week I’ll post it to the website along with a link in a post here.

The afternoon was open and we gathered that evening for a cruise in Biscayne Bay and watched the night lights of the skyline.

It was a great second full day of the conference.
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