The first Ada Initiative fundraising campaign is underway. For the month of June, Mary Gardiner and Valerie Aurora are focusing their efforts on seeding their operational fund by inviting 100 people to sign up as foundational donors - the seed 100.
By contributing $512, the donor will be listed as a difference engineer, or by donating $1024 the donor will be listed as an analytical engineer. The FAQ explains:
Q. Why “Difference Engineer” and “Analytical Engineer?”
A. The pioneering inventor Charles Babbage designed two calculating machines beginning in the 1820’s, the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine.
The Difference Engine was essentially a very large mechanical calculator – capable of generating tables of numbers but not programmable and not a general-purpose computer.
The Analytical Engine was the world’s first design for a general-purpose, Turing-complete computer. Countess Ada Lovelace, the Ada Initiative’s namesake, wrote the world’s first computer program for the (as yet unbuilt) Analytical Engine in 1843.
“Difference Engineer” and “Analytical Engineer” are imaginary titles for the people who would have programmed and run Babbage’s engines if they had been built in his time.
Women are under represented, and under acknowledged in Open Source. The Ada Initiative is working to take practical action to change this.
Please help spread the word and if you can, please donate.