[IndiChix] Possible topic for Wiki

[Atul Chitnis]

One of the things that often happens when new groups come up is that they 
start replicating efforts that others may have already done. A classic 
example was Linux distros in the 90s and early 2000s - everyone *had* to 
have their own ddistro :). Hell, I had a role to play in that as well with 
PCQlinux.

Anyway, while there is nothing wrong with that (I can't tell you how much 
we learnt about the insides of a distro by tearing Redhat Linux apart and 
putting it back together again), some unique content would be good as 
well.

One such item that I could think of is addressing the core questions that 
are often asked by women when they dive into technology. These questions 
typically start like this (with teh question class in brackets):

- "Can I...?" (permissions)
- "Could I...?" (capabilities)
- "Should I...?" (motivation)
- "Would I...?" (fear of obstacles/failure)
- "How do I...?" (getting started)
- "Where would I...?" (resources)
- "Whom do I...?" (contacts)

and so on.

It would be great if we could identify series of questions in each class, 
and then work together to provide answers, with links to resources and 
further reading.

I realise that not all the questions are going to be unique to women, but 
since they are our focus, let's try and provide such a reference.

Such a resource would not only be good advocacy, but a practical thing as 
well, since we aren't just de-FUDing, but providing practical resourcs as 
well. And it would help a lot of people (not just women!) overcome 
thehesitation that often keeps people away from technology.

This could probably be better stated, but I hope you get what I mean. 
Specific focus on questions that are keeping many women on this list 
silent today.

To get started, how about all of you (I know there are a lot of women on 
this list who have been silent so far) throwing up questions? We can then 
collate them, categorise them and provide answers.

And I should quickly point out that there is no such a thing as a stupid 
question (a common fear of ridicule). If someone has a question, then 
there are probably many others with the same question, but too shy to ask 
(this includes the male of the species! :) You would actually be doing 
them a favour by asking the question!

In short - the only stupid question is the one that isn't asked.

Such resources are what would start making the LCIN wiki unique and more 
structured and useful.

Atul

-- 
Atul Chitnis
Bangalore, India
http://atulchitnis.net