Women's wall of internet firsts [starter activity]

This activity is aimed towards acknowledging the various ways that women have interacted with the internet.

Resources needed for this activity

A big wall that you can stick paper to, sticky notes. You can also prepare a linear timeline indicating years and people place their sticky notes on the timeline.

Time required

Depending on number of participants and number of firsts, an hour.

Mechanics

In this interactive session, participants will discuss questions and share milestones in their use of technology, such as:

• The first time you ever used a computer
• When you first visited a web page
• When you first understood a computer-based concept and what is it
• First time someone taught you something about tech that was really cool
• The first time you taught someone technical skills
• The first time you showed someone a website – what was it?
• The first time you attended a tech training
• First time you flirted with someone online
• The first time you tried looking for information about a topic and couldn´t find anything about it on the internet
• The first time you experienced unsolicited sexual advances online
• First time you joined a group that shared an common interest with you on the internet – what was it?
• First time you felt unsafe
• First time you realised what kind of power the internet had – what was it?

Everyone will write down their short answers (date and / or topic) on sticky notes and pin them to the wall as they share. At the end of this activity, there will be a big wall of the first experiences the participants have had on the internet.