Happy Birthday Kortney!

Definitely had to take a moment to give a TransGriot shout out to another one of the trailblazing trans brothers in our midst that I have mad love and respect for in Dr. Kortney Ziegler. 

Kortney was recently named to the 40 under 40 list of people making a name for themselves in various fields in the East Bay, and has also been named to the Root 100.

Kourtney is the director of the award winning documentary Still Black: A Portrait Of Black Transmen, and in 2013 created Trans* H4CK, that creates tech applications to solve real world problems in the trans community



 
Now he and Tiffany Mikell are the creative minds behind an app called Appolition, which allows people to use their spare change to help bail Black people out of jail. 

So when he says he's on his way to becoming a multimillionaire, I believe him based on his past track record. 

Happy birthday Kortney!   May you have many more and keep on doing amazing things for our communty.. 

SXSW Interactive Trans Tech Panel

Not too early to get started thinking about what conferences and conventions you'll have an opportunity to attend in 2015 and get your trans learn on.

If you're attending the SXSW Interactive event in Austin, TX from March 8-17, know that transpeeps will be in the house.

One of the fascinating panels that will be taking place during the SXSW Interactive portion of it will be entitled Transgender In Tech: Past Present and Future.

Unfortunately, this will also be the ONLY trans themed panel at SXSW, and that's another issue we need to discuss in another post.

We have a long proud legacy in the tech industry that we can trace back to Dr. Lynn Conway. who has served a role model to many trans peeps currently in the tech industry. 

The panel will bring together three people who have helped forge the path toward trans inclusion in tech spaces.   Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler will be in the SXSW house to talk about Trans* H4CK, his innovative hackathon and speaker series that highlights transgender created tech and entrepreneurship and has had successful sessions in Oakland, Las Vegas, Chicago and most recently Boston. 

Dr Lynn Conway will also be there.   IBM fired her after she transitioned in 1968, but Dr. Conway went on to achieve international fame as a pioneering researcher in computing and VLSI microelectronics.

The third panelist will be Brielle Henderson.  She is a user interface engineer at Facebook who helped create and implement the custom gender options that you can select on your Facebook profiles.

The facilitator of this fascinating panel will be Allyson Robinson, the VP for Knowledge and Impact with the LGBT Technology Partnership based in Washington, DC. 

She'll facilitate a conversation amongst the panelists that will focus on the trajectory of trans inclusion in technology and what it will mean for an industry that struggles with diversity and inclusion.

So if you are planning to be in Austin for the SXSW Interactive event, you may wish to be there for this fascinating panel. 

This panel brings together three figures who have helped make history advancing transgender inclusion in tech spaces. Lynn Conway was fired by IBM and nearly ended up on the streets when she transitioned in 1968, then went on to achieve international fame as a pioneering researcher in computing and VLSI microelectronics. Brielle Harrison, a user interface engineer at Facebook, helped create and implement that platform's industry-leading custom gender options. Dr. Kortney Ziegler envisioned and built Trans*H4CK, a hackathon and speaker series that spotlights transgender created tech and entrepreneurship.
Allyson Robinson, Vice President for Knowledge and Impact at the LGBT Technology Partnership in Washington, D.C. and a transgender pioneer in her own right, will facilitate a conversation among these trailblazers about the trajectory of transgender inclusion in tech and what it might mean for the future of diversity in the industry.
- See more at: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/39695#sthash.lAYHcBET.z50gWX0o.dpuf

Trans*H4CK Boston Happening Now!

While some of us are gathered in Dallas for the Facing Race Conference, at this moment there are teams of people in Boston busily working at the Harvard Innovation Lab attempting to create apps and programs to solve real world trans social justice problems.

It's Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler's latest edition of Trans*H4CK, his innovate melding of technology and social justice into an hacking event.

I had the pleasure of witnessing the first wildly successful one in Oakland, and there was another one held in conjunction the the Trans 100 unveiling in Chicago earlier this year.    Now Dr. Z has brought it to Beantown and the Harvard Innovation Lab, and you can follow what's happening at the #Transh4ck  hashtag.

My sisters Angelica Ross,  Lourdes Hunter and Allyson Robinson are also in the Trans*H4CK Boston house as well.

You can bet that today's tech panel discussion will be an informative and enlightening one, and it will be  interesting to see what apps come out of this edition of the tech social justice event.

And can't wait to find out what locale Trans*H4CK hits next.

Trans*H4CK Boston Coming Soon

Dr. Kortney Ziegler is getting ready to take Trans* H4CK on the road again, and this time the innovative hackathon and speaker series is headed to New England.

To be precise, Trans*H4CK Boston will be taking place at the Harvard Innovation Lab November 14-16, and spaces for the latest version of it are filling up fast.

Trans* H4CK Boston in partnership with the Harvard Innovation Lab will also continue the conservations about diversity and entrepreneurship in the tech world that sadly continue to ignore the contributions of trans people.

So for those of you in the Boston area, if you   haven't signed up for it yet, you may wish to do so. 

I witnessed and was a judge for the inaugural Trans* H4CK in Oakland last year and it was an amazing experience.  I enjoyed watching teams of hackers of all genders, social justice advocates , developers,  and designers building apps and applications to solve real world trans problems over a weekend.

Just bring your laptops and your ideas.   Trans*H4CK will provide the amazing speakers, the food, the encouragement and mentors to help you turn your ideas into something that empowers our tech savvy trans community.

And you'll have a lot of fun and meet some amazing people if you do check out Trans*H4CK Boston.

TransTech's First Orientation

There have been some amazing things going on in Trans World lately, and what transpired in Chicago on Sunday is just the latest example. 

TransTech Social Enterprises (TTSE), announced the launch of their tech ­focused training and apprenticeship program for the LGBT community with a focus on trans identified individuals.

The Trans Tech leadership team is Founding Executive Director/CEO Angelica Ross, Board President Precious Davis and Communications and Operations Director Joey Grant

The TTSE venture will have two components: the Training Academy with workshops focusing on professional development and the TransTech Apprenticeship Program which is a creative design firm that offers a graphic design and web development apprenticeship.

"At TransTech, our programs aim to equip people with a technical skill set for survival," says CEO Angelica Ross. " We start with entry level skills and build on those to increase an individuals experience and proficiency in an increasingly technological job market."

This past Sunday TransTech hosted a free orientation at the Center on Halsted to introduce their program to the local community.  The orientation simulated a model workshop following their TTSE signature e3 structure of empowerment, education, and employment for the 40 people who signed up to attend and learn more about it. .

The Inaugural LGBT Innovation Summit

The reason I'm in Washington DC is for the first ever LGBT Innovation Summit.that is starting as you read this at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building of the White House. 

Over the next four hours me and my fellow Summit panelists will get to witness a program that features some dynamic speakers, a panel discussion, and some participation time carved out so we can share ideas, collaborate with fellow Summit attendees and ask questions. 

And I get to put my reporter hat on and witness the inaugural event.   While this isn't the LGBT White House Pride Reception with fancy presidential invites, an appearance from the POTUS and FLOTUS, it is a fascinating event that I'll get another opportunity to do some networking at and see at least two people I know in Dr Kortney Ryan Ziegler and Geena Rocero. 

Then again, who says the POTUS may not pop in to say hello?

So what's on tap for the LGBT Innovation Summit Program?  .

The Summit will include:

*An armchair conversation with Megan Smith, Vice President, Google[x], moderated by Leanne Pittsford , founder of Lesbians Who Tech
*Remarks by Geena Rocero, Founder, Gender Proud, on how technology is empowering trans people, introduced by Taryn Miller-Stevens, Founder, GET//OUT

*An interview with Hillary Hartley, Creative Director, 18F, by Erie Meyer, Senior Advisor to the U.S. Chief Technology Officer

*A Call to Action by Tim Gill, Entrepreneur & Founder, Gill Foundation

*Time for “Elevator Pitches” where YOU will have the opportunity (in less than 30 seconds!) to talk about your innovative work, ask for help or resources, or share your Big Idea. This is an opportunity to spark collaboration and harness the expertise and energy in the room. 

*A panel discussion on challenges and opportunities facing LGBT communities, featuring senior leaders from the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Out2Enroll, and UCLA's Williams Institute.

The Summit as I mentioned is starting at 1:00 PM EDT (now) and will conclude by 5:00 PM EDT, followed by a networking reception hosted by the Gill Foundation in the Indian Treaty Room.

So yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to meeting the folks I don't personally know and having a chance to network with them.

Trans*H4CK Pre Hackathon Workshop Today

Trans*H4CK and its founder Dr. Kortney R.Ziegler are in Chitown for the unveiling weekend of the Trans 100, and later tonight as a prelude to the Trans H4CKing that will be getting started in earnest tomorrow, there will be a Pre-Hackathon Workshop taking place from 5:30-8:30 PM CDT.

So what will you see if you go to the Pre-Hackathon workshop at Dev Bootcamp?

First up is you'll get to hear the Trans*H4CK founder, Dr. Kortney Ziegler, share some of his story and discuss the importance of transgender advocacy, technology and collaboration.

Agenda

5:30pm - Kortney Ziegler gives a talk

6:15pm - Q&A with Kortney

6:30pm - Pre-hackathon Workshop

The Trans*H4CK Pre-Hackathon Workshop will include an overview of the weekend, as well as mini-workshops on tools and resources to help you build amazing and meaningful application prototypes.  Possible topics to be covered include:

• What is a “web app”?
• Intro to Design (HTML/CSS)
• Intro to Programming (Ruby, Python, Javascript, etc)
• Development environments (editors, testing, repositories, etc)

And no, you don't need to know how to code to participate in Trans*H4CK.  You may have expertise in other areas such as business, law, a subject matter expert that is critical to provide content to produce a successful app.    You may be a great writer, have business and marketing experience, et cetera.

It's a collaborative effort and fascinating to watch it come together.     

If you're in the Chicagoland area and you're interested, you may wish to head to 351 W. Hubbard St. Suite 700 and check out the fascinating Trans* H4CK happenings

The workshop happens tonight, the actual Trans*H4CKing tomorrow.
 

Trans* H4CK Las Vegas TV News Interview

Kortney is taking Trans* H4CK on the road this year, and has the frequent flier miles to prove it. 

The Las Vegas edition was held last weekend and get ready Chicago, it's coming your way next month, March 28-30 at Dev Bootcamp.

So if you wish to take part in it, now is the time to sign up.

But while Dr KRZ was in Las Vegas, he got the opportunity to talk about Trans* H4CK, its goals, and the mission of using technology to solve real world trans social justice problems and create economic empowerment for the trans community at the same time

Here's the interview Kortney did with the local media covering Trans*H4CK. 

 

Where's Kortney? Everywhere!

Dr. Kortney R. Ziegler since the start of 2014 has been one busy brother.   He's been racking up the frequent flier miles as he takes Trans*H4CK national in addition to his speaking and lecture schedule.

I'll get to see him this weekend at the 2014 LGBT Journalists Media Convening in Washington DC, but this past weekend he was in Las Vegas handling their edition of Trans*H4CK.

FYI for you peeps in Chicago: Trans*H4CK (and its handsome creator) is coming to you in March as part of the weekend series of events surrounding the unveiling of the second edition of the Trans 100.   

"Considering that Trans* H4CK focuses on creating technology for trans* people with the input of trans* people," Dr. Ziegler continued, "it makes sense to partner with the Trans 100 in an effort to further highlight transgender activists that are changing the world for the better."

It will be taking place March 28-30 at Dev Bootcamp, so if you wish to take part. sign up now.

Dr. KRZ will also be one of the keynote speakers for the upcoming Black Trans Advocacy Conference in Dallas April 30-May 4 and looking forward to hopefully seeing him again in the Lone Star State.

Assuming I don't have any other pressing business in New York May 3,  I'm looking forward to being in the audience for this keynote instead of delivering one like I did last year. 

But I know for certain there will be a Dr. KRZ sighting in Washington this weekend, and looking forward to seeing him there. 

Kortney In Vegas

Dr. Kortney R. Ziegler is in Las Vegas this weekend for Tech Cocktail Week and handling his business there in the run up to next week's Trans* H4CK Vegas style.

So what's Trans* H4CK?  It's Dr. Ziegler's innovative melding of a hackathon with trans social justice to solve real world problems for our community by creating programs and apps to do so.

In 2014 Kortney is taking the Trans* H4CK show on the road from its Oakland home base and birthplace with the next one scheduled to happen in Chicago March 28-30 in conjunction with the revealing of the second edition of the Trans 100 and all the events planned around it.  

The Trans* H4CK that is fast approaching will take place February 21-23 at The Center in Downtown Las Vegas, and you still have time to sign up for it and participate.  In addition to them being fun, all skill levels being welcome and they being safe spaces for all participants, did I forget to mention there are cash prizes as well?. 

The hacking team that comes up with the best project wins $500, second and third place teams get $250. 

There will also be two Bonus Prizes: Best Hack to Support Trans Entrepreneurs: TBA

Best Hack for #VegasTech Trans Community: 1 month Nomad Membership to Work In Progress

So come check out Trans* H4CK Vegas style.  You'll be glad you did come down and participate.  

Upcoming February Bay Area Trans* H4CK

For those of you in the Bay Area, you'll have another opportunity to participate in an upcoming Trans* H4CK. 

Trans* H4CK is creation of Dr. Kortney R. Ziegler that melds computer coding and app building with trans social justice to create programs and apps that solve real world trans problems . 

The first ever one in Oakland last September I had the pleasure of attending.  It was a wonderful and fascinating event I was honored to be there in attendance for and be one of the judges making the tough decisions as to which projects won.

On February 18 from 7-9 PM PST Kortney is putting together another Trans* H4CK for trans and queer nerds and calling for you to come together for a night of collective hacking, networking in a safe, diverse and friendly environment. 

No tech skills are required and hackers of all levels are welcome to attend.  Light snacks and refreshments will be provided, but space is limited.  

The location of the hack will be released a day prior to the event to ensure privacy, so if you're a trans or queer hacker, sign up ASAP..

What's Trans* H4CK?

One of the increasingly popular things happening is what's called a hackathon.  It's a community event in which programmers, developers, graphic designers, entrepreneurs and community members share ideas and skills to develop new software projects over a course of either 24 or 48 hours.

Hackathons are increasingly being used as a way to solve social problems, and Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler got the brilliant idea to do a hackathon called Trans* H4CK that combines the tech savvy talents of our trans community members with social justice activism

When asked why a trans centric hackathon needed to happen and be supported by LGBT organizations:

Hosting a hackathon can leverage the specific insights and talents of community members invested in LGBT equality by generating ideas that your organization normally wouldn’t. Think of potential participants as a temporary “think tank” comprised of dedicated volunteers of the cause. It is inevitable that the amount of passion each hacker brings to the table, will produce amazing tech based projects that can help make the lives of activists and the community that we serve a little easier. Plus, the bonus of working in a collaborative environment that values the input of each team member creates a sense of collective responsibility and comfort in which the learning of new tech skills is possible.

On the Trans* H4CK page it also made this salient point.

Research shows that transgender people are unemployed at 2x the national rate–4x for transgender people of color; have incomes of less than $10,00 a year; experience homelessness at 2x the rate of non-trans people; and suffer overwhelming discrimination when it comes to accessing adequate healthcare and legal services. This problem not only affects transgender adults but trans and gender nonconforming youth as well. A necessary step in addressing anti-transgender bias is to create technology that socially empowers transgender individuals. Imagine if there existed a mobile phone app that helps individuals find trans friendly doctors or an app that profiles safe space job opportunities for trans people across the country? Trans*H4CK is a space in which to turn these possibilities into reality.

After conceiving the idea and laying out the case for it, Dr Ziegler set out to make it happen with a GoFund Me campaign to raise funds to bring it to life.

On September 13-15 the inaugural Trans* H4CK will take place at the Betti Ono Gallery in Oakland and the New Parkway Theater.   This first trans hackaton will be limited to 50 people and will be a judged competition.

The judges and the speakers at the inaugural Trans* H4CK will be named later and I'd love to be there in the Bay Area just to satisfy my inner tech nerd and see what takes place at a hackathon.       

I'm down with any event that showcases the immense untapped talent and creativity of our community and hope it is as megasuccessful as I presume it will be. 

A Congressman Beat Watson-Guess What Party He Belongs To?

IBM has designed a Jeopardy! playing supercomputer named Watson who so far has easily taken out all time Jeopardy Hall of Fame champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter..

Had to chuckle when I discovered that a slightly slower version of Watson was rolled out for another exhibition match featuring it versus humans.

This time Watson went down $8,600 to $6,200 to a human who happens to be a US congressmember.   Can you guess what party he belongs to?


What is the Democratic Party?

Hee hee hee.   Kiss our elitist behinds, GOP!

As to the identity of this congressmember, I'll reveal who it is in the form of a Jeopardy question.


This five time Jeopardy champion and rocket scientist represents a district in New Jersey.  Name him.

Who is Rep. Rush Holt?

We're proud to have people in our party with brains.   That's more than I can say for the GOP, with is proud of its Ignorance.is Strength image.

But Rep Holt played the Jeopardy exhibition match with Watson to underscore the importance of doing basic research and development, especially in technology.

"The purpose of the exhibition game was “to highlight the importance of technology… science and math education and research and development are vital to our nation so we can out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world,.” said Rep Holt. 

He's right.  If we are going to stay competitive as a nation in a 21st Century world in which China and India are coming for us and ratcheting up their education efforts, we can't compete with them by cutting investments in education as GOP governors around the country are doing to give tax breaks to the superrich and corporations..

America 's High Tech 'Invisible Man'

TransGriot Note: Another instance of an African-American inventor not getting major credit for an invention that changed our lives.


By Tyrone D. Taborn

You may not have heard of Dr. Mark Dean. And you aren't alone. But almost everything in your life has been affected by his work.

See, Dr. Mark Dean is a PhD from Stanford University. He is in the National Hall of Inventors. He has more than 30 patents pending. He is a vice president with IBM. Oh, yeah. And he is also the architect of the modern-day personal computer. Dr. Dean holds three of the original nine patents on the computer that all PCs are based upon. And, Dr. Mark Dean is an African American.

So how is it that we can celebrate the 20th anniversary of the IBM personal computer without reading or hearing a single word about him? Given all of the pressure mass media are under about negative portrayals of African Americans on television and in print, you would think it would be a slam dunk to highlight someone like Dr. Dean.

Somehow, though, we have managed to miss the shot. History is cruel when it comes to telling the stories of African Americans. Dr. Dean isn't the first Black inventor to be overlooked. Consider John Stanard, inventor of the refrigerator, George Sampson, creator of the clothes dryer, Alexander Miles and his elevator, Lewis Latimer and the electric lamp. All of these inventors share two things: One, they changed the landscape of our society; and, two, society relegated them to the footnotes of history.

Hopefully, Dr. Mark Dean won't go away as quietly as they did. He certainly shouldn't. Dr. Dean helped start a Digital Revolution that created people like Microsoft's Bill Gates and Dell Computer's Michael Dell. Millions of jobs in information technology can be traced back directly to Dr. Dean.

More important, stories like Dr. Mark Dean's should serve as inspiration for African-American children. Already victims of the "Digital Divide" and failing school systems, young, Black kids might embrace technology with more enthusiasm if they knew someone like Dr. Dean already was leading the way.

Although technically Dr. Dean can't be credited with creating the computer -- that is left to Alan Turing, a pioneering 20th-century English mathematician widely considered to be the father of modern computer science -- Dr. Dean rightly deserves to take a bow for the machine we use today. The computer really wasn't practical for home or small business use until he came along, leading a team that developed the interior architecture (IS A systems bus) that enables multiple devices, such as modems and printers, to be connected to personal computers.

In other words, because of Dr. Dean, the PC became a part of our daily lives. For most of us, changing the face of society would have been enough, but not for Dr. Dean. Still in his early forties, he has a lot of inventing left in him.

He recently made history again by leading the design team responsible for creating the first 1-gigahertz processor chip. It's just another huge step in making computers faster and smaller. As the world congratulates itself for the new Digital Age brought on by the personal computer, we need to guarantee that the African-American story is part of the hoopla surrounding the most stunning technological advance the world has ever seen.

We cannot afford to let Dr. Mark Dean become a footnote in history. He is well worth his own history book.

Computing Reeducation

As many of you know the motherboard on my desktop died last Friday. A new replacement one has been ordered and hopefully I'll be back doing my thang on Computer Prime soon.

In the meantime, Polar graciously lent me his Compaq laptop in order to tide me over until I get my beloved desktop up and running.

I have owned a computer since I bought my first HP 2600 series minidesktop back in 1997. I prefer and love desktops probably because the vast majority of my computing time and Web surfing over the last decade has been spent in a desktop environment.

Since I've never owned one, much less played with one for an extended period of time until now, it has taken me a few days to get acclimated to the quirks and idiosyncracies inherent in laptop computing.

It took two days for me to get out of the habit reaching to my right and using my right hand to manipulate a mouse to do whatever I needed to do while typing various posts. My thumb kept brushing the pointer thingy and moving my cursor as I typed, which kept pissing me off while typing the first post I attempted to do.

It also took me far longer time wise to compose that first laptop generated post than it normally does on my desktop system.

I had to adjust some of my computer quirks I feel comfortable doing as well.

I use a technique in which I rapidly move the cursor instead of just highlighting the messed up text and hitting the 'delete' key. I had to not only go back and correct the jacked up text, but figure out how to move the cursor to do it.

I type 55 WPM as well, so it's slowed down my typing speed as I've had to get acclimated to holding my hands up in a much higher position than normal and being cognizant of not trying to inadvertantly hitting combinations of keys that may trigger stuff I don't want or need to happen.

I'm relearning how to cut and paste on this laptop. I'm also trying to figure out what I have to do so I can start putting photos back in my posts to make them look nice and illustrate what my words have to say.

Yeah, I could simply call Polar and ask, but the Taurus in me wants to at least try to do it on my own before punting and dialing up the Bear Cave to ask him.

But now that I've had the opportunity to play with a laptop, I have to admit that I'm beginning to like it enough to the point I may seriously consider buying one in the future as a backup.

The price has come down on them and the computing power is going way up. The portability is also a nice selling point as well.

It would help me in terms of being able to access info during my lobbying trips to DC. If I need to blog while I'm on one of my road trips I won't need to hunt for a desktop so I can do so. It would allow me a more rapid response time as well in those situations.

So yeah, my desktop being down sucks. It puts a crimp in some of the stuff I like to do while composing posts, but I can always go back and paste the photos on them later.

In the meantime, I'm going to start making lemonade out of this lemon situation and get 'ejumacated' on the mysteries of laptop computing.

New Computer!

Hey TransGriot readers!
Been offline for about 36 hours getting a new computer, and nope, it's not the Dell in the blog post picture.

Actually it's a 1.7 gig AMD one my roommate used to own that she used for gaming. It no longer suited her needs since she long ago bought a computer that dwarfs mine in capabilities and processing power to play WOW, but it definitely worked for me. It's far more powerful than the 500 speed Pentium III that I've been playing with since 2003 and best of all, it has Windows XP.

I talked about the problems that me and Polar had when we tried to upgrade that P-III and discovered that one of the legacies of a formerly corporate machine, especially when you buy one from a company that does tech support is a BIOS that doesn't allow you to change it without a password.

This one wasn't as painful because my roomie had a local computer shop build it, and was equipped with a kick butt user friendly BIOS that's easy for even a semi-computer literate user like me to understand and navigate. I also inherited from Polar's old computer that died the painful thunderstorm death the CD-DVD ROM player and the DVR-RW burner.


As for my old P-III, it's getting a makeover. Polar and I have a pile of computer parts to play with, and he thinks he's found a way around the BIOS lockout problem.
So if all goes well, the P-III will become a backup computer.

I'm still trying to get my sound calibrated, getting used to XP, test driving all the new features, downloading plug ins and finding and migrating all my old files since I now have two hard drives and 48 gigs of space to play with. I had only 8 GB of hard drive space on the old one, and 5 GB of that was taken up by my music and picture files.

I'm getting adjusted to it and like the stability so far. It's fun being able to play DVD's on my computer now and having the ability to burn things to a disk is cool as well.

Now if I could just get the new sound card figured out, things will definitely be copacetic.