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Celebrated author, long-time geek and waving the flag for women in technology, Christina Tynan-Wood tells us what it takes to be a geek goddess, how women approach technology.

Your book was published just a few months ago. a long time in geekland. Any topics you wish you could have added?

I would have liked to cover blogging more. I think a lot of women want to write blogs and think that it is much harder than it is. I knew that at the time, though. That was more a decision of focusing the book. Maybe I'll write another book on blogging.

Have you heard any amazing success stories from readers? Like women who went from dusting off MS-DOS machines in their closets to becoming full-fledged 'tech goddesses'?

I do hear from women on my blog, GeekGirlfriends.com, who are getting in the game and having fun with this stuff. I think there really is never any point when you know it all and women tend to underestimate what they know rather than to brag so I haven't heard many claims of being goddesses. I know from the questions they ask the experiences they share, though, that they are getting pretty goddess-like!

Would you say women tend to be more 'software' than 'hardware' in terms of their knowledge and usage? If so, why?

Well, I don't know if I would quantify it that way. But then I'm a woman. I think women are more results-oriented when it comes to technology - hardware or software. Men do tend to focus on specs more than a woman cares to, which may be what you mean here. I think we women want to know how a piece of technology will serve us before we care who makes the processor or the OS. And we know that hardware and software work together so integrally that you can't really separate the two. I draw an analogy to the human being in my book when I explain the difference between hardware and software. We all know that the most beautiful man (or woman but that example has been made so many times by the guys) in the world is not that interesting if his software (what he thinks and says) isn't interesting too.

In your book, you mostly focused on PCs, and to a lesser degree, Mac. What is your view of the other systems like Linux? And who are you, a Mac or a PC?

I'm a PC person. That's a habit I can't break. I like Macs, though. And I own a couple of Linux machines, too. I decided not to cover Linux much in the book because - from a marketplace point of view - owning a Linux machines is still pretty much for early adopters of technology --though that's changing fast -- and I wanted this book to feel very welcoming to the newby.

What are some product designs that you admire?

Tough question. I dream about products that women would design if there were more women working in technology development. I think the next big breakthrough in human factor of technology will come when there are enough women in the design room that they can work together, brainstorm, innovate, and collaborate. There are some nice cell phones, though - lots of them. I love my Sidekick. I'm also a big fan of the Sonos wireless music system. The new purse-sized Netbooks from Lenovo, Dell, and Asus are pretty sweet too.

What is the most outrageously gendered gadget design that you can think of?

Anything that clips to a belt. Hello! How often do women wear belts? And even if we did, would we willingly look like that - with an array of black gadgets clipped to it? Can no one building this gear see how that is designed for only half the population?

How do you see social networking evolving further?

I think as processors and connection speeds get faster and vendors can assume that most people have a broadband connection, we will see a lot more avatar-based communities where we can go out into our social networks wearing a self-designed image that represents how we look or how we see ourselves. I suspect that voice and video will become more prevalent as well. I think you can look at games - such as the ones being played over the Xbox 360 - where kids are playing as graphical avatars in film-quality sets and talking to each other with headsets as a pretty good example of where social media is going.

Tell us what's next, any new books on the horizon?

I'm working on some ideas. I'd like to get deeper into social media and blogging next time.

Any advice for women in technology over here in the MENA region?

I think it's the same advice I have for all women. Just because men like to lecture and pontificate on a subject doesn't mean we have to listen to them. I don't even think they can help it. And it doesn't mean they know more about this than we do. Technology offers a lot to women - for keeping our busy lives together, getting work, and staying in touch with our friends and family. Men have tried to make it sound like they know all about it and we don't but that's just men being men. This stuff is being invented right now. No one knows all about it. That's what makes it so much fun: Discovering it is an adventure. I've been writing about technology for a 15 years and I discover something new every day.

To up your ‘Geek Goddessness’ visit www.tynanwood.com

Melanie Clancy
Is a copy craftswoman who prefers good caffeine to bad company. She thought the comment board was going to be up and running.

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