Yes, this is my opinion. The post is flagged as "Op-Ed," the universal-journo-sign that, indeed, the author is posting her stance, her analysis, her argument. I posted this first to my blog. Then, upon Richard's suggestion, reposted it to ReadWriteWeb.

This is my experience at OSCON, and it's just a small part of what happened there. I met a lot of smart folks. I heard a lot of smart folks speak. And yes, there were women there.

At OSCON I caught a glimpse of the ways in which open source can help foster citizen science, open government and responsive health care. These things, along with education technology, matter to me. (OK, that and having Lala back, but that is a whole other blog post...) These things remind me of why I love technology -- I think it's subversive and liberatory and we can do good. (And I think it can also help us achieve awesome video games and universal broadband, thank you very much...)

I will get as giddy as I possibly can when someone describes the operational aspect of some language or database to me. I am genuinely interested in hearing how someone addresses problems, technically and otherwise. I mean, MySQL, NoSQL, or shoebox to store your stuff -- these are pressing issues, people.

No really. These are pressing issues, people. And diversity matters.

Diversity in the tech sector (and the lack thereof) shapes the problems we identify. It shapes the questions we ask, the gaps in the market we see, the products and services we build.

And yes, it is my strong belief and opinion, that despite all the assertions that there are no obstacles holding anyone back from running away with the tech circus, there are a myriad of ways in which race, class, and gender privilege shape who gets a computer, who gets a basketball, and who gets a Barbie that whines that "math is hard. Let's go shopping"