Blogging for the Ages

Women are the real architects of society.

- Harriet Beecher Stowe

This posting gets back to my interest of women in technology, and especially encouraging young women to pursue technical careers. To that purpose, let's examine two websites that specifically address females in technology: Engineer Girl and Women in Technology. In examining these two websites, I'm going to focus on a few of the important elements that the website designers used to make the websites appeal to their specific target audiences.

First, let's look at the role of the website user. Who visits these websites? Is it the person who is going to use the information, or some other decision maker, or maybe someone who is going to advise another person based on the information they get from the website?

Well, in the case of Engineer Girl, it's pretty apparent from the design of the website that it's really intended for young girls who might be interested in technological careers. It makes use of bold, bright colors, decorative flourishes and playful fonts. There's not even a link provided on the main page for parents or educators - the site is completely geared to young girls interested in engineering.

On the other hand, the Women in Technology website is very professional, with an understated blue/green color scheme and a clean professional font. Their website is designed to appeal not only to the women who belong to the organization, but also to women who might be considering joining.

So what are the goals of each of these sites? What do they want to accomplish?

The Engineer Girl website has a very basic yet critical mission. It wants to encourage girls to pursue engineering careers by educating them about the exciting opportunities available in various fields. The site provides a suggested reading list, a list of what courses the girls should take in high school to better prepare them, and even questions and answers with women engineers to get the girls excited about opportunities. Just look at some of these links (and of course note the smiling girl in the background).

What about the goal of Women In Technology? Their primary goal is to help women in technology connect to other women through events and networking so that they can encourage each other in their professional growth. They focus not on general tasks to help women in technological fields, but instead on what their organization offers. This is evident from the links on their homepage: Event Calendar, Special Interest Groups, Committees, Special Programs, and so on.

What about knowledge? What does each website assume about the knowledge of its visitors?

Engineer Girl assumes that the girl who comes to its site is curious about pursuing a technical career. The website provides a lot of information - starting salaries for engineers, links to other sites appropriate for girls interested in engineering, suggested reading materials, and a lot more. The website tells girls about upcoming contests, camps, and other opportunities for them to get involved. In general, the website assumes that the girls visiting it are looking for information.

On the other hand, the Women in Technology website assumes that its visitors are already involved in a technical field, so it doesn't provide that type of information. Instead, it lets its members know about upcoming events, awards, and special projects that require volunteers. The website also describes the parent organization in case anyone is interested in joining.

But what I like best about these two websites is that their designers share a similar culture - one of inspiring women (and girls) to advance in technology. In that respect, Engineer Girl and Women in Technology both get an A+ in my book.