Archive for March 8, 2018

MoviePass Disables Location Tracking After Epic Blowback

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 8, 2018 by itnerd

I guess that MoviePass bragging about how much money can it can make off of location tracking that they didn’t tell anybody about, followed by coming out with a lame statement to defend it didn’t work. I say that because Variety is reporting that location tracking has been disabled in the MoviePass app for iOS:

MoviePass removed a feature from its iOS app that let the company track the location of customers, responding to privacy fears stoked by the CEO’s recent comments.

According to the notes about the iOS update released March 7, the new version of the MoviePass app (version 3.0.6) has “removed unused app location capability.”

In a statement late Wednesday, the company said: “Today, MoviePass released a new app update, including the removal of some unused app location capabilities. While part of our vision includes using location-based marketing to enhance the moviegoing experience for our members, we aren’t using some of that functionality today. Our members will always have the option to choose the location-based services that are right for them today and in the future.”

So…. What does that mean? I read that as there’s still location tracking. But the more objectionable features have been removed. But that’s just a guess. Some transparency on this would be welcome. But I don’t see it coming from MoviePass. But we’ll see.

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OpenText CEO Announces Women in Technology Summit 2018 in Toronto, July 12 And Makes A Call For Progress

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 8, 2018 by itnerd

In recognition of International Women’s Day, OpenText is excited to announce a powerful lineup of prominent speakers for this year’s Inaugural Women in Technology Summit at OpenText Enterprise World 2018 in Toronto. OpenText’s Vice Chair, CEO and CTO, Mark J. Barrenechea, is also pressing for progress in a new blog, challenging both OpenText and the technology industry to take real steps to achieve gender equality.

The OpenText Women in Technology Summit will celebrate diversity in technology and the incredible contributions of women in the field. Former Chief Technology Officer of the United States, Megan Smith; and CEO and co-founder of #MoveTheDial, Jodi Kovitz, will deliver insightful keynotes highlighting the progress being made to advance women in technology.

In order to drive change, Barrenechea writes that we must encourage the next generation of young women to lead and innovate in technology. To that end, the Women in Technology Summit speakers will explore topics such as the future of the STEM talent pipeline and advancing women in the industry to leadership positions.

Prominent broadcast journalist and co-host of The Social, Marci Ien, will moderate two panels during the Summit which will also feature:

  • TechGirls of Canada Founder Saadia Muzaffar
  • Technovation Global Ambassador Anar Simpson
  • University of Waterloo Dean of Engineering Pearl Sullivan
  • SAP Labs Vice President of Tech Diversity and Inclusion Danny Allen
  • SAP UX Designer Lucia Melgarejo
  • OpenText Vice President of Research and Development Mei Dent

By drawing attention to this important issue OpenText hopes to create positive change for inclusiveness in our workplaces and communities. Barrenechea has also laid out four core beliefs, including:

  • Encouraging youth to learn technology early
  • Using digitization and analytics to dismantle barriers to women’s representation
  • Increasing the pace and priority for achieving gender quality
  • Establishing gender equality programs to create dialogue, remove biases and facilitate practical change

For more information on OpenText’s steps to create positive and lasting change, please visit the OpenText blog.

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LinkedIn Data Shows More Women In STEM Roles, But Slow Pace Of Change

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 8, 2018 by itnerd

In honor of this year’s International Women’s Day, LinkedIn has released new research examining how women’s roles in the workforce have advanced over the past 40 years.

The findings show that while there have been gains towards economic parity, the progress for women has been slow: Over the past 10 years, the proportion of female leaders in the workforce has increased by an average of just over 2 percentage points among the 12 industries studied.

Other key findings include:

  • More women are entering STEM fields than any other roles: STEM-based roles show the most change in female representation, with a nearly 25 per cent increase in female representation overall in the Software & IT industry and nearly 30 per cent increase in Hardware & Networking.
  • However, not all STEM roles are attracting women at equal rates: The software development industry has seen very little change, with women making up just over 20 per cent of total professionals, and the number of female data analysts dropping more than 10 per cent.
  • Women in leadership roles continue to make strides: When examining the shift of hiring of female leaders in the last eight years, the research found a higher rate of change among traditionally male-dominated industries like Software & IT Services (27 per cent increase in female leadership, manufacturing (26 per cent increase), and entertainment (24 per cent increase).

You can learn more in the following blog post,

METHODOLOGY

To generate this analysis, LinkedIn looked at a member’s first position after earning an Associate’s Degree or Bachelor’s Degree (limited to 4 years after graduation, and excluding internships) to understand what types of roles women were entering each decade. To generate growth figures, we compared women entering the workforce between 1978 – 1987 to those entering between 2008 – 2017 to understand the differences between the two decades. This data was examined at a global level across LinkedIn’s platform, however only countries where at least two-thirds of members had associated genders were included.

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