Ontario Celebration of Women in Computing

Just in case I wasn't attending enough Women in Computing events (see posts on this year's Grace Hopper), I registered for the Ontario Celebration of Women in Computing (ONCWIC) coming up this weekend in Kingston, Ontario. Not only that, I even ended up being involved in two posters and one presentation. Not bad for a 24 hour event!


Kingston at night (a photo by me last year)

One reason I decided to attend this event is to force myself to make a research poster for my recent work on how cognitive theories help explain the value of augmented reality. (If nothing else, our lab needs more posters to hide the dirty while walls we aren't allowed to paint.) I'm pretty happy with the results of the poster, and will definitely post it on my portfolio a little later this year with more info about the research (just want to wait until the related paper has been reviewed).

The other poster and presentation are based on a presentation that the CU-WISE co-founders have given before at NCWIE and at Grace Hopper. Our poster is going to be pretty simple with some photos as discussion points and room to pin up our promotional and outreach supplies. The talk is only ten minutes and is going to go over some of our keys to success. I'm particularly excited about these because Barb and Natalia will be coming to present! Better yet Natalia is bringing her new baby. Yay! :D

Finally, I'm looking forward to a program that's a little different from other conferences I've attended. Being much smaller than Grace Hopper and the like, ONCWIC is able to be more intimate. We're actually going to be able to meet everyone personally if we want to (musical appetizers at 6:15!), and they're all going to be local! There's an evening social event followed by games and desserts (which counts as social to me, so it's like a double header).

Last but not least, I'm hoping to check out Fort Fright at Old Fort Henry before heading home Saturday night. This is going to be an amazing weekend.