Records of Women into Computing

The archive consists of papers relating to Women into Computing (WiC) conferences (1988-2005), minutes (1998-2002), and correspondence relating to WiC's lobbying activities in the field of women and computer science. WiC was formed in November 1987, as a pressure group to increase the number of women pursuing profitable careers in computing.

The archive contains WiC Conference 2005 organising papers (minutes, agendas, associated materials); correspondence with the British Computer Society (BCS) and with the Conference of Professors and Heads of Computing (CPHC); minutes of WiC steering committee meetings & Annual General Meetings (1998-2002); related WiC committee papers; a paper copy of the WiC web pages (removed as of Jan 2006); notes and slides relating to the Edinburgh Workshops - computing workshops for girls held at Heriot-Watt University; and papers of other related initiatives of the period (for example, Women in IT and AWISE).

Useful abbreviations -

* British Computer Society (BCS)

* Women in Information Technology Foundation (WIT)

* Conference of Professors and Heads of Computing (CPHC)

Women into Computing (WiC) (1987-2005) was a national organisation committed to encouraging more women to participate in computing education, to take up work in the computing industry and to be involved with professional bodies. From its conception in 1987, WiC was run by its members, who were drawn from UK University Computer Science departments. It was created in response to falling numbers of female entrants into computer science, and to support those few women working in computer science. Several events were organised by WiC during the period 1987-2005. These ranged from workshops to encourage girls to choose computing to academic conferences with international contributors. Conferences covered subjects such as the need for mentoring, networking and equality provision, feminist responses to science, engineering and technology. The WiC steering committee also acted as a lobbying group, seeking to make change in policy and practise in education and the computing industry. WiC ceased to exist in 2005.

Original order retained.

This collection is available for research. Readers are advised to contact The Women's Library in advance of their first visit.

The collection was deposited as a gift by Rosa Michaelson, a former WiC member, who collected papers from other members across the UK.

The Women's Library catalogue

The Women's Library Printed Collections also holds publicaitons by WiC.

The USA Internet Archive, preserved 'snapshots' of the WIC website from 2001-2005 (their website address was http://www.wic.org.uk)

As at 2009 this could be viewed via the Internet Archive http://www.archive.org