Another good party with Jeffrey Palermo at DevTeach in Toronto. Always good to meet up with old friends and make new ones.
Jeffrey and I showed up a bit early for the party at Menage. What a great view on the outside patio overlooking the city street. Geeks would be arriving in droves momentarily. Given the typical percentages of male/female attendees at these events and user groups in general, I was surprised when a young woman showed up by herself and sat at a table by herself near the back.
Turns out that her name was Kate and she was there by invitation from a friend that was late. She was feeling like the "odd man out" since she was only one of two or three females in the room so far. Kate mentioned she had a friend that is studying gender in the IT field. (Maybe not that generic...I'll have to get the details later.)
But interestingly enough, Kate was getting her PhD by researching young adult's use of facebook. I thought that was fascinating. Scott Hanselman was in the area and I introduced the two of them -- I thought he might find her field of study interesting.
Maybe we'll get Kate or her friend in front of some Canada user groups to discuss gender issues. Any volunteers?