Merge pull request #34 from codecurious-bln/about

About page

_config.yml

@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 # You can create any custom variable you would like, and they will be accessible
 # in the templates via {{ site.myvariable }}.
 
-title: Code Curious
+title: code curious
 email: [email protected]
 description: ""
 baseurl: "" # the subpath of your site, e.g. /blog

_layouts/post.html

@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+---
+layout: default
+---
+<article class="post h-entry" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting">
+  <header class="post-header">
+    <h1 class="post-title p-name" itemprop="name headline">{{ page.title | escape }}</h1>
+    <p class="post-meta">
+      <time class="dt-published" datetime="{{ page.date | date_to_xmlschema }}" itemprop="datePublished">
+        {{ page.date | date: '%A, %d %B %Y' }}
+      </time>
+      {%- if page.author -%}
+        • <span itemprop="author" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span class="p-author h-card" itemprop="name">{{ page.author }}</span></span>
+      {%- endif -%}</p>
+  </header>
+
+  <div class="post-content e-content" itemprop="articleBody">
+    {{ content }}
+  </div>
+  <a class="u-url" href="{{ page.url | relative_url }}" hidden></a>
+</article><br>

_posts/2017-10-25-railsGirlsBerlinIsGrowingUp.markdown

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: "Rails Girls Berlin is growing up"
+published: true
+date:   2017-10-25 12:44:05 +0100
+permalink: /railsGirlsBerlinIsGrowingUp/
+permalink_de: /railsGirlsBerlinWirdErwachsener/
+categories: en
+author: "Ferdous"
+i18n_key: RGBgrowingup
+---
+
+![](../../assets/images/IMG_0876b.jpg)
+
+
+Rails Girls Berlin exists since its first workshop in 2012. So far, we’ve organized more than 30 workshops with more than 1,200 learners. From within our community, great projects such as [speakerinnen.org](http://speakerinnen.org), [rorganize.it](http://rorganize.it) and [diversitytickets.org](http://diversitytickets.org) have developed. Additionally, projects like [Rails Girls Summer of Code](https://railsgirlssummerofcode.org/), [ClojureBridge Berlin](http://clojurebridge-berlin.org) and [Heart of Code](http://heartofcode.org) were partially built by people who found or refreshed their love for programming with us.
+
+
+Five years of Rails Girls Berlin also means that our organizers team has had quite a few generations - which is to be expected when it comes to unpaid volunteer work. However, there is one discussion that popped up for each of these generations: it’s about our name. As organizers we have always tried to not speak of “girls” but of learners, coaches, organizers. Nonetheless, it happens that people from our community are referred to as girls, for which you can hardly blame anyone if you just look at our name.
+
+
+In general, we’re not angry about it. Girls are great and we’re happy to rock to Beyoncé’s “Who run the world? - Girls!”. The playful approach, the let’s-just-try-and-see perspective to coding is probably also associated to not being an adult. Beyond that, we’ve had the feeling that this name has helped to make us appear less threatening - maybe a reason why we have received a rather small amount of attacks or backlashes compared to other initiatives for marginalized groups in tech. Thus, we were able to inspire people to code and question stereotypes about tech without much interference.
+
+
+Nonetheless, our initiative is aimed towards adults. Historically for women and non-binary people. In the past we had schools approaching us, asking if we could do a workshop for kids or teenagers. We fully support younger education, but lack the resources or expertise to do so. We decided to be clearer in our naming, and be more explicit with each event who we are open to.
+
+
+“Girls” is perfectly fine as a self-chosen term - choose whichever term you feel comfortable with for yourself. However, we no longer want this term to be used as a general description for members of our community. So, we need to change the name!
+
+
+And since we’re already cleaning up, let’s dig even deeper. Ruby on Rails is a wonderful web framework, but we would like to keep keep our tool set open and explore different frameworks and languages e.g. Javascript, Rust and Elixir.
+
+
+So we need a new name. One that does not attribute our community with one specific gender or framework. We’d like to keep the playful, hands-on aspect but that does not need to be tied to a specific age. And last but not least, we need a name that works in both English and German. Originally, we thought about [RailsBridge](http://railsbridge.org/) - the US-american initiative that made Rails Girls possible - but it is again tied to the framework and we’re unsure if “bridge” can express what we mean to German-speaking people.
+
+
+That’s why we need you, dear community! You’re the ones who experience Rails Girls Berlin, who help shape it. You’re the people for whom we do the workshops. So this is our official call for your name and/or logo ideas. Send us everything you can come up with. We’d like to then share our favorites and see what works. Please: [write to us](mailto:[email protected]), we’re sitting in front of our mailboxes, hitting the refresh button every two minutes ;)
+
+
+TL;DR
+
+The new name should:
+
+- be easy to understand in both German and English
+- be open towards other technologies
+- address women and non-binary people (maybe indirectly)
+- highlight a playful aspect of coding

_posts/2017-10-25-railsGirlsBerlinWirdErwachsener.markdown

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: "Rails Girls Berlin wird erwachsen(er)"
+published: true
+date:   2017-10-25 12:44:05 +0100
+permalink: /railsGirlsBerlinWirdErwachsener/
+permalink_en: /railsGirlsBerlinIsGrowingUp/
+categories: de
+author: "Ferdous"
+i18n_key: RGBgrowingup
+---
+
+![](../../assets/images/IMG_0876b.jpg)
+
+Seit dem ersten Workshop im Jahr 2012 gibt es in Berlin die Initiative Rails Girls. Wir haben über dreißig Workshops veranstaltet mit über 1200 Teilnehmenden. Aus unserer Community sind so tolle Projekte entstanden wie [speakerinnen.org](http://speakerinnen.org), [rorganize.it](http://rorganize.it) und [diversitytickets.org](http://diversitytickets.org). Aber auch der [Rails Girls Summer of Code](https://railsgirlssummerofcode.org/), [ClojureBridge Berlin](http://clojurebridge-berlin.org/) und die [Heart of Code](http://heartofcode.org/) sind unter anderem von Menschen aufgebaut, die mit uns (wieder) Spaß am Programmieren fanden.
+
+
+Fünf Jahre Rails Girls Berlin bedeutet auch, dass unser Orga Team schon mehrere Generationen durchlaufen hat - wie das nun mal so passiert bei unbezahlter, ehrenamtlicher Arbeit. Eine Diskussion, die aber in jeder Generation auftauchte, ist die Diskussion um unseren Namen. Als Orga-Team haben wir uns immer bemüht, nicht von den “Girls” zu sprechen, sondern eben von Organisierenden, Teilnehmenden und Coaches. Und trotzdem kommt es vor, dass Mitglieder der Community als “Girls” angesprochen werden - was bei dem Namen irgendwie auch nachvollziehbar ist.
+
+
+Grundsätzlich haben wir gar nichts dagegen. Mädchen sind toll und zu von Beyoncés “Who run the world? - Girls!” können wir fröhlich abrocken. Der spielerische Aspekt, das einfach-mal-Ausprobieren bei Programmieren, wird eben auch oft mit dem nicht-erwachsen-sein assoziiert. Wir haben außerdem das Gefühl, dass der Name uns eher unbedrohlich wirken ließ, sodass sich die Angriffe, die andere Initiativen für marginalisierte Gruppen in der IT erfahren haben, bei uns in Grenzen hielten. Wir konnten also recht ungestört diverse Menschen fürs Programmieren begeistern und Stereotype über Tech in Frage stellen.
+
+
+Dennoch richtet sich unser Angebot an erwachsene Menschen. Zuallererst an Frauen und nicht-binäre Menschen - und theoretisch sind wir auch irgendwie für Männer offen, aber bei durchschnittlich 200 Bewerbungen auf 45 Plätze haben die nun mal niedrigste Priorität. Und das spiegelt sich in unserem Namen leider nicht wieder. Stattdessen fragen manchmal Schulen an, ob wir etwas für Teenager und Kinder machen können. Und so wichtig die frühe Bildung auch ist: mit unseren begrenzten Ressourcen müssen wir bei einer Zielgruppe bleiben.
+
+
+“Girls” ist als selbst gewählte Bezeichnung also vollkommen in Ordnung - nennt euch, wie ihr euch wohlfühlt. Aber wir möchten den Begriff nicht mehr als Sammelbegriff für die Menschen in unserer Community verstehen. Deswegen muss eine Namensänderung her!
+
+
+Und wenn wir schon mal aufräumen, dann so richtig: Rails ist ein tolles Framework, aber wir möchten uns für die Zukunft offen halten, ob wir nicht auch mal andere Frameworks oder Programmiersprachen ausprobieren wollen. Bis es dazu kommt, braucht es sicherlich noch eine ganze Weile, aber dennoch können wir uns schon mal darauf einstellen.
+
+
+Wir brauchen also einen neuen Namen. Einen, der unsere Community nicht an ein vermeintliches Geschlecht und Framework bindet. Wir wollen den spielerischen, kreativen Aspekt darin behalten, aber das muss nichts mit dem Alter zu tun haben. Und zu guter Letzt soll es ein Name sein, der im Deutschen und im Englischen gut funktioniert. Ursprünglich hatten wir an [RailsBridge](http://railsbridge.org/) gedacht - eine US-amerikanische Initiative, aus denen Rails Girls überhaupt entstanden ist - aber da ist dann wieder das Framework und wir sind unsicher, wie klar “Bridge” auch im Deutschen unser Vorhaben erklärt.
+
+
+Und deswegen seid ihr nun dran, liebe Menschen in unserer Community! Ihr seid nun mal die, die Rails Girls Berlin miterleben und prägen. Ihr seid diejenigen, für die wir unsere Workshops veranstalten. Dies ist also unser offizieller Aufruf an euch, uns eure Namens- und Logoideen zu schicken, bis uns die Ohren flattern. Die besten Ideen möchten wir dann mit euch teilen und prüfen, was gut ankommt. Also: [Schreibt uns](mailto:[email protected])! Wir sitzen vor unseren Postfächern und klicken alle zwei Minuten den Refresh-Knopf :)
+
+
+TL;DR
+
+Der neue Name sollte:
+
+- leicht verständlich sein (auch im Englischen)
+- Offenheit gegenüber anderen Technologien zeigen
+- Frauen und nicht-binäre Menschen ansprechen (lieber indirekt)
+- den spielerischen Aspekt am Programmieren hervorheben

de/about.markdown

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 layout: page
-title: Impressum
+title: Was ist code curious?
 i18n_key: about
 ---
 

en/about.markdown

@@ -1,18 +1,83 @@
 ---
 layout: page
-title: About
+title: What is code curious?
 i18n_key: about
 ---
 
-This is the base Jekyll theme. You can find out more info about customizing your Jekyll theme, as well as basic Jekyll usage documentation at [jekyllrb.com](https://jekyllrb.com/)
+## What is our mission?
 
-You can find the source code for Minima at GitHub:
-[jekyll][jekyll-organization] /
-[minima](https://github.com/jekyll/minima)
+Formerly known as Rails Girls Berlin, we've been offering free coding workshops for women without any background in coding since 2012.
 
-You can find the source code for Jekyll at GitHub:
-[jekyll][jekyll-organization] /
-[jekyll](https://github.com/jekyll/jekyll)
+**We want to help close the gender gap** in IT. Currently less than 20% of computer science majors are women, leaving women to be mostly consumers of technological products instead of creators and makers. Furthermore, it has been found that gender diversity leads to better decision making, increased creativity and enhanced, innovative performances.
 
+We are trying to change the gender imbalance by giving women the **opportunity and a community to start learning** to code. In addition to that we want to empower women to follow their dreams and put their business ideas into reality without a technical co-founder.
 
-[jekyll-organization]: https://github.com/jekyll
+## Why did we change our name from Rails Girls Berlin to code curious?
+
+There were a number of reasons, all described in full in [this article](/railsGirlsBerlinIsGrowingUp/). Briefly, the main reasons for the change were that we wanted to:
+- be open towards other technologies and programming languages,
+- address women, trans and non-binary people instead of girls,
+- highlight a playful aspect of coding.
+
+## Why are so few women in IT?
+
+Due to a **lack of female role models**, women are often prejudiced towards Computer Science as a career as it is commonly **perceived as male dominated, isolated, uncreative and uncommunicative**. In reality, programming demands a lot of creativity as well as good communication skills in order to build a good product.
+
+Furthermore, it is a common **misbelief that being good at Maths is a prerequisite** for learning programming. Due to outdated undergraduate teaching methods that favour competition over cooperation, girls are often less interested in Mathematics. They therefore often show a lower performance at school which keeps them from taking up an IT career later in life.
+
+
+## How we are trying to solve this problem
+
+**We make coding social** by creating a communicative and cooperative atmosphere around it. Our workshops kick off with an installation get-together and are provided with food that attendees bring along to share.
+
+By teaching women in groups of two, we create an **environment without pressure or competition** which diminishes the fear of asking “stupid” questions.
+
+**We connect women with each other, with mentors / coaches and role models** who have shown that it doesn’t need an academic background in computer science or be good at Maths to become a successful developer.
+
+**We foster continued learning** by encouraging attendees to join project groups after the workshop. These groups are led by experienced developers and stretch over several weeks to months. In addition to that, learners of all levels come together regularly on our “Code & Cake”.
+
+
+## What do we mean by „women“?
+
+We welcome people who *identify as women* of *any ethnicity and background above the age of 16*. No matter if you’re still in high school, have been working for many years or are staying home to take care of relatives. Diversity matters to us, so if you are not fluent in English, don’t own a laptop, can’t find someone to care of your children during the workshop, please contact us and we will try to find a solution.
+
+## Who we are?
+
+code curious Berlin events are organized by a small group of organisers and a huge group of programmers. Everyone is volunteering for this project, because we believe that women are the future of programming. The overwhelmingly positive feedback we are receiving from our attendees and coaches is convincing us to keep this project going.
+
+### Organising Team
+<div>
+    <p style="padding: 0 15px; float: left;" ><img src="../../assets/images/ferdous.jpg" alt="Ferdous" width="200"></p>
+    <p> <a href="https://twitter.com/ferbsx"><h4>Ferdous</h4></a></p>
+    <p> Bioinformatician, <a href="http://rubymonstas.org">Ruby Monster</a>, loves to travel, code and try new things. </p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- <br> -->
+
+<div style="clear: left;">
+    <p style="padding: 0 15px; float: left;"><img src="../../assets/images/kaja.jpg" alt="Kaja" width="200"></p>
+    <p> <a href="https://twitter.com/alizenero"><h4>Kaja</h4></a></p>
+    <p> Philosopher, soccer player, Ruby coder and feminist. Loves food and her bicycle. </p>
+</div>
+
+<div style="clear: left;">
+    <!-- <p style="padding: 0 15px; float: left;"><img src="../../assets/images/amr.jpg" alt="Amr" width="200"></p> -->
+    <p> <a href="https://twitter.com/amrAbdelwahab"><h4>Amr</h4></a></p>
+    <!-- <p> Amr's description goes here. </p> -->
+</div>
+
+<div style="clear: left;">
+    <!-- <p style="padding: 0 15px; float: left;"><img src="../../assets/images/yonatan.jpg" alt="Yonatan" width="200"></p> -->
+    <p> <a href="https://twitter.com/shushugah"><h4>Yonatan</h4></a></p>
+    <!-- <p> Yonatan's description goes here. </p> -->
+</div>
+
+<div style="clear: left;">
+    <!-- <p style="padding: 0 15px; float: left;"><img src="../../assets/images/pascal.jpg" alt="Pascal" width="200"></p> -->
+    <p> <a href="https://twitter.com/pascalwengerter"><h4>Pascal</h4></a></p>
+    <!-- <p> Pascal's description goes here. </p> -->
+</div>
+
+
+## How can you help?
+You can help us by volunteering your time and coaching at our workshops or joining our organisers team to plan more workshops. We are also constantly looking for companies to sponsor us and host our workshops. Please [contact us](mailto:[email protected]) if you are interested in helping close the gender gap in IT.