[Linux-aus] Grant proposal - Girls in ICT event

[Terry Dawson]

Pia Waugh wrote:

> On the 7th and 8th March will be a huge conference targeting girls at school
> about ICT. There will be talks, workshops, giveaways and much more. The
> event is being run by a non-profit organisation called WIT Women
> http://www.witwomen.org.au/index.htm and the event has runs for three years
> now. Already I've convinced the key organisers to put The Open CD in all the
> handouts which will benefit students and their schools. They are very keen
> for me to go over to give a talk, and the event is being run in Perth. It
> apparently gets around 2,500 attendees, so LA would certainly benefit from
> the relatively cheap marketing.

Pia,
In my former professional role within the Telstra Research Laboratories
I've been a supporting manager for participation of professional women
in my team to participate in similar programmes conducted in NSW. (SWEIT
being a good example for anyone familiar with it).

The experience and feedback they've had, and the calibre of new women
graduates suggests it's a very worthwhile pursuit.

I think it's a good thing that Linux Australia should support if it can
reasonable afford it.

I've advised many a student that having a good solid open-source project
on their resume can count for a lot when they're trying to differentiate
from a crowd of other similarly qualified people. Perhaps you'd consider
including some mention of the advantage that open-source participation
can provide in establishing professional careers as a means of
concretely relating Open-Source/LA to the conference?

regards
Terry