Study groups take the form of 3-10 women gathering together on a weekly or biweekly basis, in a home, Denny's, or training room. Each group has a leader who works with the group to determine which subjects they will study with which books (if any.} Members then study 1-2 chapters individually or with a buddy during the week, practicing on their private or commercial websites. They then meet again to discuss what they learned, what problems they ran into, etc., and agree on the next week's assignment. Feel free to use our chat room to communicate between meetings.
This page is, at the moment, geared toward the Puget Sound area StudyGrrls, though I hope that in time we will be able to include information for grrls across the state - or perhaps even across the nation. Judging by the overwhelming response in just the first few hours of its existence, I think it would be fair to say that there is a need for this type of interaction on a greater scale than has previously been thought. I've provided a bit more information on our structure and goals in the FAQ.
StudyGrrls commenced with a full meeting and pot luck on Sunday April 18, 1999. Food was eaten, fun was had, and a lot of information was passed back and forth. So much so, in fact, that I overworked myself tremendously, becoming vaguely sick and definitely brain-fried. I took the following week off, and am now just getting back to email responses and website updates. Bear with me for a while. =)
After this, the full meetings will take place quarterly, and the individual study groups will meet as often as their members desire. Some groups are divided geographically, and some by interest or skill level. We have skill Levels One, Two, and Three. Other groups are combining levels and developing a mentor/apprentice or studybuddy type of arrangement. The decision of which arrangement to use is up to each group.
Many of the groups have websites up. If you would like to join one, please click on the link for that group and contact them. If you do not see a group that fits you, or the group you are interested in does not have a website yet, please email me and I will put you in contact with the correct people.
We also have a StudyGrrls library for loaning, exchanging, and selling books, software, tools, and services. Please keep your posts on-topic. If there is need for a general bulletin board, I will post one; in the meantime, I am working on setting up a chat room as well. This is something you might want to do on your group websites as well.
A request has been made for bringing web-development-inclined friends into the StudyGrrl group. Let me state that I firmly believe that everyone has a right to education. That said, I am also operating StudyGrrls under the auspices of WebGrrls International. This puts me in a rather awkward position. For now, the solution is this: all who are interested in learning are welcome in StudyGrrls, with a few caveats. First, the guest must be sponsored by a WebGrrl. This can be done informally, for instance through an email notifying your small group leader. Second, the small group leader will have final say in whether she is comfortable allowing non-WebGrrls into her group. And third, all guests will be given the opportunity to join WebGrrls.
This brings up another issue: StudyGrrls does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or indeed anything other than willingness to learn. If you want to learn and teach and study web-related topics, then this is the place for you. If you want a place to harass, power trip, preach, freeload, broadcast your psychoses, go postal, have a cow, or otherwise disrupt the learning process, please find another place to do so.
If you are a WebGrrl who is interested in studying with us, please contact me via the email button below. Also, please email me with any suggestions you have for how we can improve, or how you think that this group might best grow.
