The first article I read was entitled "Make money and have fun in open source". Christy Eller, the author of this article, points out the minuscule number of women in computing compared to the number of men. She explains how she would love for her 11 year-old daughter to become more interested in computers, but the question is: how are computers suppose to compete with Katy Perry "wear(ing) a candy striped leotard and strut(ing) around through a maze of life-sized lollipops"?!
She then goes on to talk about how valuable open source tools have been to her career. She now owns a freelance WordPress web design business, she says "I am making a good living using open source. And it's fun, it really is. I get to make things all day long, beautiful things."
Christy feels like young girls need role models like herself so that they know what a successful career as a woman in technology looks like. "Be the change you want to see."
This was a really interesting read for me- I love the fact that Christy has taken free tools and made a career out of it- what other field could you do something like that? Make something from nothing while making your imagination come to life. So. freaking. cool.
For some reason reading this article reminded me of this. Maybe we need a lego girl software engineer who goes on adventures.
The next article, "Big data and Hospital OS improve Thai diet" caught my eye initially because of the word "Thai".
I love Thailand...to the point where I'm borderline obsessed. I made my first solo backpack trip to Thailand back in 2009, fell IN LOVE with the country, and went back again in 2011. This summer I am planning on backpacking SE Asia for 6+weeks, so Thailand and I will be reunited once again!
Another reason this caught my eye was "big data". My sister graduated with a Discover Informatics...now, Data Science degree- and I have heard her give speeches on big data. Basically, when big data is analyzed by people like my sister- it can help businesses make better informed decisions regarding...just about anything that has data.
Back to the article...
Dr. Kongkiat Kespechara is a practicing physician in Phuket. When the Thai government demanded that Information Technology be adopted in all Thai hospitals, but didn't provide a budget for it- Dr. Kongkiat Kespechara decided to use Hospital OS (open source software) in hospitals all around Thailand to accomplish this. And since he knew that most hospitals would not backup their data- he did it for them with his system. This led to him having heaps of data from all over Thailand- eventually after several years, he was able to predict what outbreaks were coming. The main disease that this article talks about is diabetes and how Dr. Kongkiat Kespechara was able to use big data to see the connection between diabetes and white rice, find an older form of rice that would not spike blood sugar levels-and find a way to retail this rice to the Thai people.
By the end of this process, Dr. Kespechara had added a few thing to his resume...
"Dr. Kespechara is a still-practicing MD, a software entrepreneur, an open source pioneer, a force in economic development, a big data processor, a nutritionist, an agriculturist and a retailer."
It's incredible how open source software can help a whole COUNTRY in it's health. Wow. Just wow.
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