Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder
Various Thinky Or Funny Links
Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2014 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.
Enjoy!
- Donors so far have only matched a quarter of my USD$15,000 donation to Stumptown Syndicate, and the deadline's tomorrow.
- Past Open Source Bridge talks on getting better at fundraising or finding investors: "How to Ask for Money" and "'Give me money' or 'join me in doing this great thing'? A workshop on asking for donations from individuals".
- On calling someone out and being heard:
He did not freak out or get defensive or start attacking my character or explain that he has daughters and therefore can't "be sexist". We didn't end up derailing off into Hell itself. Neither of us even got mad. Instead, he just thought about it, acknowledged it, and we moved on and deepened the conversation a few notches. We got more analytical and communicated better. It is what I expect from fellow geeks. They should just go "Fascinating. Sexism is highly illogical. Therefore I will not engage in it" and move on to talk about interstellar amoeba.
(Related: Joseph Reagle's "The Obligation to Know: From FAQ to Feminism 101", in that it's about reframing better allyship as a way to follow geek norms.)
- Transcripts for Everyone! This is an online community where you can request and offer transcriptions of audio and visual content. You don't have to be a community member to post.
- Mel Chua on stories, qualitative research, and the duty and joy of the listener, and what the story ISN'T for, and oh wow I just got the communion allusion.
- Julia Evans on admiresmanship: "it’s better (for myself, and for the not-idolized-person), to just figure out what parts of them I’d like to be more like, and try some things out, and see what works." (I am super pleased that Julia admires me!) And:
- I got "admiresmanship" from this hilarious list of quotes from student papers, which includes "Everyone has someone they look up to, and they should keep this admiresmanship all their life." Leonard and I agreed that admiring people in a useful way is an actual skill and deserves a "-manship". Other gems include "The play appeals to its audience because it has comedy, action, music, and death." and "Not having a family there to catch me when I fall is like not having feet to fall from."
- "On Equity Issues in the Maker Movement, and Implications for Making and Learning" lists a few lessons learned:
bridge making practices into valued cultures of non-dominant youth
link making practices with taking action on social justice issues
design maker education initiatives with, not just for, local communities - Heidi Waterhouse is the inaugural guest on the tech writing Write The Docs podcast!
