Transferring Passion for Shoes to Technology? How Could That Be Possible?

Christina Tynan-Wood writes a simple yet direct article on why there aren't more women in technology and why they are needed on the Product Design and Development site. She recounts a time in 1996 when she was the @home technology editor for PC World, and after spending time with the 'suits' presenting new home computers asked why they were so ugly if they were for the home. At that time she was brushed aside. Yet, really home PC for the home should be more attractive - she had a point. She mentions that while men may say that women are the ones who are fussy about trend and color in fact men are actually possibly more fussy. Women put up with the black technology that is obviously geared to men's decor, whereas make it for women and men won't use it. (Isn't this true of women being more accommodating of seeing block buster male movies, than insisting taking partners to women movies? - too darn accommodating is our problem at times).

So yes, she says today it's more important than ever that we speak up and let it be known we want choice. I love her comparison to shoes. Have technologists not realized how much insane money women spend on shoes - it's completely irrational spending but a wonderful defining experience. And thank you Christina also for saying that we can't say what those technologies will look like because we don't have a room full of women designing the technologies. A possible example is some research done at HP Labs, where they have used their color matching technology to assist women in finding the perfect foundation make-up shade - this is applying technologies previously used for color copiers for more creative uses - yes there were women in the room when the idea came up.

More Products Aim at Female Audience

Oooooh two new products targeted at women, how do you like them?

First is a wrist watch from Sony Ericsson that has built-in blue tooth. As someone who still doesn't really use a cell phone (long story, but so far has worked to my advantage) I'm not sure how to rate it, however the features are cool in the way that I use to think being a spy could be a glamorous adventurous job - I'd glance at my watch to see who is calling on the phone. It will also vibrate when a text is sent, and can hook up to a blue-tooth ear piece to accept a call. However I'm not entirely sure on the watch design - I may lack cell phone cool, but I happen to be a watch wearer and these don't really hit my bar for trendy watches. HOWEVER - I credit companies for trying to address the female audience, we're a tough crowd but when they get fashion and technology in sync someone is going to have a huge success.
Next up is Audio Technica headphones, they claim designed for women. They come in an array of different colors, and colorful tins to keep the earbuds in. They claim to be with 'superior comfort designed for women' but the proof is in women finding them comfortable - I would hate to think someone launched into a new range of hardware without considering the anthropomorphic differences of the audience they're targeting.

So two product areas where companies are trying to blend technology and fashion to address women. I'd like to meet their engineering/design teams to understand the gender mix of the groups - are these products designed by men for women, or mix gender teams?
Bottom-line -- keep trying the innovations aimed at women, I really appreciate it.

Lighting Up Fashion With Technology

I discovered some inspiring work today, or rather a creative friend pointed me to the work of Leah Buechley. She's currently a PhD student at the University of Boulder. Her area of focus is to combine technology and textiles and what super creations she's coming up with, and she's also making it approachable for others.

Some of her projects use fabric-based iron-on circuits also known as 'fabric PCBs' (Printed circuit boards), some small electronic sequins. Its a wonderful creative combination of sewing craft and technology.

I love her efforts to make accessible science with textile with such projects as math handbags, where she offered a Science Discover workshop for 11-14 year old students could use her graphing program to create their own math graph bags and other items.

Leah's philosophy of wanting to combine science and technology with more 'feminine' activities (as she puts it) is close to my own intentions. In the summer I blogged about the concern I had when my kids at science camp were becoming bored of boats, boats, boats, or planes, planes, planes, they needed more of Leah's philosophy injected into the plan.

I can not do justice to the breadth of inventiveness of Leah's work and highly recommend taking a look at her projects including LED clothing, sewing circuits, quilt snaps, LED bracelets. I myself might actually invest in some of the electronic sequins - my girls would certainly love to have something other than buttons on the clothes I make for them (btw I am not the dress maker my mother was but can just about sew a dress but my speciality is Halloween costumes where impression over accuracy is what matters!).

Yes, Yes - More Thoughtful Efforts on Technologies for Women!

It was fun to read the blog posting yesterday, 'No Pink Phones - A New Twist on Technology for Women'. I have tried to keep my blog postings also free of pink-ness where possible, because making a current technology pink doesn't mean to say it's addressing the womens market.

I credit Dr. Ying Chen for setting up La-Yin with putting her action where her heart is and setting up her own business to, 'create experiences for modern women by fusing High-Tech together with fashion and style'. The products from La-Yin currently includes different styles of USB keys, laptop covers, mobile straps.

It would be wondeful to see some of this exterior technology style influence the technology itself. What are womens needs of the items that we are attracted to dress up. For instance consider the Amazon Kindle (reader), imagine if that was designed for a female audience how might it differ in design? are there any distinct features or aesthetics that should be considered differently to accomodate needs? I haven't yet had an opportunity to use one, however what I'd like to see again is if the product team was predominantly female in the first place and considering a predominantly female market how may the product have emerged differently. Today its often consideration after the fact. Take a look at the Kindle and see how you might design it differently.

Repeating What Women Want - How is it Possible?

Here's a neat article on 'What Women Want' that documents the growth of the Lifetime Movie Network. This network launched in 1998. In 5 years it ended up with 4 million subscribers. It now boasts of 334K viewers in primetime network for 18+ women which is considered a prime segment. What I particularly like pulling from the article is this quote:

"Based on hundreds of focus groups and polls, Greco said, “Today’s woman, whether it’s real or perceived, feels like she’s really busy and has a fully loaded, hectic life.” Knowing that, LMN executives are attempting to portray and position the network as a TV destination that allows for a temporary escape. “It’s a place designed specifically for them, where they can take a break and escape, unwind, and have some personal time,” Greco said.

This again exactly maps to the philosophy of this blog - quick moments - that bring pleasure, and a break from everything else, where the experience is beautiful and the technology dissolves into the background. LMN has been experimenting with webisodes , they're getting into their strides with this. What other ways can we leverage technology to give us that momentary break and we can be immersed in the flow of the experience.

A Glut of Women in the News and Making News

Lots of things of interest here. First the website - Newsonwomen is a neat find - a website that is focused on Women in the News. There's nothing more empowering some days than to read about a slew of women who are succeeding, if in doubt about how to succeed take a look here and be inspired. The article that caught my attention is related to a kickoff event called, 'Women Making a Difference in Digital Media'.

While looking at the presenters at the event I found out about Natalie Del Conte and 'Loaded', Natali kicked off an online series around CES season earlier this year. I've just taken a glimpse at a couple of the daily episodes. Its fast, happy, and an E! type of presentation but of technology. Natali does a nice job of presenting the facts and also has quick insightful one liners about 'her' perspective on the technology, position, or whatever. Her philosophy is generally that there are a lot of technology shows about the 'specs' but not about the 'personal experience', she hesitates when saying that women are more attracted to the personal experience as she doesn't want to offend but honestly I think she's onto something. It has the lightweight appeal of glamour mag show, but actually is informative and just the sort of information you might need to have to drop in a technology conversation, or appear tech savvy - but the great part of it here is it is consumable by non-hard core geeks, and will help you stay up to date, with the added refreshment of a female commentary.

Worth taking this podcast to the gym (now if only I could findmy podcast player wire to connect to the PC, and figure out how to download the podcast, and remember to have it charged when at the gym.... any solution for that anyone???)

A Long Quick Moment: SATC

I know this blog is meant to be about Quick Moments and instantaneous moments of happiness brought about by using technology but I can't help but comment on the fabulous evening I've just had. For the first time in my life I attended a movie on opening night that was sold out and it wasn't an action flick but a chick flick - Sex and the City, what else could it be? And the astonishing thing is I cannot recall ever going to a sell out movie where the audience was 90% female.

Now the interesting thing is I have only watched a couple of episodes as we don't have cable at our house. However there had been a vibe building around this movie that suggested it would be an experience.

For over 2 hours this movie held the audience captive - they laughed, cheered, and called out during the movie. There was camaraderie in the crowd. Imagine for years this audience had been watching the episodes in isolation of their homes, and finally everyone was out watching it together. It was absolutely an experience to see this movie on opening night to feel the female power in the theater. What was the magic formula and how can Hollywood produce more spellbinding block busters for women. I certainly hope so. And while it wasn't exactly a technological experience, maybe I can make it count that my friend ordered and paid for the tickets online before the show in fear it would sell out (how right she was).

BTW I was also very pleased to see included in the movie reference to 'Bag-Borrow-Steal' which I mentioned in my post in January. Such a cool idea, great to see it in operation in the film. Now to develop the life style for the bag.

Finally a Quick Moment!

While going through my news alerts looking for interesting topics on women and technology I can across a posting that was talking about women's sites, although I work at a technology company I'm always behind when it comes to what's getting hot. Have you seen Cafemom? It's apparently a very hot site and has an extremely large following. It's recently been able to secure $12M in funding - now that's a decent fund.

I have just taken a peak, and while the front page of the site didn't seem overly unique or engaging I clicked around a little and then found the Thought Bubble (bottom part on this page link). It was mesmerising to watch the twitter like comments come across the Americas - comments that I might make - about family, kids, home, sleeping, being me. It really was spellbinding for a few minutes reading the comments and seeing the photos - now it is bedtime and so there were a lot of 'getting them off to sleep' comments, it kind of had a digital Walton like feel to it, 'Good night Jim-bob'.

Crafted bargains at Etsy.com

There's nothing like finding unique bargains, something unusual, something that's spontaneous and special. Have you visited etsy.com? I only came across it this month and wish I had an excuse to look for some gifts or presents to buy. Actually I did find something to purchase - old 50's and 60's dress patterns for my daughters (not sure if that counts as a quick moment for me to enjoy or for them? ). I like the idea of searching for vendors locally or different types of vendors. It's an attractive site, and an enjoyable shopping experience. Take a look, and may be you'll find something you simply need and haven't been looking for!

There's a fun color experience, to shop by color. I'm not entirely sure how the color feature works but mousing over the colors and clicking provides a little stack of objects that are matching in color tone. It's simply a few moments of frivilous fun. Click on any item in the stack to bring the image to the front, and click on it again to put it back in the stack. It's a nice way to get started when not knowing what you're shopping for.

People are citing Etsy.com as an up and coming site for 2008. I hope it becomes boomingly successful as its another outlet for small businesses and home craft industries and continues to empower women to combine personal passions with business. And also allows those of us who aren't that industrious to show support by purchasing and supporting these individuals - such a hardship!