Big D Webgrrls meld technology, talents and an attitude

By Doug Bedell / Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News
Published 01-26-1999

Across the globe, women who surf the net and tinker with technology are often called "net chicks," "cybersisters" and "fem-centric netizens"

Here in Dallas, a few hundred women are loosely bound together as "Big D Webgrrls," although no one is positive about how the name derived.

"We're 'girls' with an attitude, baby," explains Buck Johnston, founder of the Dallas chapter. "We're happy about being women. We' re not trying to dress in suits and act like men anymore.

"We're just happy to be 'grrls.' "

Their leader, or "pointgrrl," is graphic designer Brenda LaTorre, who believes the group name may have been rooted in a conundrum: Most Internet domain names using girl are XXX-rated and strictly for men. "But I'm not really sure," she says.

No matter.

By any name, Big D Webgrrls is a network of professionals dedicated to helping each other find and hold onto work in the rapidly expanding realm of Web site design and programming. The group is loosely affiliated with International Webgrrls Members of the local faction subtitle their cyberspace meeting place - found at www.bigdwebgrrls.com - " Women in New Media & Technology."

That tells the basic story. But it doesn't begin to explain the incredible diversity of professional backgrounds that members offer each other as a support group.

Says Renee Radosevich, fledgling owner of SparkyStar Internet Page Designs: "We exist, but we exist virtually. That's what makes us unique. We feed off each other."

Within the Dallas graphics arts and Web design world, Big D Webgrrls have become unavoidable. Nearly everyone knows a member, hired one or is one, it seems.

They are a wildly disparate bunch. There are mothers working at home, highflying public relations executives, start-up specialists, longtime computer programmers and short-timers just embarking on free-lance careers.

And they include some of the top female graphics designers in the area, women such as Kyrsten Johnson, the self-described "creative brain" from Fifth Gear Media Corp. and president of the Dallas Internet Society.

"This group to me is important in the realm that it encourages women and girls to get into technology, to learn and see and utilize the technology."

It was also, she says, the network from which she drew the contacts to land a key job in her career as a software interface and Web designer.

"I found it in two months with this group," she laughs. "It was amazing."

The need for a separate women's booster group goes beyond the traditional reasons for female networking groups in the business world. Female Web professionals are fighting to eradicate the notion that women don't take to technology well.

Surveys of Internet usage in the early part of this decade showed a stark absence of female interest. By and large, the cyber crowd was white, male and middle- or upper-income.

But a survey released earlier this month shows that women are moving toward the Internet at more rapid rates than men. Fifty-two percent of newcomers are female, according to the Pew Research Center for People and the Press.

Ms. Johnston believes the newfound attention from women is more basic: "My explanation is simple: eBay."

Auction call

In other words, mail-order and online auction sites such as eBay have given women a new reason to immerse themselves in computers and the World Wide Web.

Ms. Johnston began the local effort in March 1996 after a Web- surfing excursion landed her at the home of Cybergrrl, an electronic comic strip produced by a New York graphic designer. An early Web designer herself, Ms. Johnston saw how the New York women were coalescing around the comic strip, opening avenues of communication through professional Internet Relay Chat, or IRC, sessions and listservs, automated e-mail lists that allow sharing of all communication sent to a single Webgrrl address.

"I don't know; I just felt there was a need in Dallas for something like that," she says. "We started with five grrls who met at Caf Society. It was just really sort of chit-chat, getting to know each other and the business.

"It took off extremely fast."

From that humble beginning, Big D Webgrrls sprouted wings. In 1997, local designer Stacy Thomas took over. By 1998, the group had its own Web site and listserv running, a steering committee was created and a more structured organization took form.

Today, about 350 Webgrrls sprinkle the Web design and programming industry in the Dallas area. Internationally, chapters have sprung up from Albania to Zambia in a very informal affiliation of more than 3,500 female professionals. The listserv is still the primary interactive tool, and it has worked extremely well, according to member testimonials.

"I've gotten a lot of work from the group, just from exchanging ideas on the list," says pointgrrl LaTorre, a designer at Motion Magic Studios. "In an office setting, you can't cooperate as much. It becomes a competitive thing. You don't give up a lot of what you know."

But on the Webgrrls' listserv, Ms. LaTorre has found that sharing technical expertise is quite easy and slick. "Even people in competition within the workplace are helping each other there. It's great."

Out of the cubicle

Much of Web programming is a solitary existence. HTML code, the backbone of the graphical Internet experience, takes all sorts of forms and nuances. Fiddling to get things just right can consume hours. Communication with the outside world - and networking with industry counterparts - is often difficult or nonexistent.

"You can't get that sitting in a cubicle," Ms. LaTorre says. " But that's what's so exciting about Webgrrls. It's gotten me into companies where I don't think I'd ever have gone before, met any of the people or seen any of the inside workings."

Corporations have begun showing up at the regular Big D Webgrrls meetings to offer tutorials in their software and hands-on product demonstrations. Macromedia, for example, has pledged to participate in an upcoming session centered on its innovative Web tools such as Fireworks, Director and Dreamweaver. And advertising agencies now regularly post their openings and free-lance needs on the group's listserv.

Beyond that, the personal interaction has proved invaluable. When Ms. Radosevich mentioned that she was starting her own Web design business, another "listgrrl" popped up to offer extra business card supplies and advice.

"We have a personal relationship now, just because of the help I received from her," Ms. Radosevich says of her newfound mentor.

As a group, Webgrrls are conducting regular HTML classes for younger grrls at the Dallas Arts Magnet School. Self-education continues with programs such as "Freelance Bootcamp" and software training from vendors and professionals.

There are no dues, and the Big D bunch depends on the kindness of strangers for meeting places and equipment for hands-on learning sessions. Ms. LaTorre says her group is in dire need of a spot for monthly meetings, a place equipped for presentations from software vendors and instructors.

Thus far, however, no corporate sponsor has stepped forward.

But don't think that will stop these cybersisters. Even the casual observer can't help but notice that infectious fun breaks out whenever Webgrrls come together.

That may be one reason their Web site meeting calendar appears as it does: Every month from April to November of this year contains the program note "TBA" - to be announced.

But in December, these Webgrrls are darn sure there will be a Christmas party.

PHOTO(S): (1. DMN: Allison V. Smith) Big D Webgrrls is a
network of professionals including graphic designers, conputer

programmers and women who are expanding their base of technology

knowledge. (Photo IDs on Page 6F.) 2. Members of the Big D Webgrrls

pictured on Page 1F include: 1. Kyrsten Johnson; 2. Brenda LaTorre;

3. Renee Radosevich; 4. Trisha Wilkerson; 5. Angela Warr; 6. Cyn-

thia Franco; 7. Cone Johnson; 8. Heidi Hiteshue; 9. Jennifer Tison;

10. Wanda Yanello; 11. Pamela Work; and 12. Toni McCarthy.

© 1999 The Dallas Morning News All Rights Reserved ©1998 The Dallas Morning News

 
 

Back to Top
Send a letter to the Editor about this story
Discuss this story in our technology forum