Hamlet Au over at New World Notes published an article regarding SH//FT : VR Industry Leaders Launch Pro-Diversity Non-Profit SHIIFT.
This prompted me to take a closer look at SH//FT, where I discovered that SH//FT is :
a non-profit organization that partners with industry leaders in emerging technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality to sponsor and create opportunities for underrepresented groups.
Helen Situ, who is behind this also has a Medium Post about this in which she explains more :
But I’ve noticed something unsettling. There are very few women in virtual reality.
To whoever is reading this, I’m sure that wherever you work, it’s true that the majority of your coworkers are male. In the tech industry, women only represent less than 20% of the workforce. We need to change this.
I’m really a fan of “Whomever” for some bizarre reason, but that’s not important right now! More women in tech and VR is important. I have taken a look at this subject before : Women Probably Don’t Want To Feel All Alone On A Crowded VR Island.
There is, without any shadow of a doubt, a shocking lack of women in tech and we really need to address the reasons why as we move boldly on to the brave new world of VR. I’ve worked in tech for many moons, I’ve worked in tech for many moons in an education environment too and there you see the shocking lack of women in the classroom too.
As I’ve said before, people far more qualified than me are discussing these issues and those discussions absolutely need to continue. Virtual Worlds such as Second Life and OpenSim do in many ways buck the trend, there is a strong presence of Women in Second Life and Opensim. Role Models are certainly important, but there’s far more to it than that.
SH//FT’s advisory board includes men and women, some of the names you may be familiar with. Nonny De La Pena and Tony Parisi stand out for me. Nonny De La Pena was featured in The Drax Files Radio Hour show 24 on immersive journalism. Tony Parisi was featured a couple of episodes later in episode 26. There are good people involved with this.
As I’ve said before, it’s important not to be patronising about women in tech, it’s also important not to ignore there is a real issue regarding the number of women involved in tech. VR is likely to boom in the near future and VR absolutely needs to be an inclusive technology. I will be following the progress of SH//FT with great interest.