Briefing

On September 8, 2008, as part of the prestigious IFIP WCC - World Computer Congress, which will take place in Milan from 7 to 10 September 2008 at Fiera Milano Congressi - MIC, via Gattamelata 5, the conference Women&Technologies: research and innovation will be held. The conference will take place throughout the day (9:30 am - 6:30 pm) - divided into working sessions and round tables - and will see the participation in person and via video conference of excellent speakers, women leaders in the global ICT field in the research, industry, culture, and institutional sectors.

The relationship between women and technology, and their reflection on the world of work, culture, institutions, life, and civil society is a topic that is currently much debated and very popular, the importance of which is now recognized at all levels: from gender studies, to media presence, to declarations of "equal opportunities" by companies and institutions, to the much-debated "pink quotas" in politics, to the increasingly widespread reality of telecommuting. But it is also a contradictory and varied reality, still evolving, which sometimes presents itself with positive approaches, situations, and modalities, and other times - still and unfortunately, too many times - through ancient and unpleasant stereotypes that recall types of "protected reserves": women? Yes, a category to support and help, as long as within well-defined and defined spaces and limits.

It is therefore within this contradictory reality that our goal, our desire, and our project are born and developed: to overturn the perspective and view of the situation; to uproot first, and then reverse the now stale stereotypes; to develop new arguments that remove conceptual errors; to establish and realize direct connections between women and technologies capable of demonstrating the existence of unexplored synergies with unimaginable potential. Synergies from which both subjects involved - women and technologies - will be able to benefit in a future, rich, reciprocal exchange that has no precedents so far and whose developments are unpredictable.
A world waiting to be discovered and explored, putting oneself in the foreground, leveraging those characteristics and specificities that are all feminine such as curiosity, enthusiasm, intuition, and the ability to dare, often selflessly.

A great ambition and a great strategic opportunity, therefore, this congress, which however will not be able nor will it want to be exhausted or satisfied by a limited series of interventions or reports, no matter how prestigious and brilliant. Hence the need for a broader and more articulated reflection, open to the contributions of extraordinary level presented by a group of excellence and highly qualified women directly and professionally involved and interested in ICT at a global level and leaders in their fields (Research, Industry, Institutions).

The objective of the conference is therefore to convey a new message to the participants, whether they are women or men. A message completely different from those conveyed up to now. A message that can be summarized in 4 key points.

• Inventing the future, in order to foresee it
• We help pave the way for the coming years
• Women and ICT: a specular and reciprocal interest (in research and innovation)
• Women and Technologies: Not Only Consumers, But Also Producers

Within these broad themes, four priority and highly topical themes have been identified, which will constitute the focus of the planned sessions.

• Art and Affective Computing
• Interaction and Dialogue in the Future Web Communities
• Innovation in Businesses and Institutions
• Women and ICT in Europe

The conference will take place with various speeches by Italian and foreign excellent speakers, as well as contributions via video conference from speakers of equal excellence, scattered across the five continents. Interventions are expected from Algeria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, France, Japan, Greece, Great Britain, Italy, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Tunisia, USA.

The conference will be bilingual, Italian and English, and a simultaneous translation service will be available through headsets.

Participation is free, but registration in advance is required, which can be done online at this link.

Info: mailto: conference@womentech.info

Milan, April 11, 2008

IFIP World Computer Congress 2008 Hosted Conference
Women&Technologies: research and innovation