In honor of Ada Lovelace Day (findingada.com), I’d like to honor a woman who is completely unknown in the publishing and software worlds that I normally inhabit.
When I knew her, in the late 1970′s, Rosemary Killam was a professor of music theory at North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas). She gave me a part-time job writing computer programs for computer-aided instruction in music theory.
However, much more than giving me a job, Rosemary helped/cajoled/browbeat me into more of my professional “firsts” than anyone else I ever worked with. She was the first person to hire me as a programmer, helped me write my first conference paper, commissioned my first real (as opposed to student) computer program, and guided me through my first grant application.
She was also the first feminist I had the opportunity to interact with in any significant way. When she passed away in 2007, we had been out of touch for at least 10 years, so I googled her name and found articles, letters, and on-line discussions centering around feminism and the music world, including a fascinating article titled: Cognitive Dissonance: Should Twentieth-century Women Composers be Grouped with Foucault’s Mad Criminals? that attempted to explain why four recent (at the time) books on twentieth-century music nearly totally ignored women composers, despite all four of these (male) authors having been strongly supportive of women composers in other contexts.
I also found a series of on-line conversations that highlighted her ability to have serious, strongly-opionated, and at times combative discussions with people she disagreed with, and yet still maintain civility and respect for her correspondents.
So, why is a music theorist who specialized in feminist issues someone to honor on Ada Lovelace Day?
- She was an early advocate for using technology in music pedagogy. My work with her was to write programs for computer-aided instruction in ear training. She wanted to do whatever she could to help students improve their skills, and she saw that computer-aided instruction could be a big help in that area.
- She taught me that writing was important regardless of your discipline, and encouraged me to write papers and document my work.
- She had high standards and would not accept mediocre work. Anytime I think about cutting corners or taking a short-cut, I remember her standards and usually (I wish I could say always:-) take the extra effort to do the right thing.
- She was fearless. I never saw her back down from anyone or be intimidated by anything. But, she would also engage with anyone on any topic in a constructive way, without anger; she reserved her anger for shoddy work.
- More than anyone I have worked with before or since, she was interested in and supportive of the students she taught and the people she worked with.
We don’t always take the time to honor our mentors and thank them for the impact they have had on our lives, and truthfully, I didn’t realize the impact that Rosemary had on my career until years later, and I never had the opportunity to thank her. So I’m glad Ada Lovelace Day gives me a belated opportunity today. Thanks, Rosemary.
From dmr to DITA (DocBook, too)
I was sorry to hear of the passing of Unix and C language pioneer Dennis Ritchie. I only met him a couple of times, but found him to be gracious and humble, despite being one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. It was, however, heartening to see the outpouring of stories and to see him widely recognized for his status as a founding father of modern computing.
The obituaries rightfully acknowledge his foundational work with the C language and Unix, which is his primary legacy. However, he also had a strong influence on computer documentation. He and Ken Thompson originated the Manual Page (aka Man Page) and documented the commands, system calls, and APIs for Unix using that format.
Continue reading →