An exhibit called “Hidden Histories of Women in Computing” is on display at the Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI) in NUI Galway.
The exhibit highlights the major contributions women have made to advances in communications and computer technologies, in spite of countless obstacles.
“For millennia, cultural, social, religious and legislative obstacles have ensured that females were denied access to many professions,” said DERI’s outreach officer Brendan Smith.
“Despite this, computing does have its female champions. Take for example, the mathematician Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, who wrote in 1843 the world’s first ever computer programme.”
DERI also provided workshops to second-level students on the role of women in science and technology in history to help increase the percentage of females involved in technology research and innovation.
The exhibition is a part of DERI’s outreach activities based on the broader theme of Digital Inclusion.
Along with highlighting the role of women in technology, it provided online interactive guided learning programmes to asylum seekers in Galway City with the ICANDO initiative and it recently rolled out after-school workshops to parents on how to tackle cyber bullying among children and teenagers.
“Since February, our institute under the banner of ‘An Online Ireland, Accessible To All’ has provided a comprehensive programme of courses, workshops and exhibits aimed at involving sections of society that have felt at some time excluded or even threatened by the rapid advances in technology innovation,” said Smith.
