Women in Tech, Celebrate! It's 'Ada Lovelace Day'

While there isn’t a Beyoncé anthem devoted to them, ladies in high-tech careers can still raise the roof today.

It’s the second official “Ada Lovelace Day,” a worldwide day designated to celebrate women who work with technology are celebrated.

Started by Suw Charman-Anderson, the day is “an international day of blogging (videologging, podcasting, comic drawing etc.!) to draw attention to the achievements of women in technology and science,” according to its organizers.

“Women’s contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognized,” said a posting on the official Web site of Ada Lovelace Day. “We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines, whatever they do. It doesn’t matter how new or old your blog is, what gender you are, what language you blog in, or what you normally blog about – everyone is invited.”

This year the U.K. Telegraph reports the blogging theme is definitely popular (so far 3,072 contributions have been noted). Last March 24 was the first Ada Lovelace day, according to reports. And more than 1,200 people wrote about the women they admire who work with technology.

According to the Telegraph, Ada Lovelace herself, Lord Byron’s daughter and Charles Babbage’s correspondent, took a hands-on role in technological development rare for women in their day. Supplementing her translation of an Italian article on Babbage’s analytical engine with an encoded algorithm, Lovelace reportedly published the first computer program, albeit for a machine that would not be built until more than 150 years later as a historical project.