LinuxChix

LinuxChix is a women-oriented Linux community. It is designed to provide both technical and social support for women Linux users, although there are members of the community who are men. Members of the community are referred to as "a Linux chick" (singular) and "LinuxChix" or "Linux Chix" (plural) regardless of gender.

Foundation

LinuxChix was started in 1998-99 by Deb Richardson, who was a technical writer and webmaster at an open source consulting firm. [cite news
url = http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-515695.html?legacy=zdnn
title = She-geeks confess love for Linux
work = ZDNet News
author = Lisa Bowman
date = September 15, 1999
accessdate = 2007-07-15] Her reason for founding LinuxChix was to create an alternative to the "locker room mentality" of other Linux User Groups and forums. LinuxChix discussion is meant to follow two principles:
# Be polite.
# Be helpful.

Leadership and structure

LinuxChix started out as an electronic mailing list, but soon graduated into a community with regional chapters in several places around the world. In 1999 LinuxChix consisted of a single mailing list, "grrltalk". The growth of this mailing list led to the establishment of other mailing lists, beginning with "techtalk" for technical discussions and "issues" for discussion of women's political issues. LinuxChix was first noticed when ZDNet published an article on it, which was cross-posted on Slashdot. [cite news | url = http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,,267968,00.html | title = Web Watch:Linux lasses | work = The Guardian | date = September 23, 1999 | author = Karlin Lillington | accessdate = 2007-07-15 ]

Deb Richardson ran LinuxChix until 2001, when she handed over global coordination and hosting to Melbourne programmer and writer Jenn Vesperman.cite news | url = http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/03/29/1017206149200.html | title = Linux grrls break free | work = The Age | author = Adam Turner | date = April 2 2002 | accessdate = 2007-07-15 ] Jenn Vesperman ran the community in a mostly hands-off fashion, delegating almost all tasks including mailing list administration and website maintenance to a group of volunteers. [cite paper | url = http://www.usenix.org/events/usenix04/tech/sigs/full_papers/vesperman/vesperman_html/index.html | title = Building and Maintaining an International Volunteer Linux Community | author = Jenn Vesperman, Val Henson | publisher = Proceedings of the 2004 USENIX Annual Technical Conference, FREENIX Track | date = June 27–July 2, 2004 | accessdate = 2007-04-09 ] During Jenn Vesperman's tenure, the number of mailing lists tripled. Her tenure saw the foundation of the "newchix" mailing list for people new to Linux; the "courses" mailing list used by Linux Chix to teach each other specific topics; and the "grrls-only" mailing list, the only list closed to male subscribers, founded by Val Henson in 2002. At around the same time, a LinuxChix IRC server was created.

The term "LinuxChix" refers to the organisation centered around the official website, the mailing lists and the IRC channels. The organisation has no official status and the name is used by other groups which are comparatively loosely affiliated with the original LinuxChix group, including local LinuxChix chapters which meet in person, and several national and continental groups which operate more or less independently.

In March 2007, Jenn Vesperman announced that she was retiring as the coordinator, and invited nominations for a new LinuxChix coordinator. [ [http://mailman.linuxchix.org/pipermail/announce/2007-March/000536.html Time for a new LinuxChix coordinator] ] In April 2007 Mary Gardiner was announced as the new coordinator, and planned to serve as coordinator until 2009, [cite news | url = http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;153046089 | title = LinuxChix announces new international coordinator | author = Liz Tay (LinuxWorld) | work = Computerworld | date = April 4, 2007 | accessdate = 2007-04-09] however she resigned in June 2007. [cite web | url = http://computerworld.com.sg/ShowPage.aspx?pagetype=2&articleid=5479&pubid=3&tab=Home&issueid=113 | title = Girl trouble forces top LinuxChix to quit| date = June 19 2007 | author = Naomi Hamilton | work = Computerworld | accessdate = 2007-07-15 ] Currently it is led by three lead volunteers known as the "Tres Chix" who are elected by popular vote. The current coordinators from August 2007 onwards are Sulamita Garcia, Akkana Peck, and [http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/1909 Carla Schroder] . [cite web | url = http://www.linuxchix.org/linuxchix-coordinators.html | title = LinuxChix coordinators| work = LinuxChix homepage | accessdate = 2008-04-28 ]

Related groups

LinuxChix allows local groups following its principles to use its name. By 2002, there were 18 LinuxChix regional chapters in the United States, six in Europe, five in Canada and two in Australia. In 2004 a new chapter started in Africa [cite news | url = http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=54f59036-777a-4c3b-9226-ea355788bc34 | title = An African bid to educate women on IT | work = Hindustan Times | author = Indo-Asian News Service | date = April 13, 2006 | accessdate = 2007-07-15 ] and 2005 saw the formation of [http://linuxchix.org.in LinuxChix-India (aka IndiChix)] . In 2007, the New Zealand chapter was established. [cite web | url = http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0702/S00057.htm | title = Announcing Linuxchix New Zealand | author = LinuxChix NZ Press Release | date = 26 February 2007 | accessdate = 2007-07-15 ] In March 2007, on the International Women's Day, Australia's two LinuxChix chapters united to form a nationwide LinuxChix chapter called "AussieChix". [cite news | url = http://www.linux.com/articles/60660 | title = Australia's LinuxChix unite to form AussieChix | author = Melissa Draper | date = March 07, 2007 | accessdate = 2007-07-15 ]

In 2006, LinuxChix inspired the creation of [http://wikichix.org/wiki/WikiChix WikiChix] , a wiki and mailing list for female wiki editors to discuss issues of gender bias in wikis.

Events

Some local LinuxChix chapters hold regular meetings, others only meet up on special occasions, such as welcoming a Linuxchix member into town, or in conjunction with various technical conferences. In 2007 members of the Sydney chapter organized a [http://lca2007.linux.org.au/Miniconfs/Linuxchix LinuxChix miniconf] at linux.conf.au at UNSW. [ [http://builderau.com.au/news/soa/Women_flock_to_Linux_talkfest/0,339028227,339272778,00.htm Women flock to Linux talkfest] , [http://lca2007.linux.org.au/Miniconfs/Linuxchix/Proposal Original proposal] ] [ [http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/02/07/1645205 Portrait: LinuxChix Brazil's Sulamita Garcia] ] Many chapters also organize events on special occasions; for eg., in 2005, LinuxChix Africa organized an event to celebrate Software Freedom Day at Wits University. [ [http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?src=rss&id=596 Open source message hits Wits University] ]

LinuxChix Labs

The Indian chapter (aka [http://mailman.linuxchix.org/mailman/listinfo/indichix IndiChix] ) which was featured in the Economic Times recently [ [http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/Software/LinuxChix-India_aims_at_free_software_access_for_women/articleshow/3217080.cms IndiChix featured in the Economic Times] ] has started an initiative for Linux labs across different cities in India. This would serve as a space equipped with PC's (or women could bring their laptops) and an internet connection where women can learn more about Gnu/Linux, collaborate and meet each other to contribute to the Libre software community. Currently the labs have gone live in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore.

References

See also

*Linux User Group

External links

* [http://www.linuxchix.org LinuxChix website]
* [http://www.linuxchix.org/content/chapters/ LinuxChix regional chapters]

Other GNU/Linux women's groups

* [http://women.debian.org/ Debian Women] , (Debian)
* [http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Women Fedora Women] , (Fedora (operating system))
* [http://ubuntu-women.org/ Ubuntu Women] , (Ubuntu)
* [http://women.kde.org/ KDE Women] , (KDE)
* [http://live.gnome.org/GnomeWomen GNOME Women] (GNOME)