It was so fun to chat with Kelsey Merkley (@bella_velo) during our second #InVinoFab interview -- women telling their stories. There was a wealth of stuff we chatted about and we hope you enjoy listening to the conversation as much as we had chatting:

Kelsey thinks that more women need to be leaders and recognized for the work they do in the open education movement and in education. From biking to South Africa from Canada and building bridges between communities in the global south, Kelsey is always considering what the access and opportunities for learning. We need to encouraging ways to have more dialogue with those who aren’t always at the table/classroom/conference to be cognizant include a voice that is not always heard, specifically to ensure we have access to knowledge and the opportunity-cost that we miss out on by not learning from an audience that is more representative of all nations. How can we learn to solve issues in education from others? How can we offer space for other voices and remove the barriers for learning? 

As a former librarian, Kelsey believes in access to information and ensuring knowledge is equitably shared. Some of the open technologies (ahem MOOCs) did not necessarily change the world, but it has gotten her thinking about the user experience and their own digital affordances beyond our North American experience. From the way we structure the web to the content we load onto each page, the digital pathway to accessing information is not the same and there are so many inequities for those learners who might not have the same privileges. Who are we providing learning to? What are the barriers faced when accessing learning globally? Have we thought about these issues in Canada or the US -- when there are remote areas with limited internet access?

Ways we can consider access for women in education and at our conferences:

-Are we offering educational scholarships to women who might not have access?

-Are there funds or scholarships for women to a conference?

-Is there childcare offered at the conference you are attending? Why or why not?

-Are we thinking about ways to make connections at events or conferences? E.g. coffee breaks, morning breakfast, open networking, etc.

-Can we create more spaces to have a chat or engage in dialog? E.g. space in the program of a conference, taking time for open discussions at meetings, etc.

#100Day100Women Drawing 100 heroic women in 100 days https://medium.com/@Wikimedia/drawing-100-heroic-women-in-100-days-de88ef33f142 by @RoriComics

-Wikipedia https://www.wikipedia.org/ non-profit organization designed to share information.

-Wiki Education https://wikiedu.org/ connecting higher ed to the publishing power of Wikipedia.

-Creative Commons https://creativecommons.org/ to legally share knowledge and creative works.

Upcoming Conferences mentioned: 

Creative Commons Global Summit (April 13-15, 2018) in Toronto, ON, Canada https://summit.creativecommons.org/  

BC Campus Festival of Learning (May 28-30, 2018) in Vancouver, BC, Canada https://bccampus.ca/festival-of-learning-2018/ 

Uncommon Women http://uncommonwomen.org/

Uncommon Women is a space to offer voices, experiences, and work shared by the open education community in higher ed. To raise awareness this group has developed the Uncommon Women: coloring book https://genderdesk.wordpress.com/2018/03/14/uncommon-women-coloring-book-goes-commercial/ you can DOWNLOAD to color this here: http://uncommonwomen.org/colouring-book-pdfs-now-available 

Questions asked during an Uncommon Women Panel

“Almost half of male managers are uncomfortable participating in a common work activity with a women, such as mentoring, working along, or socializing together.” https://leanin.org/sexual-harassment-backlash-survey-results/  via LeanIn.org 

The Key Role of Sponsorship: Mentor vs. Sponsor (Advocate) - Stanford University Study:

https://inclusion.slac.stanford.edu/sites/inclusion.slac.stanford.edu/files/The_Key_Role_of_a_Sponsorship_for_Diverse_Talent.pdf 

Silva, C., & Ibarra, H. (2012). Study: Women get fewer game-changing leadership roles. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2012/11/study-women-get-fewer-game-changing.html 

Carter, N. M., & Silva, C. (2010). Mentoring: Necessary But Insufficient for Advancement the Promise of Future Leadership: Highly Talented Employees in the Pipeline. Catalyst. http://www.catalyst.org/system/files/Mentoring_Necessary_But_Insufficient_for_Advancement_Final_120610.pdf 

Hewlett, S. A. (2013). Forget a mentor, find a sponsor: The new way to fast-track your career. Harvard Business Review Press. https://hbr.org/product/forget-a-mentor-find-a-sponsor-the-new-way-to-fast-track-your-career/11163E-KND-ENG 

Why Do Women Bully Each Other at Work? https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/the-queen-bee-in-the-corner-office/534213/ via The Atlantic

Lorraine Chuen (@lchu23n) http://lorrainechuen.com/ 

Katie Steen (@katiesteen627) 

SPARC (@sparc_na) https://sparcopen.org/ 

Jennifer Walinga (@jwalinga)

Mary Burgess (@maryeburgess) 

-Two Wild Ferment Wines (Natural Wine) http://mywinepal.com/2015/02/10/curious-about-two-wild-ferment-chardonnays-from-haywire-winery/  More about this winery: https://okanagancrushpad.com/

-Be warned, natural wine will change your palette https://www.esquire.com/food-drink/drinks/a54769/natural-wine/

- Option B by Sheryl Sandberg https://optionb.org/about 

- On Being Podcast https://onbeing.org/ specifically the episode with John O’Donohue https://onbeing.org/programs/john-odonohue-the-inner-landscape-of-beauty-aug2017 

Connect and learn more the fantastic stuff Kelsey is working on here:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bella_velo & https://twitter.com/uncommon_women 

Website: http://uncommonwomen.org/about 

IndieGoGo Uncommon Women Colouring Book 2018 https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/uncommon-women-colouring-book#/ 

Do you have a question, comment or thought on this topic? Feel free to send us an email: invinofabulum@gmail.com or stay connected for a future episode here of the #InVinoFab: In Vino Fabulum Podcast: