Author: Heidi Waterhouse
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Lady Speaker Party Education
I was at a conference party this fall, and I had an interesting conversation that I wanted to tell you about. First though, let me beg conference organizers — if we’re having an evening mixer, PLEASE explain to the DJ that people are going to be trying to talk to each other. The music was…
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New year
Some people set their new year by the Gregorian calendar. I tend to do mine by my birthday, which is in a couple days. There’s something about fall that makes me ambitious and inspired. This year is a big milestone birthday for me, so I’m trying to be mindful about my goals, what I want…
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How conference speaking is like being in (US) college
I have a super busy conference schedule for the next few months. I’m really excited about getting to go see new people and talk to them about software development patterns and data hoarding! Also I feel a little guilty, because I’m leaving my kids and spouse home and that’s a lot of work when you…
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Cassandra at the Keyboard: Whistleblowing and Working
I originally gave this talk at Open Source Bridge 2015. I then almost completely rewrote it and gave it at Write/Speak/Code Chicago in 2016. Content notes This essay will contain references to the following topics. If that’s something you prefer not to read about, I totally understand: Discussion of sexual harrassment Discussion of sexual violence…
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Lady Speaker Clothes Crisis
There are about a jillionty articles on how it is difficult to dress as a woman while maintaining standards of professionalism, temperature control*, comfort, pockets, and compliance with the male gaze. This is a post on one specific form of dressing: Dressing to be speaking on stage. Personal style If it’s not something that you…
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The Seven Righteous Fights: Now What?
This is the conclusion to my series The Seven Righteous Fights. For an introduction, see The Seven Righteous Fights: Overview. Hopefully I have convinced you that these fights are worth having, worth putting some of your capital and effort into. But now how do you do that? You can’t fight alone and win. You’ll burn yourself…
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The Seven Righteous Fights: Accessibility
This is the seventh fight in my series The Seven Righteous Fights. For an introduction, see The Seven Righteous Fights: Overview. We all use computers different ways. Does your software allow that? Here are some ways you can add accessibility with relatively little effort. Take your glasses off. Can you see any of the interaction…
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The Seven Righteous Fights: Acceptance
This is the sixth fight in my series The Seven Righteous Fights. For an introduction, see The Seven Righteous Fights: Overview. Have you shown this product to any actual humans who are like the users? Acceptance is the act of testing your vision against the user’s needs. It’s not about whether the software works, or…
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The Seven Righteous Fights: Affordance
This is the fifth fight in my series The Seven Righteous Fights. For an introduction, see The Seven Righteous Fights: Overview. Affordance is what the interface makes easy and obvious. Affordances tell us all sorts of things about the tiny interactions we have with the world, and with software. Most people talk about the affordances…
