| Computer
Confidence for Women |
April 1996 |
Introduction
– why I write this column, why women
need more help than men, why it matters
in the workplace and in setting policy.
|
| Scaling
Your Attitude Barriers to Success |
May 1996 |
Letterman-style "Top
18" list of why women avoid
computing – and Live Wire’s
counter-arguments. A kind of computing
"Mad’s Snappy Answers to Stupid
Questions."
|
| Exposed:
The Secret Language of Computers |
June 1996 |
How to see through
intimidating geek-talk and learn to
master technical language by following
your curiosity, striving for accuracy,
and practice, practice, practice.
|
| Savvy
Strategies for PC Problems |
July 1996 |
Coping with PC meltdowns.
Why and how to make a computer inventory,
a log book and wiring diagrams, and where
and how to find troubleshooters (and
thank them).
|
| So Many
PCs and Nothing to Ware |
August 1996 |
Building a versatile digital
"wardrobe" through the same
shopping techniques that fetch clothes.
Buying a computer system, peripherals and
accessories – from pricing to RAM.
|
| Daring-Do
for Digital Daughters |
September 1996 |
How even less-computer-savvy
mothers can help their daughters learn to
be fearless with computers – with
tips on a great science project
that’ll have you ripping a PC apart.
|
| Lost in
Cyberspace? How to Find Yourself |
October 1996 |
An overview of cyberspace,
explaining the Internet and its role in
circulating digitized information around
the world. A few words on the larger
digital revolution, too.
|
| Home,
Sweet Home Page: Women on the Internet |
November 1996 |
Why marketers and
advertisers are going after women online
– and guidelines to help women
navigate on the World Wide Web,
explaining the addressing system and
more.
|
| Computer
Toys R Us vs. Them |
Dec-Jan 1996-97 |
How multimedia companies
think boys and girls play different
games, and why it’s so hard to find
good CD-ROMs for girls that don’t
stress either violence or popularity with
boys.
|
| Eeek! An
E-Mail |
February 1997 |
Why electronic mail is just
so great ... as long as you mind your
manners. A review of what it does, how it
works, and ways to use it more
effectively.
|
| Computer
Comedy To-Nite |
March 1997 |
Jokes circulating on the
Internet still depict men as
techno-warriors; women as techno-bimbos.
Live Wire asks, is this fair? Is this
funny? A deeper look at humor’s
meaning.
|
| I’m
Sorry, We Have to Operate |
April 1997 |
The low-down on operating
systems, the PC’s nervous
system/backbone/vital organs. What
multi-tasking means; how graphic
interfaces help; and Mac/DOS/Windows
wars.
|
| Betty
Holberton: Programmed to Succeed |
May 1997 |
The story of Betty Holberton
and five other women who became the
world’s first programmers during
World War II. In a world without
keyboards, GUIs or compilers, they made
the first electronic computer (the ENIAC)
work. Note: The author interviewed
Holberton on camera, in an AAUW "Women on the
Go" episode aired on Fairfax Cable,
Fairfax VA in October 1997.
|
| The Wages
of Computing |
June 1997 |
Live Wire puts her money
where her mouth is, spilling the results
of a major nationwide salary survey of
information-systems professionals, from
database people to CIOs.
|
| Human
Factors |
July 1997 |
A sampler of ideas and
findings from the world of human-computer
interaction, a topic that resurfaced when
"Deep Blue" trounced chess
champ Gary Kasparov. What do computers
have to teach us about our humanity? Can
they be more humane?
|
| Private
Parts |
August 1997 |
A timely look at the
increasingly troubling subject of
computer privacy. How to shield your
private information from prying eyes,
especially on newly interlocked networks.
|
| Security
Guards |
September 1997 |
The sequel to "Private
Parts" reviews ways to keep your
information assets under lock and key
– figuratively and literally.
Passwords, data protection and backups,
and more.
|
| Designed
to a Fault |
October 1997 |
A Q&A with Prof. Ben
Shneiderman, head of the Human-Computer
Interaction Lab at the University of
Maryland - College Park, offers
perspective on why computers are more
complicated than they have to be and the
need for an activist consumer movement.
|
| PCs: The
Hope and the Hype |
November 1997 |
Part 2 of the Shneiderman
interview looks into what’s good and
bad in computer trends: overblown
"intelligent agents" and
voice-recognition technologies, the
advent of the World Wide Web and more.
|
| Local
Heroines - Part 1 |
December 1997 |
Leaders
of the National Capital Chapter of the
Association for Women in Computing talk
about how and why they got started in
their careers; the challenges
they’ve faced in the computing
industry; and the rewards that they get
from their work.
|
| Local
Heroines - Part 2 |
February 1998 |
Part 2
of leaders of the National Capital
Chapter of the Association for Women in
Computing.
|
