Provost's Lecture Series on Women in Leadership: Valerie Aurora

Rebooting the Ada Lovelace Mythos

Valerie Aurora, Executive Director, The Ada Initiative

ABSTRACT

Ada Lovelace has become an almost mythological character in the history of computing. In one story, she is Athena: the world’s first computer programmer, springing into existence fully formed a century before computers existed. In another, she is Bacchus, a delusional drug addict who was reverse-engineered into a feminist icon. But the real Ada Lovelace a complex, multifaceted person who mixed the best of science, art, and philosophy in her own life. What new stories could we tell about Lovelace that reflect a broader view of her work and beliefs, and how would that change our view of the role of computing in our society?

BIOGRAPHY

Valerie Aurora is Executive Director and co-founder of of The Ada Initiative, a non-profit collective founded in 2011 to promote women in open technology and culture. Aurora tirelessly helps women to get and stay involved in communities dedicated to changing the future of global society such as open source, open data, open education, and other areas of free and open technology and culture. She was recognized in 2011 as one of Femme-o-nomics Top 50 Women to Watch in Tech and, in 2012, she was cited as one of the 6 Most Influential Information Security Thinkers by SC Magazine. Aurora lives and works in San Francisco, California

EVENT DETAILS

Date:
Tuesday, October 18, 2013
Time:
5–6 p.m.
Location:
Babbio 122
Stevens Institute of Technology