About The DOLS
The Idea
The idea for the DOLS grew over a several-year period in the late 1980s when microcomputer technology was less than 10 years old and the ed tech world was attracting many interesting, high-energy women with great hopes for the future of education. Some of us were worried about glass ceilings and the possibility that an "old boys network" would take hold here as it had in other settings. Others were simply excited about the great new women they were meeting professionally and aware of an opportunity to grow a new industry together - learning from one another while making new friends.
All sorts of informal get-togethers, involving small groups of women, began taking place before, during and after key educational conferences. Linda Roberts, Bobbi Goodson, Jenny House (then Jenny Better), Marge Cappo (then Marge Cosel), Sue Talley, Barbara Bayha, Carolyn Stouffer and Helen Joseph agreed to meet once a year in Calistoga, California, for a retreat. About the same time, another group, including Marylyn Rosenblum, Becky Conners, and Ellen Bialo, were having dinner together in Atlanta after an IBM customer event and talking about how nice it was to grab time away from work to talk about hair, clothes, kids, and partners - and, especially, to laugh!
The Name
The idea for the name also grew in parallel (the Calistoga group called themselves the "good old girls") but Marylyn Rosenblum gets credit for officially dubbing the new all-female network the DOLS - for "dirty old ladies of software." No, we weren't all in the software industry but, at the time, most of us were affiliated in some way with the Software Publishers' Association (SPA, now SIIA) - as "regular" members, hardware partners or members of the press covering the industry. And the name stuck.
Ellen Bialo - recognized to this day as our leader and mother figure - teamed up with Mary Claire Scanlon to organize the dinners and spread the word about the DOLS. Beyond the gender requirement, it was agreed that the group was open to all who wished to join. (Some of the men in the industry have threatened to come in drag or vowed to start their own alternative group under the name BALS (bad ass lads of software) or DOGS (dirty old guys of software) but so far, not much has come of it.)
The DYLS
The "old girls" welcomed younger DYLS (dirty young ladies of software) into the fold - with a warning that they would have to laugh along at stories of nips, tuck and hot flashes (no, make that "power surges"). As a newish DYL, Robin Christensen muses, "How many other industries have such a warm, nurturing way of sharing knowledge and support with younger colleagues? None that I know of. The education industry is a unique beast and DOLS is a unique part of it."
What has impressed many DOLS from the start is the cooperative spirit of this network. Mickey Revenaugh remembers being "inducted" into the DOLS in the mid-1990s by Electronic Learning editor Therese Mageau. "I was amazed to see tough competitors hugging and drinking and breaking bread together…the ad sales staff of EL whooping it up with their counterparts from Technology & Learning, Apple cracking jokes with Compaq. So it's not a surprise that no matter how many times the talented women of ed tech change jobs, they NEVER give up on DOLS."
The Support
Over the years, we've supported each other through the tribulations of expanding, shrinking and merging companies; delighted in marriages, babies, grandchildren and a wide array of job advancements and triumphs; comforted one another during hard personal times; and shared hours of healing, exuberant laughter. Everybody contributes in her own way - whether by suggesting a funny dinner-time topic (we've had all sorts of true confession moments and lots of laughter at old photos and artifacts), handling restaurant logistics or, as in two memorable evenings at the homes of Sue Talley and Sue Collins, hosting an entire dinner.
Valerie Chernek sums it up as follows: There are no membership fees, only the cost of dinner, as we gather at America's top education conferences to once again be face to face, rather than just a link in the email chain. We meet to share experiences, to improve education for our schools and kids, and to have fun. Through this powerful network, jobs are found, introductions are made, advice is given, rooms are shared, partnerships are formed, leaders are born, and women are nurtured. There are no boardrooms, but definitely avenues to get things done quickly and well. It's all the female energy, coming together, that makes it happen!
The Idea
The idea for the DOLS grew over a several-year period in the late 1980s when microcomputer technology was less than 10 years old and the ed tech world was attracting many interesting, high-energy women with great hopes for the future of education. Some of us were worried about glass ceilings and the possibility that an "old boys network" would take hold here as it had in other settings. Others were simply excited about the great new women they were meeting professionally and aware of an opportunity to grow a new industry together - learning from one another while making new friends.
All sorts of informal get-togethers, involving small groups of women, began taking place before, during and after key educational conferences. Linda Roberts, Bobbi Goodson, Jenny House (then Jenny Better), Marge Cappo (then Marge Cosel), Sue Talley, Barbara Bayha, Carolyn Stouffer and Helen Joseph agreed to meet once a year in Calistoga, California, for a retreat. About the same time, another group, including Marylyn Rosenblum, Becky Conners, and Ellen Bialo, were having dinner together in Atlanta after an IBM customer event and talking about how nice it was to grab time away from work to talk about hair, clothes, kids, and partners - and, especially, to laugh!
The Name
The idea for the name also grew in parallel (the Calistoga group called themselves the "good old girls") but Marylyn Rosenblum gets credit for officially dubbing the new all-female network the DOLS - for "dirty old ladies of software." No, we weren't all in the software industry but, at the time, most of us were affiliated in some way with the Software Publishers' Association (SPA, now SIIA) - as "regular" members, hardware partners or members of the press covering the industry. And the name stuck.
Ellen Bialo - recognized to this day as our leader and mother figure - teamed up with Mary Claire Scanlon to organize the dinners and spread the word about the DOLS. Beyond the gender requirement, it was agreed that the group was open to all who wished to join. (Some of the men in the industry have threatened to come in drag or vowed to start their own alternative group under the name BALS (bad ass lads of software) or DOGS (dirty old guys of software) but so far, not much has come of it.)
The DYLS
The "old girls" welcomed younger DYLS (dirty young ladies of software) into the fold - with a warning that they would have to laugh along at stories of nips, tuck and hot flashes (no, make that "power surges"). As a newish DYL, Robin Christensen muses, "How many other industries have such a warm, nurturing way of sharing knowledge and support with younger colleagues? None that I know of. The education industry is a unique beast and DOLS is a unique part of it."
What has impressed many DOLS from the start is the cooperative spirit of this network. Mickey Revenaugh remembers being "inducted" into the DOLS in the mid-1990s by Electronic Learning editor Therese Mageau. "I was amazed to see tough competitors hugging and drinking and breaking bread together…the ad sales staff of EL whooping it up with their counterparts from Technology & Learning, Apple cracking jokes with Compaq. So it's not a surprise that no matter how many times the talented women of ed tech change jobs, they NEVER give up on DOLS."
The Support
Over the years, we've supported each other through the tribulations of expanding, shrinking and merging companies; delighted in marriages, babies, grandchildren and a wide array of job advancements and triumphs; comforted one another during hard personal times; and shared hours of healing, exuberant laughter. Everybody contributes in her own way - whether by suggesting a funny dinner-time topic (we've had all sorts of true confession moments and lots of laughter at old photos and artifacts), handling restaurant logistics or, as in two memorable evenings at the homes of Sue Talley and Sue Collins, hosting an entire dinner.
Valerie Chernek sums it up as follows: There are no membership fees, only the cost of dinner, as we gather at America's top education conferences to once again be face to face, rather than just a link in the email chain. We meet to share experiences, to improve education for our schools and kids, and to have fun. Through this powerful network, jobs are found, introductions are made, advice is given, rooms are shared, partnerships are formed, leaders are born, and women are nurtured. There are no boardrooms, but definitely avenues to get things done quickly and well. It's all the female energy, coming together, that makes it happen!