Tag Archives: Girls Inc.

STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) brings life to the global hit television series “The Walking Dead” and a Canadian AI initiative for women and diversity

I stumbled across this June 8, 2022 AMC Networks news release in the last place I was expecting (i.e., a self-described global entertainment company’s website) to see a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) announcement,

AMC NETWORKS CONTENT ROOM TEAMS WITH THE AD COUNCIL TO EMPOWER GIRLS IN STEM, FEATURING “THE WALKING DEAD”

AMC Networks Content Room and the Ad Council, a non-profit and leading producer of social impact campaigns for 80 years, announced today a series of new public service advertisements (PSAs) that will highlight the power of girls in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) against the backdrop of the global hit series “The Walking Dead.”  In the spots, behind-the-scenes talent of the popular franchise, including Director Aisha Tyler, Costume Designer Vera Chow and Art Director Jasmine Garnet, showcase how STEM is used to bring the post-apocalyptic world of “The Walking Dead” to life on screen.  Created by AMC Networks Content Room, the PSAs are part of the Ad Council’s national She Can STEM campaign, which encourages girls, trans youth and non-binary youth around the country to get excited about and interested in STEM.

The new creative consists of TV spots and custom videos created specifically for TikTok and Instagram.  The spots also feature Gitanjali Rao, a 16-year-old scientist, inventor and activist, interviewing Tyler, Chow and Garnet discussing how they and their teams use STEM in the production of “The Walking Dead.”  Using before and after visuals, each piece highlights the unique and unexpected uses of STEM in the making of the series.  In addition to being part of the larger Ad Council campaign, the spots will be available on “The Walking Dead’s” social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube pages, and across AMC Networks linear channels and digital platforms.

PSA:   https://youtu.be/V20HO-tUO18

Social: https://youtu.be/LnDwmZrx6lI

Said Kim Granito, EVP of AMC Networks Content Room: “We are thrilled to partner with the Ad Council to inspire young girls in STEM through the unexpected backdrop of ‘The Walking Dead.’  Over the last 11 years, this universe has been created by an array of insanely talented women that utilize STEM every day in their roles.  This campaign will broaden perceptions of STEM beyond the stereotypes of lab coats and beakers, and hopefully inspire the next generation of talented women in STEM.  Aisha Tyler, Vera Chow and Jasmine Garnet were a dream to work with and their shared enthusiasm for this mission is inspiring.”

“Careers in STEM are varied and can touch all aspects of our lives. We are proud to partner with AMC Networks Content Room on this latest work for the She Can STEM campaign. With it, we hope to inspire young girls, non-binary youth, and trans youth to recognize that their passion for STEM can impact countless industries – including the entertainment industry,” said Michelle Hillman, Chief Campaign Development Officer, Ad Council.

Women make up nearly half of the total college-educated workforce in the U.S., but they only constitute 27% of the STEM workforce, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Research shows that many girls lose interest in STEM as early as middle school, and this path continues through high school and college, ultimately leading to an underrepresentation of women in STEM careers.  She Can STEM aims to dismantle the intimidating perceived barrier of STEM fields by showing girls, non-binary youth, and trans youth how fun, messy, diverse and accessible STEM can be, encouraging them to dive in, no matter where they are in their STEM journey.

Since the launch of She Can STEM in September 2018, the campaign has been supported by a variety of corporate, non-profit and media partners. The current funder of the campaign is IF/THEN, an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies.  Non-profit partners include Black Girls Code, ChickTech, Girl Scouts of the USA, Girls Inc., Girls Who Code, National Center for Women & Information Technology, The New York Academy of Sciences and Society of Women Engineers.

About AMC Networks Inc.

AMC Networks (Nasdaq: AMCX) is a global entertainment company known for its popular and critically-acclaimed content. Its brands include targeted streaming services AMC+, Acorn TV, Shudder, Sundance Now, ALLBLK, and the newest addition to its targeted streaming portfolio, the anime-focused HIDIVE streaming service, in addition to AMC, BBC AMERICA (operated through a joint venture with BBC Studios), IFC, SundanceTV, WE tv and IFC Films. AMC Studios, the Company’s in-house studio, production and distribution operation, is behind some of the biggest titles and brands known to a global audience, including The Walking Dead, the Anne Rice catalog and the Agatha Christie library.  The Company also operates AMC Networks International, its international programming business, and 25/7 Media, its production services business.

About Content Room

Content Room is AMC Networks’ award-winning branded entertainment studio that collaborates with advertising partners to build brand stories and create bespoke experiences across an expanding range of digital, social, and linear platforms. Content Room enables brands to fully tap into the company’s premium programming, distinct IP, deep talent roster and filmmaking roots through an array of creative partnership opportunities— from premium branded content and integrations— to franchise and gaming extensions.

Content Room is also home to the award-winning digital content studio which produces dozens of original series annually, which expands popular AMC Networks scripted programming for both fans and advertising partners by leveraging the built-in massive series and talent fandoms.

The Ad Council
The Ad Council is where creativity and causes converge. The non-profit organization brings together the most creative minds in advertising, media, technology and marketing to address many of the nation’s most important causes. The Ad Council has created many of the most iconic campaigns in advertising history. Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk. Smokey Bear. Love Has No Labels.

The Ad Council’s innovative social good campaigns raise awareness, inspire action and save lives. To learn more, visit AdCouncil.org, follow the Ad Council’s communities on Facebook and Twitter, and view the creative on YouTube.

You can find the ‘She Can Stem’ Ad Council initiative here.

Canadian women and the AI4Good Lab

A June 9, 2022 posting on the Borealis AI website describes an artificial intelligence (AI) initiative designed to encourage women to enter the field,

The AI4Good Lab is one of those programs that creates exponential opportunities. As the leading Canadian AI-training initiative for women-identified STEM students, the lab helps encourage diversity in the field of AI. Participants work together to use AI to solve a social problem, delivering untold benefits to their local communities. And they work shoulder-to-shoulder with other leaders in the field of AI, building their networks and expanding the ecosystem.

At this year’s [2022] AI4Good Lab Industry Night, program partners – like Borealis AI, RBC [Royal Bank of Canada], DeepMind, Ivado and Google – had an opportunity to (virtually) meet the nearly 90  participants of this year’s program. Many of the program’s alumni were also in attendance. So, too, were representatives from CIFAR [Canadian Institute for Advanced Research], one of Canada’s leading global research organizations.

Industry participants – including Dr. Eirene Seiradaki, Director of Research Partnerships at Borealis AI, Carey Mende-Gibson, RBC’s Location Intelligence ambassador, and Lucy Liu, Director of Data Science at RBC – talked with attendees about their experiences in the AI industry, discussed career opportunities and explored various career paths that the participants could take in the industry. For the entire two hours, our three tables  and our virtually cozy couches were filled to capacity. It was only after the end of the event that we had the chance to exchange visits to the tables of our partners from CIFAR and AMII [Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute]. Eirene did not miss the opportunity to catch up with our good friend, Warren Johnston, and hear first-hand the news from AMII’s recent AI Week 2022.

Borealis AI is funded by the Royal Bank of Canada. Somebody wrote this for the homepage (presumably tongue in cheek),

All you can bank on.

The AI4Good Lab can be found here,

The AI4Good Lab is a 7-week program that equips women and people of marginalized genders with the skills to build their own machine learning projects. We emphasize mentorship and curiosity-driven learning to prepare our participants for a career in AI.

The program is designed to open doors for those who have historically been underrepresented in the AI industry. Together, we are building a more inclusive and diverse tech culture in Canada while inspiring the next generation of leaders to use AI as a tool for social good.

A most recent programme ran (May 3 – June 21, 2022) in Montréal, Toronto, and Edmonton.

There are a number of AI for Good initiatives including this one from the International Telecommunications Union (a United Nations Agency).

For the curious, I have a May 10, 2018 post “The Royal Bank of Canada reports ‘Humans wanted’ and some thoughts on the future of work, robots, and artificial intelligence” where I ‘examine’ RBC and its AI initiatives.

Science is a girl thing, eh?

I think it’s the sheer cheesiness of the video and ‘branding’ that bothers me most. Science: It’s a Girl Thing! is the European Commission’s brave new attempt to make science appealing to girls. Unfortunately it looks like a campaign for cosmetics. If you go to the website, you’ll find the lettering for the brand is pink (lipstick) while the letter ‘i’ in Science is represented by a lipstick which looks like a different shade than the one used for the lettering. Very cheesy branding but apparently it’s the video that has caused a bit of an uproar.  Here it is for your delectation,

I find the June 29, 2012 posting by Curt Rice at the Guardian Science blogs gives insight into some of the current response (condemnation and support from an unexpected source) to and the prior planning that went into the campaign,

Advertising professors everywhere must be thanking the European Commission for their new campaign, Science: it’s a girl thing! This campaign – designed to convince high school girls to pursue careers in science – had such a badly bungled launch that it’s sure to become the topic of lectures and exam questions for communications students throughout Europe and beyond.

The problem lies in the “teaser” video, which went viral last week for all the wrong reasons. It was put up on the campaign website, disliked, criticised, mocked and then pulled down faster than the gaga male scientist in the video could open his zipper.

The video was so shocking that the EC had to deny that it was an attempt at irony.

I was a member of the “gender expert group” that provided recommendations to the commission for this campaign. We met during the spring of 2011, articulated ideas about target groups and relevant evidence-based perspectives. We submitted a report and then heard nothing more from the commission until receiving an invitation to the kick-off a few weeks ago.

When that invitation came, it worried me. The logo for the campaign was written in lipstick – pink lipstick. “What will that convey?” I wondered.

My uncertainty about how the campaign would be received was vanquished the moment I saw the teaser video. Not only was it completely devoid of any trace of our group’s recommendations – as we noted in a recently released joint statement – but its sex roles were stereotypical clichés.

Here’s what I found particularly intriguing,

I started airing my concerns on Twitter. The debate was lively and engaged; it was nuanced. Twin sisters in Australia were provoked to write to me and elaborate on their views. Imogen and Freya Wadlow are 17 years old and they run two science websites, one for younger kids and one for teens.

How did two teenagers with award-winning websites view the infamous video? They thought it was a stereotype-busting effort! That’s right. Imogen and Freya told me that they receive loads of emails from girls who love science but hate being labeled geeks. Why, they ask, can’t scientists wear make-up, killer heels and be seen laughing?

I do like Rice’s suggestion for a proactive response to this video,

Maybe crowdsourcing the creation of a teaser – based on the campaign’s website – would be the best way to find out what could tempt teenage girls to study science.

In fact, I think we should show the European Commission just how crowdsourcing the teaser could work. Let’s have a contest. Go to the campaign website and find your inspiration. Think about what could be a meaningful teaser video. And then make it!

Rice is the Pro Rector for Research and Development at the University of Tromsø (Norway). Rice gives the contest rules here,

The #ScienceGirlThing contest

The European Commission has just launched a campaign — Science: It’s a girl thing! — that aims to increase participation of women in science. However, one part of the launch was a fiasco. Join our contest and show the European Commission that YOU can do better!

To get attention for the campaign, the Commission used a “teaser” video:

That video was extremely controversial and it was quickly abandoned. Twitter exploded with discussion marked with the hashtag #sciencegirlthing.

Let’s show the Commission what kind of talent is out there. Let’s show them how crowdsourcing can create something brilliant.

The contest below is for you!

The winning video will be shown at the European Gender Summit 2012, November 29-30 at the European Parliament in Brussels. (UPDATE: I’m working on a securing a cash prize for the contest as well. Watch this space for news about this in the coming few days.)

Create a video for Europe

Create your own video teaser and have it shown at the European Gender Summit 2012 and promoted on this site.

Here’s how it works:

1. Visit the Science, It’s a Girl Thing website.

2. Create a one minute (or less) video designed to drive traffic to the site and create awareness for the project.

3. Upload your video to YouTube and include the hashtag #sciencegirlthing in the description, and tweet to @CurtRice with a link to your video. I’ll promote your videos on my blog and on Twitter.

4. Encourage people to “like” your video on YouTube. The one with the most likes on Tuesday, November 6, at 12 noon Central European Time will be shown at the conference.

5. Sign up for our newsletter below [on Rice’s blog] and receive updates on who is winning with links to all of the videos.

The teen (and twin sister) Australian science bloggers mentioned in  Rice’s posting on the Guardian dropped by on June 30,2012 to leave a comment,

planetpatrol

30 June 2012 12:47AM

We’re Immie & Freya (mentioned in Curt’s article). We LOVE Reena’s survey (http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/16896759); shows that our responses were pretty typical of teen girls. We are a bit older than the girls surveyed, so we understand that in a few years when we’re working scientists, we will be more focussed on being seen as professional and serious scientists. But right now, we need to smash the stereotypes that stop girls getting interested in science in the first place. I don’t think those making negative comments about the video remember just how alienating being interested in science can be, especially for girls. It shouldn’t just be for the quiet geeks, science should be for ALL girls and like it or not, us teens identify more with the girls depicted in the video than with white coats and glum faces (see: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/06/opinion-scientist-stereotype/). We love that at least the EU is making an effort and yes, we’d love to re-do the video; get rid of all that pouting and the dude perving at the girls, get some REAL scientists in there, because we’ve met some amazing cool science chics who DO wear killer heels, lipstick and are happy to hit the moshpit and it’s them who’ve inspired us to join the science ranks. All we want as young girls is to feel ‘normal’, not pasted into a stereotype of dull, boring and handles test tubes well! This video is not an answer, but it’s a start!!!!

I had tripped across Rice’s posting last week but it was David Bruggeman’s July 4, 2012 posting on his Pasco Phronesis blog that moved me to write about my thoughts on the matter (which I haven’t quite done yet but I will),

Those still smarting from the horribly inept European Commission ad to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education for girls should take some solace in the release yesterday of Science Fair, an album from Spare the Rock Records I noticed via Twitter last month.  Net proceeds will go to the science education programs at Girls Inc.

Here’s more from the About Girls Inc. webpage (Note: I have removed some links),

Girls Inc. inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold through life-changing programs and experiences that help girls navigate gender, economic, and social barriers. Research-based curricula, delivered by trained, mentoring professionals in a positive all-girl environment equip girls to achieve academically; lead healthy and physically active lives; manage money; navigate media messages; and discover an interest in science, technology, engineering, and math. The network of local Girls Inc. nonprofit organizations serves 125,000 girls ages 6 – 18 annually across the United States and Canada.


Our History The Girls Inc movement started in New England during the Industrial Revolution as a response to the needs of a new working class: young women who had migrated from rural communities in search of newly available job opportunities in textile mills and factories.

Programs Girls Inc develops research-based informal education programs that encourage girls to take risks and master physical, intellectual and emotional challenges. Major programs address math and science education, pregnancy and drug abuse prevention, media literacy, economic literacy, adolescent health, violence prevention, and sports participation.

I always find the Board of Directors list to be very informative, you may want to take a look (the first name on this list is Michelle Obama, First Lady of the US).

I digress; the video of ‘I am a scientist’ by Mates of State for the Science Fair album (available here and mentioned in the earlier excerpt from  David Bruggeman’s posting) provides a contrast to the Science: It’s a Girl Thing video but is fraught with its own stereotype,

Nerd  (corrected July 6, 2012 at 16:30 PST) Geeky girl with glasses (intelligent girls almost always wear glasses in videos, movies, & tv series) gets laughed at for her ‘science’—that’s a very familiar trope. In fact, these two videos represent the dominant (almost the only) stories ‘you’re sexy and can’t hold onto your molecules (i.e., not very good at science/business/etc.)’ or ‘you’re a nerd and people will will laugh at you when you try to be serious’ about girls/women/females. I don’t think the stories are the problem it’s just that they’re pretty much the only stories that get represented. Then, we all start arguing as if it’s an either/or situation.

I should mention here Darlene Cavalier and the Science Cheerleader website where she has been tackling the issue of being overtly girly and practicing science for years. You can check out my Sept. 2, 2010 posting (scroll down 3/4 of the way)  or you can look at this from her June 19, 2012 posting about twins (in honour of the Australian bloggers, Imogen and Freya Wadlow), scientists, and cheerleaders, Kim and Kelly,

Kim and Kelly, former Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders, science professionals, and twins (from the Science Cheerleader website)

So what got you two into science?
Kim: 
My science related career evolved over time. My initial work was on the business side with ExxonMobil. Later I managed operations in a facility which included safety, health, and environmental compliance and I really enjoyed the learning curve of the vast environmental regulation arena. This experience allowed me to eventually move into a position as an Environmental Advisor, in which I support the company’s Lubricant Blend Oil Plants in their environmental sustainability initiatives and environmental compliance.
Kelly: After teaching 3rd grade for nine years, a position opened up in my school building for a 6th grade science teacher. I jumped at the chance to challenge myself to teach and become an expert in one subject area instead of teaching all subject areas. I took many classes, training, and in-service workshops in preparation for teaching science.

Personally, I want to see more stories and variations and I’m glad to see Darlene has continued with her quiet campaign to challenge stereotypes about women in science.

Good luck to Curt Rice and I look forward to seeing the entries to his contest.

One last thing about David Bruggeman’s July 4, 2012 posting, he has some details and a video clip about a geometry movie Sphereland, sequel to a 2007 movie, Flatland. Both movies are based on books of the same title.