Today is Ada Lovelace day, a day that we celebrate not only Ada Lovelace herself, but also the important women in science, technology, engineering, art, and math. Every year I try to think of the proper way to honor Ada Lovelace and what she means. Sometimes that means talking about the accomplishments of the woman herself. How she created the most detailed and complex examples of what would evolve to be “code”, before computers were really a thing. Other times it means highlighting important pillars of the community and their specific contributions.
Earlier this year, I witness an incredible broadening of my personal view into the community during March when the hashtag #visiblewomen was used to highlight often underrepresented women illustrators on twitter. I found so many incredible new people to follow and be inspired by, simply because of a hashtag. For days I’d open twitter and be blown away by some new incredible talent I would never have discovered. I would love to see that same amount of action applied to Ada Lovelace Day.
For Ada Lovelace day this year I challenge you to jump on social media and highlight a woman in your community. You don’t have to do much work at all, just post a picture or a sentence and tag it #ALD17. You don’t even have to do that much, how about simply retweeting someone with the hashtag. Such a simple thing can make a difference.
There’s a 2nd part to the challenge as well. Go and search the tag #ALD17. You will absolutely find incredible people that you had no idea existed. Your twitter feed will improve and your outlook on the community will be better for it. It certainly changed the landscape of what illustrators I am aware of for the better.
If you’re wanting a great source of learning, be sure to follow @adafruit on twitter today. There’s a non-stop stream of amazing women to learn about.
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