ROSE Blog: Rikki's Open Source Exchange

Amy Vernon's Network World article, Leading by example: Women in open source, looks at the low number of women in open source and what steps NCWIT (National Center for Women & Information Technology) is taking to help increase this number. Among other efforts, NCWIT is interviewing women "heroes" in the field, including SpikeSource Inc. CEO and Symons Innovator Award-recipient Kim Polese.

According to Vernon, "NCWIT has several women prominent in open source speaking at the summit May 18-20, in addition to Polese, and plans to study the issue more, in hopes of breaking through that barrier." She says that NCWIT found that one way to increase participation by women in open source to is to lead by example and collaborate with men.

Polese will receive the Symons Innovator Award, which honors an outstanding woman who has successfully built and funded an IT business, next week at the NCWIT Summit on Women and IT in Portland, Oregon.