LinuxChix

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

LinuxChix is a women-oriented Linux community. It is designed to provide both technical and social support for women Linux users, although there are members of the community who are men. Members of the community are referred to as "a Linux chick" (singular) and "LinuxChix" or "Linux Chix" (plural) regardless of gender.

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[edit] Foundation

LinuxChix was started in 1998-99 by Deb Richardson, who was a technical writer and webmaster at an open source consulting firm.[1] Her reason for founding LinuxChix was to create an alternative to the "locker room mentality" of other Linux User Groups and forums. LinuxChix discussion is meant to follow two principles:

  1. Be polite.
  2. Be helpful.

[edit] Leadership and structure

LinuxChix started out as an electronic mailing list, but soon graduated into a community with regional chapters in several places around the world. In 1999 LinuxChix consisted of a single mailing list, grrltalk. The growth of this mailing list led to the establishment of other mailing lists, beginning with techtalk for technical discussions and issues for discussion of women's political issues. LinuxChix was first noticed when ZDNet published an article on it, which was cross-posted on Slashdot.[2]

Deb Richardson ran LinuxChix until 2001, when she handed over global coordination and hosting to Melbourne programmer and writer Jenn Vesperman.[3] Jenn Vesperman ran the community in a mostly hands-off fashion, delegating almost all tasks including mailing list administration and website maintenance to a group of volunteers.[4] During Jenn Vesperman's tenure, the number of mailing lists tripled. Her tenure saw the foundation of the newchix mailing list for people new to Linux; the courses mailing list used by Linux Chix to teach each other specific topics; and the grrls-only mailing list, the only list closed to male subscribers, founded by Val Henson in 2002. At around the same time, a LinuxChix IRC server was created.

The term LinuxChix refers to the organisation centered around the official website, the mailing lists and the IRC channels. The organisation has no official status and the name is used by other groups which are comparatively loosely affiliated with the original LinuxChix group, including local LinuxChix chapters which meet in person, and several national and continental groups which operate more or less independently.

In March 2007, Jenn Vesperman announced that she was retiring as the coordinator, and invited nominations for a new LinuxChix coordinator.[5] In April 2007 Mary Gardiner was announced as the new coordinator, and planned to serve as coordinator until 2009,[6] however she resigned in June 2007.[7] Currently it is lead by three lead volunteers known as the "Tres Chix" who are elected by popular vote. The current coordinators from August 2007 onwards are Sulamita Garcia, Akkana Peck, and Carla Schroder.[8]

[edit] Related groups

LinuxChix allows local groups following its principles to use its name. By 2002, there were 18 LinuxChix regional chapters in the United States, six in Europe, five in Canada and two in Australia.[3] In 2004 a new chapter started in Africa [9] and 2005 saw the formation of LinuxChix_India. In 2007, the New Zealand chapter was established.[10] In March 2007, on the International Women's Day, Australia's two LinuxChix chapters united to form a nationwide LinuxChix chapter called "AussieChix".[11]

In 2006, LinuxChix inspired the creation of WikiChix, a wiki and mailing list for female wiki editors to discuss issues of gender bias in wikis.

[edit] Events

Some local LinuxChix chapters hold regular meetings, others only meet up on special occasions, such as welcoming a Linuxchix member into town, or in conjunction with various technical conferences. In 2007 members of the Sydney chapter organized a LinuxChix miniconf at linux.conf.au at UNSW.[12][13] Many chapters also organize events on special occasions; for eg., in 2005, LinuxChix Africa organized an event to celebrate Software Freedom Day at Wits University.[14]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lisa Bowman. "She-geeks confess love for Linux", ZDNet News, September 15, 1999. Retrieved on 2007-07-15. 
  2. ^ Karlin Lillington. "Web Watch:Linux lasses", The Guardian, September 23, 1999. Retrieved on 2007-07-15. 
  3. ^ a b Adam Turner. "Linux grrls break free", The Age, April 2 2002. Retrieved on 2007-07-15. 
  4. ^ Jenn Vesperman, Val Henson (June 27–July 2, 2004). "Building and Maintaining an International Volunteer Linux Community". . Proceedings of the 2004 USENIX Annual Technical Conference, FREENIX Track Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  5. ^ Time for a new LinuxChix coordinator
  6. ^ Liz Tay (LinuxWorld). "LinuxChix announces new international coordinator", Computerworld, April 4, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-04-09. 
  7. ^ Naomi Hamilton (June 19 2007). Girl trouble forces top LinuxChix to quit. Computerworld. Retrieved on 2007-07-15.
  8. ^ LinuxChix coordinators. LinuxChix homepage. Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
  9. ^ Indo-Asian News Service. "An African bid to educate women on IT", Hindustan Times, April 13, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-07-15. 
  10. ^ LinuxChix NZ Press Release (26 February 2007). Announcing Linuxchix New Zealand. Retrieved on 2007-07-15.
  11. ^ Melissa Draper. "Australia's LinuxChix unite to form AussieChix", March 07, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-15. 
  12. ^ Women flock to Linux talkfest, Original proposal
  13. ^ Portrait: LinuxChix Brazil's Sulamita Garcia
  14. ^ Open source message hits Wits University

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Other GNU/Linux women's groups

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