Hi everyone,

This is the last blog post for WGSS 320 and I am very excited to share all I have learned. First off, I have never created and successfully ran a blog before. I always thought blogging was something for creative thinkers and people who love writing and I found that I actually really enjoy it. It was a surprise to me that this class included such extensive blogging work. It was a nice surprise because I found to really benefit from reading over my posts and being able to edit and get feedback from my peers about my projects.

Another important think I learned was all the information about women in technology. I know it sounds ironic because that is the name of this course, but I actually feel like I have mastered enough current information to teach my own class on this. I was very thankful to have learned the skills of citations in APA formatting. Never have I had a teacher require that and I am glad to now have experience in citing with it. Another skill I enjoyed learning was how to hyperlink my sources in my writing. It is so handy to have the information readily available when referring back to the original source.

I am very thankful to my friend who recommended this class. I usually do not take online courses simply because I am an in-person learner. I think that this class changed my opinion and made me realize that I do learn just fine with online classes and I know I will be able to take more in the future.

I hope you all enjoyed my first blogging experience and I look forwards to showing you all more about what I learn in the future.

Happy Summer,

M. Simich

Hello everyone,

I just submitted my project and I am very satisfied with my final work. I got to learn so much about the Rigamajig product. LIke I said in an earlier post, I knew nothing about it. It was really reassuring to find out that this product was designed and created by inventor and engineer Cas Holman. She is such an interesting and inspiring woman to research. I learned about her work with nonprofit organizations and how she manages to keep her head up and be just as successful as every other engineer out there.

I did not struggle with locating any librarians or sources. I got a lot of experience from the previous project that I understand how everything works now. Overall, I am very impressed with how much I learned while researching. I learned more about the gender gap, sexism, false stereotypes, and a children’s toy that encouraged elementary school engineers. I think it is incredible how far everyone has come with inventions.

My favorite source to learn about new inventions and ideas is through TED Talks. I encourage everyone to watch them. Everyday there are more videos posted about fascinating people changing the world one step at a time. I learned a lot and hope you guys enjoy my project.

Thanks,

M. Simich

It is nearing the end of this second project and so far I have learned so much about this product and myself. I have learned that the more research the better. I have many a few sources for each section of this project and I still feel like I could keep researching.

So far, I have an outline of what I am planning to talk about for each part of the paper. I start off with talking about the Rigamajig product and how its users benefit from this product. I then go into sexism in children toys and games. I think that Rigamajig does a wonderful job of making a product that is appealing to both girls and boys. It provides a creative game for kids to enjoy and experiment with.

With that said, I think that many toy companies struggle to market their products to both girls and boys. I also think that society puts down companies who try and fail. I am still researching more about sexism in children toy products.

Some struggles I faced during this product was finding problems with the Rigamajig toy. I still defend it and think the only improvements the company could make would be to market their product more. I had never heard of it before this project. I also do not have enough material written to post for the rough draft. I am going to continue writing and fill out my outline more so that I am able to post more of my rough draft later this week.

Thanks!

M. Simich

I chose to do my gender lens project on the Rigamajig child toy. I had never heard of this toy before so I decided to do a lot of research to figure out the background to making such a diverse and beneficial toy.

So far, I have found a lot of information on this toy, as well as information on sexism in the child toy industry. I think research is the best way to educate myself about these problems in the stereotypical toy for girls and boys.

This toy is a new type of product designed for both girls and boys. It helps them explore their creativity and build any type of product they can with the tools given with the Rigamajig product.

I have not been able to contact any librarians because I am going to keep researching and find a more specific topic for each section of this project paper. I think the librarians will be very helpful because they offered a lot of help for the previous project.

Overall, my research is progressing and I have a very good start for this second gender lens project and look forward to learning more about this product and how our society is turning away from sexism is child toys.

Thanks,

M. Simich

In order to add a RSS feed to my blog, I began with logging into my Google email. I then went onto Google News where I customized my news topics as well as my sources. After completing my preferences, I went onto the Google categories and clicked on Women in Engineering. After, I scrolled down to the RSS link where I copied the link and later posted it into my blog. I posted it into the RSS new entry feed where I then published it for the public. My overall experience was pretty good. I found it a little overwhelming when narrowing down my preferences because there were so many options. I also think that it is important to share these topics and learn more about them, which I am excited to do in class.

Chandler Simich