Today is Ada Lovelace day; the goal of today is to blog about great women in technology. Ada Lovelace is often considered the first computer programmer, and as someone who loves to code, that’s a pretty big deal.

I would never consider myself an activist, but I have always been concerned with gender issues in our societies and specifically with technology. I think it’s very important to ensure that everyone is treated equal and with respect no matter gender or other qualities. I think by encouraging and supporting tech minorities, such as women, our community can only be stronger and more valuable to ourselves and others. So, I am happy to write on this subject, even if my body says go to sleep.

Like a lot of posts I have read today, it is very hard to pick just one woman that has made my life, both personal and technical, better. Being a part of the Drupal community means that I get to interact with some amazing woman (and men), and it would be unfair of me to pick just one. So, I want to briefly tell you about some of the fantastic woman in Drupal and how they have made my life better and this world a better place (in no particular order). Some of these women I know well, some just in passing, and some just because of the awesome work they do. This is just a handful of the woman in the Drupal community that deserve notability and only a fraction of the contributions that they make. Remember to encourage women on our community, as well as everyone else. In my opinion, to have a meaningful community, we need to have freedom from elitism, sexism, racism, prejudice, and just general discouragement.

• Rebecca White: becw
  • Bec is a good friend and former colleague who does some great work with web mapping and non-profits. She gets really excited about really nerdy things and is always eager to learn (and physically hurt me).
• Amanda Luker: mndonx
  • Amanda is a previous neighbor and friend. She does Drupal theming for Advomatic and has taught me that there is more to life than Drupal, like cupcakes, dogs, and punk rock. We have spent countless hours in coffeeshops getting work done together and exchanging ideas. Amanda, myself, and a couple others started Free Geek Twin Cities.
• Chacha Sikes: chachasikes
  • Chach is a wonderful friend who works with Gorton Studios and has been invaluable in describing and discussing what it’s like to be a woman in her field. She continually reminds me that Drupal is so much more than code, and I keep telling her that her code doesn’t pass the Coder rules. I try to have a good attitude when she has troubles dealing with some of the traditional attitudes of technology culture. She has recently started the Drupal Garden Project.
• Allie Micka: vauxia
  • Allie runs her own company, Advantage Labs, which does amazing work in supporting non-profit organizations on a personal level, and focuses on teaching instead of building a product. Allie also has strong roots with GIS and the geo module and maintains many modules.
• Angie Byron: webchick
  • Angie is the Drupal 7 co-maintainer and is one of those people that makes you feel like you are totally inadequate (in a good way) because she just does so much. Even through all her amazing technical work and time in the Drupal community, she still manages to be one of the best examples of an inviting and friendly face to all people in the community, like a hot chocolate with marshmallows.
• Addison Berry: add1sun
  • I have this secret love for documentation that an old boss of mine instilled into me, and though I don’t contribute as much as I would like, when I don’t dream in code, its often of documentation. Addison has been a great leader in making Drupal documentation better and organizing a community around this often over-looked necessity.
• Ariane Khachatourians: arianek
  • Ariane has worked very hard recently to help get the documentation in Drupal 7 standardized and awesome.
• Karen Stevenson: KarenS
  • I just don’t even want to think of a world without CCK, let alone Date or Calendar.
• Bonnie Bogle
  • Though Bonnie has not committed any code (that I know of), she was the main point person behind the very successful DCDC last year which brought Drupal events to a new level.
• Jennifer Lampton: jenlamption
  • Jennifer maintains a number of modules on drupal.org such as the Total Admin module. She is also one of the main coordinators of Drupalcon SF.
• Courtney Miller: floatleft
  • I think Courtney may have the longest standing Drupal account on this list of community members (at 6.5 years). She is a talented and dedicated Drupal developer that is a partner at Float Left which focuses on supporting the non-profit sector.
• Colleen Carroll: caroltron
  • Colleen helps drive large Drupal projects to victory at Palantir. And at a conference where most sessions were about the new, hottest (buggy) thing, Carol and John gave a great presentation on sustainable theming.
• Katherine Bailey: katbailey
  • Katherine works on the very handy QuickTabs module and continually reminds me that I know nothing about Javascript.
• Lin Clark: linclark
  • Lin has recently made a great serious of videos on Drupal 7 that you can see on her blog.
• Laura Scott: lauras
  • Co-founder of PINGV, Laura has done everything from providing documentation, helping maintain drupal.org, to being an avid speaker on all things technology, Drupal, and business.
• Stella Power: stella
  • How would I be able to efficiently fill my need for correct tabs, spaces, and coding standards without the Coder module? I wouldn’t. An who doesn’t like a fancy Lightbox effect on their images? Not very many.
• Isabell Schulz: Isabell
  • Isabell was one of the main coordinators of Drupalcon Paris last year and continues to work hard on coordinating Drupal events and ensuring that Drupal events are sustainable.

Thank you all for your contributions and support; my apologies for all the great people I have not mentioned. Happy Ada Lovelace Day!