From IT News Africa
Africa’s most influential women in Science and Tech
In the spirit of celebrating African excellence, ITNewsAfrica has decided to profile 10 African women who have been pivotal in the development of Technology on the continent.
The technology sector in Africa is dominated by men, but the women on this list have shown that given the opportunity they can stand toe-to-toe, and in some cases outperform their male counterparts....
6. Heather Ford
Heather Ford is a South African researcher, blogger, journalist, technology social entrepreneur, and open source activist who has worked in the field of Internet policy, law, and management in South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. She is the founder of Creative Commons South Africa.
Ford graduated from Rhodes University with a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1999; her major was cyber publishing. In 2003 she went to Stanford University as a fellow in the Reuters Digital Vision fellowship programme and volunteered for Creative Commons, a non-profit organization that strives to increase the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share.
Heather launched Creative Commons South Africa, was project director of the Commons-Sense programme at Wits University’s Link Centre, and co-founded the African Commons Project.
Heather was appointed executive director of iCommons, a UK based corporation that seeks to improve the global commons by promoting collaboration amongst supporters of open education, access to knowledge, open access publishing, and free software communities. Heather’s research and work in developing the commons led her to Wikipedia, where she serves as a member of the Wikimedia Foundation Advisory Board.
Heather is pursuing a master’s degree in information management and systems at the University of California; she founded Geek Retreat, an annual event that brings together SA’s Top IT minds.
Heather has been selected for the Google Policy Fellowship, which allows students to spend their summer break working on Internet and Technology policy issues.