Illustrated possibility

I started making some simple illustrations in Figma for my Substack Newsletter about money. Generic stock images just don’t do it for me and I know how to use Figma (recently acquired by Adobe).

While I’d usually use it for product development and UX it is also a tool I love to use for a variety of occasions. My old co-founder used it to make gingerbread house patterns due to its preciseness and simplicity.

Its collaborative and fast interface thanks to shorter load times runs on Web Assembly (as opposed to its competitors that were built several decades ago) and is the best thing since sliced bread for creating in the browser. I was lucky to live in the bay area when I found it early on and have been a fan ever since. Once you go Figma you never go back.

Hello autumn in Stockholm 2014

Stockholm provides a selection of newsworthy tech-fests and crossover festivals/conferences this autumn in Stockholm. The list might be updated.

Future Perfect, 14-17 Augusti 2014 at Grinda, Stockholm Archipelago
Sustainability conference that also incorporates the tech perspective of the future for new creative regions etc. Discount tickets via @heidiharman

Hybrid Conf 21-22nd of August 2014, Rigoletto, Stockholm
Say hello to design and code in a merry combo for two days of bliss. A few tickets left.

Stockholm Tech Fest 4-5 Sept 2014, Waterfront Congress,  Stockholm
Startup and tech conference with some of Sweden’s and international leading names. Come meet the people and companies behind what many are calling ‘The World’s Next Hot Tech City’. 2 stages, 100+ startups, 30+ speakers, in 1 amazing place. Free tickets available via GeekGirlMeetups FB page.

Nordic.JS 18-19th of September 2014, Artipellag, Stockholm Archipelago.
Nordic.js is a two-day conference all about Javascript aiming to inspire and to get inspired, to meet and learn from others and to to bring our community closer together. The conference will take place on an island in the middle of the beautiful archipelago of Stockholm. Tickets have sold out, volunteer tickets might still be available.

 

 

GeekGirlMeetup Stockholm #makeIT

As a founder that has worked with the internationalization of GeekGirlMeetup, one thing that strikes me is strong belief that we need a diverse uptake of ideas (womens ideas) to create the next Skype and Spotify. One way to get more women into the STEM/ ICT area is to elevate the fantastic women that are already out there. If you have ideas of how to help us with our mission please don’t hesitate to contact us to grow the network or to bring new ideas to the organisation and out to the society. And what better way, but to celebrate the wonders of technology by playing with it!

GeekGirlMeetup is themed “Make IT” this year at the Science museum in Stockholm Sweden on May 24-25th.

Sign up now for tickets and speaking and lets co-create an amazing weekend.

This year we will as the theme suggest be geeking-out in maker-culture. Expect 3-printing, hardware, trans-humanism, knitting workshops and manga-creation.
With speakers, maker and creators like Stockholm maker-space, Carin Ism, Robot-Robyn, Johanna Koljonen, Nina von Rüdinger we expect total geekdom-ness at the three threads of ‪#‎creativetechnology ‬‪#‎socialbusiness‬ and ‪#‎justepic‬. After-party at Spotify!

Like what you see? Our previous themes have been:

2008 The architecture of winning
2009 GAME ON
2010 Code is Queen
2011 We love API’s
2012 Beautiful Data
2013 Enter.Space
2014 Make it

GeekGirlMeetup is a un-conference for women in web, code and startups aiming to elevate female role-models, create new networks and active knowledge exchange.

Some articles:
• The Guardian – Four groups bringing women in tech together
 VentureVillage – Diverse groups make better products

MAKE IT! @ #GGM14 Save the date

ggm14_makeit

Time for the annual Meetup in Stockholm. This year’s theme is MAKE IT! Tapping into the trend of makers this year’s Geek Girl Meetup will cover all kinds of items in the makers hands. Watch out for all DIY from electronics, robotics, 3-D printing, CNC tools, metalworking, woodworking and traditional arts and crafts. With the uprising of Makers fairs and maker spaces we dig in deep into it.

Save the date for 24-25 of May. The meetup will take place at Tekniska Museet, Stockholm.

Are you keen on taking part in any way in this year’s unconference, be sure to submit your interest here.

Sponsring
Are you as a company interested in sponsoring this year’s event. Contribute to the biggest Geek Girl Meetup event this year and get your logo on the badge! Contact makeit@geekgirlmeetup.com

Tickets to the meetup will be released later on this spring!

 

Note: (this is a crosspost from www.geekgirlmeetup.com, written by Ellen Sundh)

What if, what GeekGirlMeetup IF.

Tekniska museet

Five years ago Andie Nordgren and I both asked “What if” the IT industry sector surrounding us could be altered into being more diverse? By the rate of how we were meeting other women in the industry it would take for ever to have a representative group of ladies to go drink wine and talk web, code and startups with, not to mention role models for ourselves and our future kids.

We needed more female role models, stronger networks and active knowledge exchange to support our own growth all in a participatory driven manner.
Five years down the line we operate internationally in Sweden (Stockholm, Malmö, Göteborg, Umeå, Norrköping), Denmark, Mexico, London, Berlin, Oxford, Hong Kong, Tunisia and we have just ties know its with a sister organisation in Zambia. 4 continents down the line, we have a company in the UK, and an organisation in Sweden, GeekGirlMeetup IF (Ideel Förening similar Nonprofit org) is an organisation form were trying out with an appointed board.

Many of us have become co-founders, speakers, role models, connectors and supporters of each others work making startup life easier and more fun.

As I focus on my startup that goes under project name while in the BonnierAccelerator D2D I am confident that the ladies across the board have all that it takes to keep these this movement and organisation a new thinking and making organisation, promoting tech for young ladies and further the aims we have set up.

On the 19th of November GeekGirlMeetup is having it’s first open board member meeting. Become a member here and participate in making it a bright future for all geek ladies in Sweden, they need one international person keeping all international strings together and one social media manager.

You can also just show up without being a member to listen to their lineup of speakers if you choose not to participate in making future happen, then read more here or sign up here.

Thank you for the past 5 years of joyful co-creation of GeekGirlMeetup:  Andie Nordgren, Maria Söderberg, Miriam Ohlsson Jeffry, Annika Lidne, Therese Göterheim, Anna Oscarsson, Maria Söderberg, Angelica Ohlsson, Matilda Sjunnesson, Louise Wikholm, Mia Strömberg, Olga Stern, Oyuki Matsumoto, Pernilla Lindh, Pernilla Näslund, Henriette Weber, Paulina Modlitba Söderberg, Judit Wolst, Therese Mannheimer, Louise Hamilton, Malin Ströman, Linda “@copylinda” Sandberg, Sanna Wickman, Pernilla Rydmark, Natsha Ehlén, Ebba Kierkegaard, Hanna Metsis, Josefin Hedlund, Emily Green, Magdalena Kron, Robyn Exton, Josephine Goube, Linda Essen-Möller, Kate Sigrist, Javeira Rizvi Kabani, Johanna Nordström, Maria Gustavsson, Ellen Sundh, Jennifer Barba, Jess Eriksson, Michelle Sun, Maryem Nasri, Ella Ethel Mbewe, Karla Gradilla, Irina Delegado, Karina, Thöndevold, Maria Gustafsson, Evelina Johansson, Tilde Mattson, Helena Lindh and you (email me if I have missed to ad you to this list, im not perfect).

Thanks you to all sponsors and connectors that have been exceptionally brilliant to us: Johan Ronnestam, Roman Pixell, Erik Arnberg, Swedish Institute, .SE, Dan Rasumssen, Eze Vidra, Kam Star, Kit Ruparel, Henrik Berggren and many more.

Image, taken by Heidi Harman at Tekniska Museet (The Science museum of Stockholm, Sweden) that has kindly supported our meetups.

 

 

Hello Oyuki Matsumoto! [A portrait/Interview]


Hello Oyuki Matsumoto
! How are you?
Fine thanks, little jetlag but happy to be in my country again!

You are the organizer of GeekGirlMeetup in Mexico, could you tell me about how that came to happen?
I had the oportunity to be at the Geek Girl Meetup in Helsinborg this springtime and I just became so inspired to see so many girls together sharing experiences that i thought i should definetely bring it to Mexico. I think my country is growing really fast, but unfortunately is still very man dominated, so I thought this would be a great project to “spread” and see what happen… and well i contacted some of my friends here and they got interested also so we started planing it in the late summer…

And so who is showing up?
We have 102 girls registered, its all from programers, IT developers, fashion designers, artists that use technology in their work, girls working in emarketing, community managers, and bloggers…

We are still getting mails today about empty places so we have decided to have the registration from 9-9.45 and all the empty places we will give them to the girls that never got a place in those 100….

What do you do in the daytime Oyuki?
I work in Malmö as a projectmanager at Stapelbäddsparken. I have a bachelor in Media and Communication from Mexico. I studied university here in Guadalajara where this meetup is happening. I use a lot social media in order to get inspiration for my work..and that is how i found on the first place about Geek Girl Meetup….

I also hear you are a DJ, “the DJ plugged in to bring the GGM to Mexico”. Is that true?
I heard once someone said “Im a closet dj” haha.. I love music and i listen to all kinds of music…but Im not really a DJ… I dont mix.. I just program music… a music geek maybe?! heheh

Any other tips for people how to get ther geek on?
Well I think Social Media and all the new ways of communication is opening so many doors, I think is just about to take the chance… get inspiration and spread your knowledge… Share…and connect…

How does the Mexican tech, code and startup scene look like, who are the local heroes we should know of?
Well first of all these girls producing this together with me Elizabeth and Jackeline Maldonado, Ericka Garcia & Karla Gradilla…they are full on and have been doing such a great work to put up a great event together… The tech, code and starup scene in Mexico…uff though question as i  dont live here anymore…but just right now going through the registration forms I see a lot of interesting girls doing so many cool projects, I think Geek Girl Meetup can help to get all these girls connected and start new things… find new way of cooperation…that is one of our main aims…

Well, i think that i speak for all of us back here in Sweden, who wish we could join you on the other side of the atlantic. best of luck, have a blast!

O: Thank you and hello to all the girls up there…thanks for spreading these..and lets keep on working!!

H: You betcha.

Week 48 Cest tres populár

Proud to present, GeekGirlMeetup was featured in the leading Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter wednesday last week, with almost 70 hits per minute during lunch time, and hundreds of comments, and still the top ten after a week, that is what DN calls, popular.

The title was changed a few times, and from GeekGirls Sweeet Revenge(.jpg), loosley miss-interpreted to Sweet Geek Girls Revenge(.jpg). It was later, more correctly called, “The Dream Network (.jpg)” on the front side of the economy section.

With no one to take revenge upon, we are happy about the the article as it communicates the our aim with new networks and local rolemodels within internet, code and startups and creating the future we need and want for women in the tech scene.

  • Lina Thomsgård at Rättviseförmedlingen also added us up on the list of internetexperts, entrepreneurs for seminars, panels and juries. Thank you @LinaT!
  • 2 students from the University are writing their final thesis about GeekGirlMeetup as a phenomenon, exciting! More about this later.

TALKING ABOUT FEAR AND ANGER AS CONSTRUCTIVE FUEL

  • I am remembering how important it is to use your your fear constructively after discussions with musican Rebekka Karijord, who adresses it more like “Wear it like a crown“, and yet did this fantastic interpretation of my favourite “Smells like teen spirit”.
  • (And i promise to never be late for dinner again)

  • The Egyptian election makes me remeber my visit to Egypt with the Swedish Institute. To sum it up im linking in Måns Adlers startup, Bambuser tweet on the democratic importance of his start up service Bambuser.

  • I also cant seem to forget the Harrasmap that both me and Joakim Jardenberg listened to as we were both speaking at the YLVP´s Cairo Social Media Cafe this passed month. @jocke sums it up really well.

Jardenberg also disses the new apps for the iPad, by the major Swedish Media houses, and wether i agree or not I am suggesting some Margret Wheatly reading of  for the people in charge of the apps, preferably Leadership and the new Science.

WIKILEAKS AND ASSANGE

@brokep micro finance focused startup Flattr makes it possible to donate to whatever you like.

[Edit: this is not avaliable anymore, as Flattr was based on a Paypal Plugin. More about that at TechChrunch, via The Guardian]